Gene Autry Dead at 91
Gene Autry, the white-hatted Hollywood singing
cowboy and American icon who, among other things, recorded 635
albums and made ninety-five films, died today in his Southern
California home. Autry had just turned ninety-one on September
29th.
Born in Tioga, Texas, in 1907 and raised in Oklahoma, Autry began
his performing career modestly as a member of the travelling
Fields Brothers Marvelous Medicine Show. Before
long though, he was cutting Jimmie Rodgers covers
in New York and well on his way to becoming one of the most famous
singers in America during the Depression and the Forties. Among his
many, many recordings were “Back in the Saddle Again” and “Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
His film career proved just as successful, even with such fare
as The Phantom Empire, a science-fiction cowboy serial. He
staked his claim on the small screen as well with the introduction
of television into American homes, starring in his own series from
1950 to 1956.
Autry, who appeared [as an illustration] on the cover of
Rolling Stone on October 23, 1973, retired from performing
in 1956, but continued to amass a fortune from his four radio
stations and numerous other properties and business ventures,
including the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs and the California
Angels baseball team, which he had owned since the team’s creation
in 1961 (Part owners the Walt Disney Co. are set to acquire Autry’s
share of their team, as per an agreement penned in 1995). That same
year, Forbes reported Autry’s net worth at $320
million.
Autry was Hollywood’s first singing cowboy, but he’s the second to
ride off into the final sunset this year: Roy Rogers, who had
followed in Autry’s happy trails all through the heyday of the film
western, passed away in July of this year.