Ken Festus Curtis Country Singer

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1991 Conagher
1990 Cry-Baby
1988 Once Upon a Texas Train
1983 Lost
1981 California Gold Rush
1981 Legend of the Wild
1976 The Pony Express Rider
1973 Robin Hood
1964 Cheyenne Autumn
1962 How the West Was Won
1961 Two Rode Together
1960 My Dog, Buddy
1960 The Alamo
1960 Freckles
1959 The Killer Shrews
1959 The Young Land
1959 The Giant Gila Monster
1959 The Horse Soldiers
1959 Escort West
1958 The Last Hurrah
1958 The Missouri Traveler
1957 The Wings of Eagles
1957 Spring Reunion
1956 The Searchers
1955 The Long Gray Line
1955 Mister Roberts
1952 The Quiet Man
1951 Don Daredevil Rides Again
1950 Rio Grande
1949 Stallion Canyon
1949 Riders of the Pony Express
1949 Call of the Forest
1947 Over the Santa Fe Trail
1946 Out of the Depths
1946 Cowboy Blues
1946 Throw a Saddle on a Star
1946 Singing on the Trail
1946 Lone Star Moonlight
1945 Song of the Prairie
1945 Rhythm Round-Up
1945 Growing Older Gracefully
1945 Letter from Plum Creek

Ken Curtis, passed away at the age of 74 in 1991 (Fresno, Calif). Born Curtis Gates in Bent County, in the dry lands of Colorado where his father was Sheriff. As a boy, he helped out in his father's jail in Colorado. He worked on the family ranch and at the town jail and studied saxophone in high school.

He came to Los Angeles in 1938 and became a staff singer on NBC Radio, where he was heard by composer Johnny Mercer and singer Jo Stafford.

Ken worked as vocalist with several bands including Tommy Dorsey's during the late 1930s; Dorsey had him change name to Curtis. Ken served in infantry and in anti-aircraft unit during WWII.

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In 1962, TV show Ripcord appear as an half hour adventure series with a pair of parachutists who operated Ripcord, Inc., a skydiving school. Larry Pennell and Ken Curtis starred as partners. The series was produced for United Artists.

In the fall of 1964, the character of Festus Haggen a backwoodsman who became the new deputy and who provided comic relief formerly supplied by Chester Dennis Weaver), was added to the famous TV program Gunsmoke.

His seedy, drawling, unwashed Gunsmoke character with the squinty eyes and drooping hat became so beloved that when Dennis Weaver left the role of Chester Goode in 1964, Mr. Curtis signed on as his
replacement for the remaining 11 years of what proved the most enduring Western series in TV history.
Credit:www.eviltwin.velvetsofa.com

Ken Curtis was with the Sons of the Pioneers as a lead singer from 1949 to 1952. The Sons of the Pioneers were and are the foremost western vocal group in history. Ken's big

hits with the group included "Room Full of Roses" and "Riders in the Sky". The Sons also worked in radio and on film soundtracks, including Rio Grande (1950), for director John Ford, who was a big fan.

Many many years ago when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,
And soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother,
For she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy.
My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,
Though it made me mad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter
Who, of course, was my step-mother.
Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,
For he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,
She's my grandmother too.
If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.
For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa!

I'm my own gran'pa! I'm my own gran'pa!
It sounds funny I know, but it really is so I'm my own gran'pa!
Credit: www.countrywhispers.com