He was born Orvon Gene Autry
in Tioga, Texas.He worked
on the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad as a labourer and then a telegrapher.He started on radio after a chance
meeting with Will Rogers and was "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy".His first hit was a duet with Jimmy
Long called "That Silver Daddy of Mine" in 1932 and he was the
first artist in history to have a gold record.In 1934 he made his film
debut in In Old Santa Fe.In all the 44 films he did for
Republic Pictures Corp. he rode his horse Champion.When he served in WWII he was
succeeded by Roy Rogers.From
1940-1956 he had a show on CBS called Gene
Autry's Melody Ranch.He made 635 recordings and wrote more than 300 songs.He retired in 1964 and along with
his other business ventures he took over the California Angels baseball
team.He was elected to the
Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1970, and the Western Performers Hall of Fame in 1972.He is the only performer to
have all 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for each performing
medium.The GeneAutryWesternHeritageMuseum was founded in 1988 in Los Angeles.There is
a town named after him called Gene Autry, Oklahoma.He died
at his home in Studio
City, California on 2nd October 1998, of lymphoma, when he was 91 years old.
