GENE AUTRY (personality)

Gene Autry was a famous singing cowboy western actor from the 1930s to the 1950s. He began singing on radio in 1928, and by 1931, he had his own show. But his big break came in 1934, when he appeared in Ken Maynard's "In Old Santa Fe", and the audiences liked this "singing cowboy", and the next year, he starred in a really wacky serial "The Phantom Empire", which had an underground civilization and robots, but Gene managed to duck away every chapter to sing on his radio show! In 1936, he signed with Republic Pictures, and that ushered in the era of singing cowboy westerns, which soon became much more popular than most regular westerns. He continued his singing, writing over 200 songs, including his greatest ever, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", which sold over 30 million copies. He had a hugely successful TV show, and there was all sorts of merchandising, including toys, games, and comic books. He invested wisely in real estate and bought radio and TV stations, as well as the California Angels baseball team, and he became one of the most successful actors turned businessmen ever. Some of his movies include: Red River Valley, Melody Ranch, and Springtime in the Rockies. He always appeared with his horse Champion. He has five different stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for movies, radio, television, recording, and live performance), the only person ever awarded five different stars! Autry passed away in 1998 at the age of 91.