Fond Farewell
Gene Autry and his horse Champion
Gene Autry
September 29, 1907 - - - October 2, 1998
5828 West Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood California 90028
Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Texas, somewhere between Dallas and Oklahoma, as the first of four children. His father was a livestock dealer and Gene was raised in the western tradition, and his mother taught him how to play the guitar. He finished high school in Ravia, Oklahoma. In 1929 he went to New York to audition for singing. They told him to go back to Oklahoma, which he did, and sang in Tulsa, becoming known as the Yodeling Cowboy on KVOO. A year later he went back to New York and got a contract with Columbia Records. He was synonomous with the singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and his Western B Movies, which grossed over ten times what they cost to make. In the 1950s he was on television with his own "The Gene Autry Show and wrote over 200 songs. In the early 1960s he had retired from acting and had owned hotels, real estates, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team. He was married to Ina Mae Spivey from 1932 until her death in 1980, and then remarried in 1981 to Jacqueline Ellam.
Gene Autry Links
The Official Autry Museum of Western Heritage www.autry-museum.org
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