LOS ANGELES, June 16— Albert J. Lowry, the best known and most successful of the get-rich-quick artists who flourished from the late 1970's well into the 1980's, apparently never absorbed the lessons of financial discipline and security that he preached.

For nearly two decades, in late-night television commercials, best-selling books and seminars in hotel meeting rooms across the country, Mr. Lowry sold the dream of wealth. He made a fortune mixing a salesman's persuasiveness with detailed theories about real estate and finance. The combination attracted hundreds of thousands of would-be millionaires willing to pay for his thoughts.

But last month, in a stunning reversal, Mr. Lowry, hounded by creditors, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Federal court here. With his business and personal life in disarray, Mr. Lowry asked a judge to liquidate his $1 million in assets to satisfy lenders, partners and suppliers seeking at least several million dollars. Hard Times for Promoters

Interviews with former associates and business partners as well as court documents from numerous lawsuits involving Mr. Lowry paint a picture of a bright, gregarious entrepreneur - part self-promoter, part teacher. His woes reflect the hard times among the latest generation of those who tout what are commonly known as get-rich-quick schemes, as well as his own poor investments.

Mr. Lowry, along with others in the field, dispensed tips primarily designed to capitalize through real estate investments on the high inflation of the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Mr. Lowry's advice won some adherents. But it was criticized as unworkable for most of the people who packed his seminars. Then, as inflation subsided, his kind of advice, and that of others, fell from favor.

Details of Mr. Lowry's past and career remain murky. But according to the stories he related to students and associates, it appears that his rise was as steep and impressive as his fall. Born in Canada and raised in an orphanage, Mr. Lowry came to the United States with only a few dollars. He parlayed meager investments into a fortune and considerable fame.

In his heyday Mr. Lowry offered advice on everything from buying real estate with no money down to running a small business and re-establishing credit. If the promise of big profits never materialized for most of his students, peddling his theories proved lucrative for him and his associates. According to court documents, Lowry enterprises grossed more than $40 million between 1969 and 1985. Two years ago he claimed a net worth of at least $12 million.

Mr. Lowry, who is 60 years old, does not have a listed phone number, and he did not respond to a letter requesting an interview. His bankruptcy lawyer, Stephen Snipper, did not return telephone calls.

To his supporters, Mr. Lowry remains a genius whose ideas and ability to convey them helped thousands of people attain a degree of financial sophistication, if not wealth. They say the ''get rich quick'' label is unfair.

''Al Lowry was giving people tried and true methods that worked then, and still work now, and that allow you to make money if you really want to,'' said Tony Hoffman, a former associate.

Mr. Hoffman, who took a course from Mr. Lowry a decade ago, invested successfully in real estate and then joined Mr. Lowry as an instructor in his seminars and a top official in his company. He now runs his own financial advice concern.

''Al Lowry has made more money for more people in this country than anyone,'' Mr. Hoffman said. Unsophisticated Investors

Critics then and now have contended that the Lowry strategies, most notably for buying real estate with no money down, would not succeed for the unsophisticated but ever-hopeful investors to whom Mr. Lowry most often appealed.

Even former associates who defend the soundness of his strategies say that Mr. Lowry was mainly a salesman whose talent lay in persuading people to pay up to $495 to attend his weekend seminars. Former associates, some of whom asked not to be named, also said he was a poor manager, his investment-advice enterprises often operated in chaos and his financial judgment was flawed.

An outgoing man with a curly toupee, Mr. Lowry seemed driven by a desire to be liked by all who met him, colleagues said. They said this trait may have led him to agree to risky business deals with friends and acquaintances. Questionable Investments

His big mistake, they said, was investing in questionable ventures such as a health club, a restaurant and a movie instead of sticking to real estate, the field he knew best. ''He made some bad business decisions that did not involve real estate,'' said John Hebestreet, a real estate specialist in Ogden, Utah, who worked for Mr. Lowry and is now suing him over a $30,000 debt.

But Mr. Lowry also appears to have gone astray in real estate. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times in April, more than a month before his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, he acknowledged having lost millions in real estate at Lake Tahoe.

Mr. Lowry's harshest critics now may be his creditors, several of whom say he has been extremely elusive in the last two years as they have tried to collect debts ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In Reno, Gordon and Ann Rupert are suing Mr. Lowry for $5,000 they say he owes them for roofing work several years ago on an apartment building he owned there. In Los Angeles, the California First Bank, which has won a $600,000 judgment against Mr. Lowry for unpaid loans plus interest on his health club investment, suggested in court papers this spring that he might have hidden assets, perhaps by transferring property to his former wife, Darlene, during their recent divorce. Mrs. Lowry's whereabouts could not be determined. $11.68 in Checking Account Many creditors, in fact, are wondering what happened to the wealth and property of which Mr. Lowry boasted several years ago. His bankruptcy filing said he had $11.68 in his checking account. And he said that he owes the Internal Revenue Service at least $138,675.65. His $895,000 home, which is mortgaged, is listed as his only major asset. The man who liked to be called ''Mr. Real Estate'' listed only three small parcels of land.

''In any case like this, a lot of questions are raised by the kind of information he has presented,'' said Eric A. Joe, a lawyer with Smith & Smith in Los Angeles, representing California First Bank against Mr. Lowry.

Until the last few years, Mr. Lowry's life seemed to be a true rags-to-riches tale. As he told it, he labored in a steel mill, ice-skated professionally and worked as a butcher before leaving Canada for California. Settling in the San Francisco area, he got involved in real estate sales. On several occasions he handled offers to buy property from sellers with no money down. To his amazement, some were accepted, prompting him to try the same, with considerable success. By 1973, Mr. Lowry asserted, he had made his first million dollars on property in Oakland. Selling Advice to Beginners

According to court documents, Mr. Lowry had hit on the idea of selling real estate advice to others in 1969. The undertaking expanded rapidly. He started advertising that he held a Ph.D. in business administration, although it could not be determined when or where he might have received it.

''Others had offered seminars to professional real estate people,'' one associate said. ''The genius of Lowry was to offer the courses not to the professional but to the general public. No one had done that, and for a while he didn't have any competition.''

Each week, Lowry courses would be offered in as many as four or five cities around the country. For a week or two before the course, a newspaper advertising campaign would ballyhoo Mr. Lowry's theories. As the operation grew, he could afford to buy late-night television time, and he produced a 30-minute documentary-style commercial, ''How to Be Successful in America,'' narrated by E. G. Marshall, the actor. An Attractive Come-On

In each city Mr. Lowry held an ''introductory'' meeting, at no charge, that he would conclude with a sales pitch for the paid seminar that weekend, which cost up to $495. Associates said Mr. Lowry's sales appeal was invariably successful, though the later seminar would typically not be taught by Mr. Lowry himself.

Depending on the size of the city, the paid turnout could range from 50 to 400 people, Mr. Hoffman said. For their money they got two full days of detailed instruction on the ins and outs of foreclosure, financing and the like, as well as the chance to buy more Lowry instructional materials.

His popularity peaked around 1979 and 1980. At that point high interest rates were spawning foreclosures, forcing some sellers in distress to accept no-money-down offers. Inflation was helping almost any real estate to appreciate in value. Book a Best Seller

Mr. Lowry's book ''How You Can Become Financially Independent by Investing in Real Estate'' made the best seller lists. He followed it with ''How to Become Financially Successful by Owning Your Own Business,'' which Money magazine described in a May 1981 review as ''so comprehensive that it deserves to become a standard reference work.'' (The books were written with considerable assistance from a team of researchers, according to associates of Mr. Lowry.) But even during those good days, Mr. Lowry's operations had problems, colleagues said. Because he was on the road so much, there were administrative difficulties within his companies. Seminars would be arranged, promoted and then canceled at the last minute. Instructors and aides came and went, complaining of low pay and sometimes taking Mr. Lowry's materials with them to start competing enterprises. None among the colleagues to whom Mr. Lowry turned over administrative duties seemed to last more than a year or two.

One former associate said that in the early 1980's Mr. Lowry lost $1 million because of two failed strategies masterminded by subordinates. In one, Mr. Lowry's company invested heavily in a plan to sell more materials to alumni of his courses, who proved largely uninterested. In another, the company tried to hire competing investment speakers and put them to work under Mr. Lowry's umbrella. The high salaries they demanded made the plan a big money loser. Seminars in Decline

At the same time, with the investment climate changing and new competitors emerging daily, the seminar business began tailing off. By 1985, Mr. Lowry's main company, then called the Success Development Institute, had closed its doors, though Mr. Lowry continued on the lecture circuit.

Mr. Lowry was still holding seminars this spring, though twice in the past year his creditors have used such public appearances to serve him with lawsuits. He also seems not to have lost his entrepreneurial zeal: He was recently spotted in an advertisement endorsing a weight-loss program.