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===Homages and influence===
===Homages and influence===


For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Roy Rogers has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 1752 Vine Street, a second star at 1733 Vine Street for his contribution to radio, and a third star at 1620 Vine Street for his contribution to the television industry.Roy and Dale were inducted into the [[Western Performers Hall of Fame]] at the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]] in [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]], in 1976 and Roy was inducted again as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in 1995. Roy was also twice elected to the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]], first as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in 1980 and as a soloist in 1988. Rogers was mentioned in the [[Lyle Lovett]] single "If I Had A Boat"</ref>.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Roy Rogers has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 1752 Vine Street, a second star at 1733 Vine Street for his contribution to radio, and a third star at 1620 Vine Street for his contribution to the television industry. Roy and Dale were inducted into the [[Western Performers Hall of Fame]] at the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]] in [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]], in 1976 and Roy was inducted again as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in 1995. Roy was also twice elected to the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]], first as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in 1980 and as a soloist in 1988.
Rogers was mentioned in the [[Lyle Lovett]] single "If I Had A Boat"</ref>.


Elton John's 1973 album "[[Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]]" contained the escapist ballad "Roy Rogers".
Elton John's 1973 album "[[Goodbye Yellow Brick Road]]" contained the escapist ballad "Roy Rogers".

Revision as of 15:34, 26 June 2010

For other meanings of "Roy Rogers", see Roy Rogers (disambiguation).
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989.
Born
Leonard Franklin Slye
Occupation(s)actor, singer
Years active1935–1998
Spouse(s)Lucille Ascolese (1933–1935)
Grace Arline Wilkins (1936–1946)
Dale Evans (1947–1998)

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), was an American singer and cowboy actor, as well as the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants chain. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in over one hundred movies and The Roy Rogers Show. The show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. His productions usually featured a sidekick, often either Pat Brady, (who drove a jeep called "Nellybelle") or the crotchety George "Gabby" Hayes. Roy's nickname was "King of the Cowboys". Dale's nickname was "Queen of the West."

Biography

Early life

The baby who would become famous as Roy Rogers was born to Andrew ("Andy") and Mattie (Womack) Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his family lived in a tenement building on 2nd Street. (Riverfront Stadium was constructed at this location in 1970 and Rogers would later joke that he had been born at second base.) Dissatisfied with his job and city life, Andy Slye and his brother Will built a 12-by-50-foot houseboat from salvage lumber, and, in July 1912, the Slye family floated on the Ohio River towards Portsmouth, Ohio. Desiring a more stable existence in Portsmouth, the Slyes purchased land on which to build a home, but the flood of 1913 allowed them to move the houseboat to their property and continue living in it on dry land.

In 1919 the Slyes purchased a farm about 12 miles north of Portsmouth, at Duck Run, near Lucasville, Ohio. They there built a six-room home. Leonard's father soon realized that the farm alone would provide insufficient income for his family and he took a job at a shoe factory in Portsmouth, living there during the week and returning home on the weekends, bearing gifts for the family following paydays, one of which was a horse on which Leonard learned the basics of horsemanship.

After completing the 8th Grade, Leonard Slye attended high school at McDermott, Ohio. When he was 17 his family returned to Cincinnati, where his father began work at a shoe factory. He soon decided on the necessity to help his family financially, so he quit high school, joined his father at the shoe factory, and began attending night school. After being ridiculed for falling asleep in class, however, he quit school and never returned.

Leonard and his father felt imprisoned by their factory jobs. In 1929, his older sister Mary was living at Lawndale, California with her husband. Father and son decided to quit their shoe factory jobs. The family packed their 1923 Dodge for a visit with Mary and stayed four months before returning to Ohio. Almost immediately, Leonard had the opportunity to travel to California with Mary's father-in-law, and the rest of the family followed in the spring of 1930.

The Slyes rented a small house near Mary. Leonard and his father immediately found employment as truck drivers for a highway construction project. They reported to work one morning, however, to learn their employer had gone bankrupt. The economic hardship of the Great Depression had followed them west, and the Slyes soon found themselves among the economic refugees traveling from job to job picking fruit and living in worker campsites. (He would later read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and marvel at its accuracy.) One day Andy Slye heard of a shoe factory hiring in Los Angeles and asked Leonard to join him in applying there for work. Leonard, having seen the joy that his guitar and singing had brought to the destitute around the campfires, hesitantly told his father that he was going to pursue a living in music. With his father's blessing, he and cousin Stanley Slye went to Los Angeles and sought musical engagements as The Slye Brothers.

In 1932, Len met Lucille Ascolese while on tour. That same year, a palimino colt was foaled in Santa Cietro, CA, named "Golden Cloud", and later renamed "Trigger". In May 1933, Len, 21, proposed to Lucille, 19, via a radio broadcast. Len then went on tour with the "O-Bar-O Cowboys" and in June 1933 met Grace Arline Wilkins at a Roswell, NM radio station when she traded Len a lemon pie for his singing "Swiss Yodel" over the air. Len was sure to return the pie plates to Grace the next day. By August 1934 Len and Lucille had separated as she was reportedly jealous and tired of being a musician's wife. Len and Lucille's divorce was granted on May 28, 1935, and became final on June 8, 1936. Having corresponded since their first meeting, Len and Grace Arline Wilkins were married in Roswell, New Mexico on June 11, 1936.[1]

In 1941 the couple adopted a girl, Cheryl Darlene. In 1942, they legally changed their names to Roy and Grace Arline Rogers. The following year, Arline bore a daughter, Linda Lou.

In 1944 Dale Evans was first cast in a movie with Roy. Roy & Arline had a son, Roy Jr. ("Dusty") in 1946, but Arline died of complications from the birth a few days afterward on November 3, 1946. Roy and Dale soon fell in love, and Roy proposed to her during a rodeo at Chicago Stadium. They married on New Year's Eve in 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, where a few months earlier they had filmed Home in Oklahoma. Roy and Dale remained married until Roy's death in 1998.[2]

Career

File:Gabby Hayes & Roy Rogers.jpg
Publicity photo of Gabby Hayes and Roy Rogers from the early 1940s. Hayes also had his own children's television program, The Gabby Hayes Show.

Leonard Slye moved to California to become a singer. After four years of little success, he formed Sons of the Pioneers, a Western cowboy music group, in 1934. The group hit it big with songs like "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". From his first film appearance in 1935, he worked steadily in western films, including a large supporting role as a singing cowboy while still billed as "Leonard Slye" in a Gene Autry movie. In 1938 when Autry temporarily walked out on his movie contract, Slye was immediately rechristened "Roy Rogers"[3] and assigned the lead in Under Western Stars. Rogers became a matinee idol and American legend. A competitor for Gene Autry as the nation's favorite singing cowboy was suddenly born. In addition to his own movies, Rogers played a supporting role in the John Wayne classic Dark Command (1940). Rogers became a major box office attraction.

Rogers was an idol for many children through his films and television shows. Most of his postwar films were in Trucolor in an era when almost all other B-movies were black-and-white. Some of his movies would segue into animal adventures, in which Roy's horse Trigger would go off on his own for a while, with the camera following him.

With money from not only Rogers' films but his own public appearances going to Republic Pictures, Rogers brought a clause into a 1940 contract with the studio where he would have the right to his likeness, voice and name for merchandising.[4]There were Roy Rogers action figures, cowboy adventure novels, a comic strip, playsets, a long-lived Dell Comics comic book series (Roy Rogers Comics) written by Gaylord Du Bois, and a variety of marketing successes. Roy Rogers was second only to Walt Disney in the amount of items featuring his name.[5]The Sons of the Pioneers continued their popularity, and they've never stopped performing from the time Roy started the group, replacing members as they retired or passed away (all original members are deceased). Although Rogers was no longer an active member, they often appeared as Rogers' backup group in films, radio, and television, and Roy would occasionally appear with them in performances up until his death. In August 1950, Dale and Roy had a daughter, Robin Elizabeth, who died of complications of Down Syndrome shortly before her second birthday. Evans wrote about losing their daughter in her book Angel Unaware.

Rogers and Evans were also well known as advocates for adoption and as founders and operators of children's charities. They adopted several children. Both were outspoken Christians. In Apple Valley, California, where they made their home, numerous streets and highways as well as civic buildings have been named after them in recognition of their efforts on behalf of homeless and handicapped children. Roy was an active Freemason and a Shriner, and was noted for his support of their charities.

Roy and Dale's famous theme song, "Happy Trails," was written by Dale and they sang as a duet to sign off their television show.In the fall of 1962, the couple co-hosted a comedy-western-variety program, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show, aired on ABC. It was cancelled after three months, losing in the ratings to The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS. He also made numerous cameo or guest appearances on other popular television shows, starring as himself or other cowboy-type characters, such as in "The Bushwackers" a season one episode of Wonder Woman.[6] Rogers also owned a Hollywood production company which handled his own series. It also filmed other undertakings, including the 1955-1956 CBS western series Brave Eagle starring Keith Larsen as a young peaceful Cheyenne chief, Kim Winona as Morning Star, his romantic interest, and the Hopi Indian Anthony Numkena as Keena, Brave Eagle's foster son.

Rogers owned a Thoroughbred racehorse named Triggairo who won 13 career races including the 1975 El Encino Stakes at Santa Anita Park.[7]

Death

Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998. Rogers was residing in Apple Valley, California at the time of his death. He was buried at Sunset Hills cemetery in Apple Valley.[8]

Homages and influence

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Roy Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street, a second star at 1733 Vine Street for his contribution to radio, and a third star at 1620 Vine Street for his contribution to the television industry. Roy and Dale were inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1976 and Roy was inducted again as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in 1995. Roy was also twice elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, first as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in 1980 and as a soloist in 1988.

Rogers was mentioned in the Lyle Lovett single "If I Had A Boat"</ref>.

Elton John's 1973 album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" contained the escapist ballad "Roy Rogers".

In the 1988 film Die Hard, the Bruce Willis character John McClane used the nom de guerre of "Roy", saying "I was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually".

Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, a daughter of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, has written with Frank Thompson Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans'.[9]

Filmography

Selected discography

Charted albums

Year Album Chart Positions Label
US Country US
1970 The Country Side of Roy Rogers 40 Capitol
1971 A Man from Duck Run 34
1975 Happy Trails to You 35 20th Century
1991 Tribute 17 113 RCA

Charted singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country CAN Country
1946 "A Little White Cross on the Hill" 7 — Singles only
1947 "My Chickashay Gal" 4 —
1948 "Blue Shadows on the Trail"
(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers) 		6 —
"(There'll Never Be Another) Pecos Bill"
(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers) 		13 —
1950 "Stampede" 8 —
1970 "Money Can't Buy Love" 35 — The Country Side of Roy Rogers
1971 "Lovenworth" 12 33 A Man from Duck Run
"Happy Anniversary" 47 —
1972 "These Are the Good Old Days" 73 — Single only
1974 "Hoppy, Gene and Me"A 15 12 Happy Trails to You
1980 "Ride Concrete Cowboy, Ride"
(Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers) 		80 — Smokey & the Bandit II (soundtrack)
1991 "Hold on Partner" (w/ Clint Black) 42 48 Tribute
  • A"Hoppy, Gene and Me" also peaked at #38 on the RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks chart in Canada.

Music videos

Year Video Director
1991 "Hold on Partner" (with Clint Black) Jack Cole

Popular songs recorded by Roy Rogers

  • Don't Fence Me In
  • "Hold That Critter Down"
  • "Little White Cross On The Hill"
  • "One More Ride"
  • "Ride Ranger Ride"
  • "That Pioneer Mother Of Mine"
  • "Tumbling Tumbleweeds"
  • "Way Out There" (singing and yodeling)
  • "Why, Oh Why, Did I Ever Leave Wyoming?"
  • "Hold On Partner" (duet with Clint Black)

Trivia

John McClane, the main character in the action movie Die Hard played by Bruce Willis, said that his 'hero' was Roy Rogers, and even used the codename "Roy" when speaking to the police.

American Dad character Roger cameos Roy Rogers in the episode Roy Rogers McFreely. Where he poses as the elitist 'Chairman of the Association'.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Roy Rogers" by Robert W. Phillips, MacFarland Press publisher (1995)
  2. ^ Phillips, Robert W., Roy Rogers: A Biography, Radio History, Television Career Chronicle, Discography, Filmography, Comicography, Merchandising and Advertising History, Collectibles Description, Bibliography, and Index, McFarland, 1995 (pp. 13-15). ISBN 0899509371, 9780899509372
  3. ^ Leonard Slye's stage name was suggested by Republic Picture's staff after Will Rogers and the shortening of Leroy.
  4. ^ p.38 Phillips, Robert W. Roy Rogers: A Biography, Radio History, Television Chronicle 1995 McFarland
  5. ^ p.132 Enss, Chris and Kazanjian, Howard The Cowboy and the Senorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans 2005 TwoDot
  6. ^ http://www.thewb.com/shows/wonder-woman/pilot-the-new-original-wonder-woman/b6dad16f-4e16-41f0-8534-590f88ef6c44
  7. ^ Triggairo Horse Pedigree
  8. ^ Dale Evans, Queen Of The West, Dead At 88 last access February 22, 2007.
  9. ^ Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and Frank Thompson, Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Lanham, Maryland, 2003, ISBN 1-58979-026-X
  • Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, with Carlton Stowers, Happy Trails: The story of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Carmel, New York, Guideposts, 1979, ISBN 0-8499-0086-7.
  • Zwisohn, Laurence. (1998). "Roy Rogers". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 456–457.

External links

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