Gene Autry
1907 - 1998Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed The Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s.
From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero - honest, brave, and true. Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience. In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again", and his hit "At Mail Call Today", Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, most especially his biggest hit "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as well as "Frosty the Snowman", "Here Comes Santa Claus", and "Up on the House Top".
Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance.
My Music: A Classic Christmas
Gavin MacLeod, Marion Ross
Gavin MacLeod and Marion Ross host a Christmas celebration that features classic performances of popular holiday standards and traditional carols performed, throughout decades past, by an array of artists, including Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Brenda Lee, Eddy Arnold, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Mitch Miller and the Gang, Gene Autry, Jimmy Boyd, the Supremes, Rosemary Clooney, the Lennon Sisters, Burl Ives, Mahalia Jackson, Mitzi Gaynor, Julie Andrews, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters, Jose Feliciano, the Drifters, Ronnie Spector, the Harry Simeone Chorale, and David Bowie.
My Music: A Classic Christmas
Christmas from Hollywood
Phillip Dye
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlton Heston
Dozens of stars--including Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Bob Hope, and more--demonstrate how the yuletide season is celebrated in the perpetually warm and sunny world of Hollywood, California.
Christmas from Hollywood
The Strawberry Roan
John English
Gene Autry, Champion
Young Joe is paralyzed as he is bucked by a wild horse, a strawberry roan. Angered, his father, Walt, tries to shoot the horse but is stopped by his foreman, Gene Autry. The roan escapes and Autry, told to leave the ranch by Walt, finds and trains the horse, now named Champ, in hopes that by returning it to Joe it will provide him with the will to overcome his disability.
The Strawberry Roan
Rovin' Tumbleweeds
George Sherman
Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette
Rancher Autry takes a job singing on the radio to aid farmers and ranchers whose lands were destroyed by raging floods. Blaming crooked politicians, he goes to Washington and tries to put through a food control bill and finds he has a lot to learn. In this classic release, Gene introduces his immortal theme song, "Back in the Saddle Again," which has gone on to become a piece of American History.
Rovin' Tumbleweeds
Cowboy Serenade
William Morgan
Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette
Gene Autry heads a cattlemen's association and calls on the inexperienced Jim Agnew to negotiate the sale of five hundred heads of cattle. Jim ends up losing the cattle in a crooked poker game, however, and Gene and his sidekick Frog set out to find the cheating gamblers. It soon becomes clear that the leader of the gamblers is none other than Asa Lock, the dastardly father of Gene's romantic interest Stephanie.
Cowboy Serenade
Mountain Rhythm
B. Reeves Eason
Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette
Cavanaugh and McCauley are after the ranchers land. When the Government announces the land will be put up for auction, the ranchers pool their money only to have it stolen by Cavanaugh's men. They then plan to sell their cattle but Cavanaugh announces a fake gold strike and the cowhands all leave. But Gene's hobo friend the Judge says he will get the cattle to market and he sends out a signal to his hobo friends.
Mountain Rhythm
Riders in the Sky
John English
Gene Autry, Champion
When asked about the Ghost Riders song he sings, Gene Autry tells this legend: Gene is about to resign as an investigator for the county attorney and go into the cattle business with his pal Chuckawalla Jones but decides instead to help Anne Lawson clear her father, rancher Ralph Lawson, of a false murder charge. He looks for the three witnesses who can testify that Lawson shot only in self defense in killing a gambler, but the witnesses are terrorized by another gambler, town boss Rock McCleary, who shoots witness Pop Roberts Morgan. Fatally wounded, Pop gives Gene the information needed to clear Lawson, then dies crying the "Ghost Riders" are coming for him. Gene then heads for a showdown with McCleary.
Riders in the Sky
