The Singing Cowboy
Gene Autry - succeeded at just about anything he undertook: radio, records, songwriting, movies, TV, real estate and business. Known as 'America's Favorite Singing Cowboy', he is the only entertainer to have five stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. He appeared in 93 feature films and made 635 recordings. His beloved Christmas song 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer remains the second best selling single of all time, with sales totaling more than 30 million.
So . . . Do YOU remember Gene Autry?
As a baby boomer I grew up during the 'Golden Age' of TV cowboys. I fondly look back on many afternoons rushing home from grade school and turning on the television just in time to have my cowboy hero of the moment come riding, guns blazing, into my living room.Yes Gene Autry was one of my all time favorites, but he stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickok, The Cisco Kid and many, many others.
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Young Gene Autry inspired by Will Rogers
Just who is this singing cowboy and how did he climb to such a lofty perch?Orvon Gene Autry was born Sept. 29, 1907, in Tioga, Texas, the son of an itinerant preacher. He grew up in the small Oklahoma town of Ravia. Gene bought his first guitar at the age of 12 for $8, and taught himself to play. After graduating from high school he worked as a telegrapher for St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad.
While he was singing and playing in the office one night, Gene was discovered by the great cowboy humorist Will Rogers. Rogers suggested that Gene go to Hollywood were he could make some money singing in the movies. Years later, in and interview, Gene added that the next time he saw Will Rogers was in Hollywood, and according to Gene, Will just nodded and said, "I see you made it, kid."
In 1928 he began singing on KVOO a local radio station in Tulsa as "Oklahoma"s Yodeling Cowboy." He gained a popular following, and in 1929 was given a recording contract with Columbia Records. Soon after, he began performing on the "National Barn Dance" for radio station WLS in Chicago. His first hit record came in 1931 with "That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine", the first record ever certified gold for having sold more than a million copies.
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Gene the singer becomes 'Gene Autry the Cowboy'
Then in 1934, Western singer Gene Autry went to Hollywood. He couldn't act, he couldn't ride, he couldn't rope, and he couldn't shoot. But that didn't prevent him from becoming the screen's most popular cowboy star within just a few years, and his personal success built the fortune of his home studio, Republic.Gene made his film debut as a dude ranch cowboy singer in the Ken Maynard film "In Old Santa Fe". By 1937 he was America's Favorite Cowboy, voted the Number 1 Western Star by the theater exhibitors of America. In 1940 the theater exhibitors voted Autry the fourth biggest box office attraction, behind Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and Spencer Tracy.
Gene defined the B-western of the '30s and '40s. Autry remained in first or second place among cowboy stars in terms of box office draw until he retired from motion pictures in 1953.
Gene Autry Music from Amazon
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Aurty's serves his country in WWII
During World War II, Autry enlisted for service and served his country as Sgt. Gene Autry with the Air Transport Command. From 1943 until 1945, he ferried fuel, ammunition, and arms in the China-Burma-India theater; flying the hazardous air route over the Himalayas, known as "The Hump".When the war ended, Autry was assigned to Special Services, where he toured with a USO troupe in the South Pacific before resuming his movie career in 1946.
After his wartime service, Autry returned to Republic pictures, but in 1947 went over to Columbia, where he made several dozen musical Westerns. Always a man of vision, Autry realized that the days of the B-Western were numbered, and in 1950 he became one of the first major movie stars to move into television.
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For the next five years, he produced and starred in 91 half-hour episodes of "The Gene Autry Show", as well as producing such popular TV series as "Annie Oakley", "The Range Rider", "Buffalo Bill Jr", "The Adventures of Champion", as well as the first 39 episodes of "Death Valley Days".Autry's popularity was apparent during his personal appearance tours. The first performer to sell out Madison Square Garden, his concert and rodeo appearances throughout the United States and Europe are legendary and served as a model for other performers. Autry did two shows a day, seven days a week, for 65 to 85 days at a stretch.
Gene Autry the masterful businessman
He carried his love for entertaining and sharp business sense into broadcasting, where, under the Golden West Broadcasters banner, he owned such award-winning stations as KMPC radio and KTLA Television in Los Angeles as well as other stations across the country.Then Autry hung up his performing spurs in 1956, but continued to own four radio stations, the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs, and several other properties. In 1961 Gene Autry's great love of baseball prompted him to purchase the American League's California Angels. Long active in Major League Baseball, Autry held the title of Vice President of the American League until his death.
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Gene Autry, America's Favorite Singing Cowboy, passed away at his home in Studio City, California on October 2, 1998, after a long illness. He was 91 years old.Among the many honors and awards Autry received were:
- Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969.
- Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1972.
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Achievement in Arts Foundation.
- Inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
- He received the Songwriters' Guild Life Achievement Award.
- Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
- He received the Hubert Humphrey Humanitarian of the Year Award.
- He was a 33rd Degree Mason and given the prestigious award of the Grand Cross of the Court of Honor.
Links for Fans of Gene Autry
If you just can't get enough of Gene Autry, you might want to ride over to one of these other ranches on the internet range.
- Gene Autry Collectibles
- Gene Autry collectible merchandise and information on how to determine current market value.
- The Official Gene Autry Website
- Large site with lots of in depth information about Gene.
- Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum
- Website of Museum honoring Autry in his home state.
- Gene Autry at CMT
- Nice showbiz Bio on Aurty
Other Hollywood Cowboy Heroes at Squioo
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Clayton Moore
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Hi Ho Silver, Awayyy . . . CLAYTON MOORE as - The Lone Ranger In today's world of multi-million dollalr sports, rock and television stars and super-stars the term and concept of ROLE MODEL; is often used and abused repeatedly. In the 1950 's CLAYTON...
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Roy Rogers
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In 1943 Republic Studios declared Roy Rogers to be the "King of the Cowboys". The cowboy superstar from Duck Run, Ohio, fit the silver-saddle throne like no man before or since. As a sagebrush movie hero, he shot the straightest, and rode t...
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Hopalong Cassidy
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Hopalong Cassidy and William Boyd were familiar names during the 1940's and 50's. The hero in black rode across the plains of the old west and into living rooms across America in his fight for law and order. Whenever a bad guy needed a lesson taught...
Websites by Author:
- Cowboy Kid Corral
- Everything Cowboy or Western for Kids
- The University of Golf
- Your Golf Education Starts Here
- The University of Bowling
- Your Bowling Education Starts Here
- The College of Martial Arts
- Find Apparel, Training Equipment, Books, Videos, and DVDs on over twenty major martial arts.
- Quality Surplus RV Parts
- A site where RV, and motor home owners and mechanics can easily locate hard to find discount parts and accessories.
- The Old Cookie Jar Shop
- THE online auction portal for finding collectible vintage Cookie Jars at affordable prices, and valuable information for enthusiasts.
- Quality Surplus Big Truck Parts
- A site where 18 wheeler owners and mechanics can easily locate hard to find discount parts and accessories.
- Old Railroad Watches
- Railroad watches are under valued today. Savvy collectors know this! Invest in some yourself. You'll be glad you did!
- The Old Phone Store
- As collectibles old phones are very under valued today, and knowledgeable collectors know this!
- Discount Crystal Skulls
- Are you one of those that finds yourself drawn to becoming a care taker for crystal skulls?
- Discount Hood Ornaments
- A resource portal for connecting those that are looking for a particular vintage car hood ornament with those that are seeking to sell them.
- Ye Olde Tyme Village Christmas Shoppe
- Everything Christmas for your home. A fun internet site for locating new and used Christmas decorations at discount prices.
- Antler Lamp Shop
- Everything Antlers for your home. A fun internet site for locating new and used Antler Lamps at discount prices.
- Discount Navajo Arts
- Your internet source for substantial discounts on Navajo Indian works of art.
Let's Hear it for Gene Autry!
Gene Autry and his music touched many of our lives. Tell us how he rode through your life, or how you feel about this lens.
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- lefty78 lefty78 Jun 19, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
- Great lens! Would love to see it in my group Total Baseball
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- KimGiancaterino KimGiancaterino Mar 10, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
- He was a wonderful person. I live very close to the Gene Autry Museum in Griffith Park. What a great place for fans of the west, and of Gene Autry himself. Very vice tribute.
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- GypsyPirate GypsyPirate Dec 14, 2007 @ 9:08 am
- Another great cowboy lens! I'm learning so much, I love it!
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Hello world. My name is DeWitt Mosby Sr. My new credo in life "work is a 4 letter word". You see, I recently retired at the age of 62, with a desire t...
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