Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy in a
crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than
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three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern
California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than
three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
Known as the "Singing Cowboy," Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Texas, the first child of Delbert Autry and the former Elnora Ozment. He seldom spoke of his childhood because he wanted to forget most of it. His father was generally worthless, absent more often than present, and his mother and her four children had to depend on the charity of relatives in Texas and Oklahoma.
When he was 16 years old, Autry went to work at a local railway station. He soon switched to manning the telegraph line at different stops along the railway line. One night, he played for a customer who told him that he had enough talent to get a job on the radio. The customer turned out to be actor Will Rogers, and Autry soon quit his job to find work in the music business.At 20, Orvon traveled to New York in search of a recording contract, but was turned away. He came home with a new name, Gene Autry, probably borrowed from a popular crooner, Gene Austin, whom he met on the trip.
In his first radio gig, at KVOO in Tulsa, he was billed as Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy and imitated country star Jimmie Rodgers. His first hit record, “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” propelled him to the big time on Chicago’s WLS Barn Dance, the model for Nashville’s enduring Grand Ole Opry. Autry wrote the song himself. It sold over 500,000 copies in its first release. Autry was the first artist in history to have a gold record.
Autry soon landed a regular spot on the National Barn Dance, which a show that was recorded in Chicago, Illinois. During a trip home to Oklahoma, Autry met Ina Mae Spivey and married her four months later, on April 1, 1932. The wedding was so sudden
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that some friends thought it was an April fool’s prank, but the marriage lasted 48 years. After Gene’s mother died that spring, his two sisters and
brother moved in with the newlyweds. Ina, just 21, became their surrogate mother. The Autrys never had children.
brother moved in with the newlyweds. Ina, just 21, became their surrogate mother. The Autrys never had children.
In 1935, Autry signed with Republic Pictures and made his major film debut, The Phantom Empire. That same year, Autry starred in Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935), the first Western plotted around the main character's ability to sing, and thus became credited with creating the musical Western. His other films include The Singing Cowboy (1937), Rhythm of the Saddle (1938) and Sioux City Sue (1942). In 1940, he was the 4th highest grossing box office attraction according to Theatre Exhibitors of America. The only stars above him were Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, and Spencer Tracy.
Autry was also a savvy businessman, developing and promoting his own lines of western-themed merchandise. During World War II, he took a break from his career to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces, serving as a pilot from 1942 to '45. He returned to the music charts in 1949 with the holiday classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which became the second highest selling Christmas song of all time. It has sold over 30 million copies. He wrote over 200 songs, including his theme song, "Back in the Saddle Again." By 1948, Dell Publishing was printing over 1,000,000 Gene Autry Comic Books per year.
Autry lost his wife in 1980. The following year, he married Jacqueline Ellam. Autry worked to preserve some of America's past with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, which he established in 1988. Many of the items featured in the museum came from Autry's own collection of memorabilia. It is now known as the Autry National Center of the American West.
(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, Biography.com & sabr.com)