Orvon Gene Autry: The Singing Cowboy

In 1960 he put Champion out to graze and hung up his spurs. His business interests in the electronic media, the California Angels baseball team, hotels, and ranches kept him busy. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Autry as a member in 1969. He still had time for old friends, however. He continued to give money to a destitute, alcoholic Ken Maynard until the actor’s death in 1973.

Autry’s longtime first wife, Ina Mae Spivey, died in 1980. In 1982 he married his second wife, Jackie Elam, and he quit drinking.

Autry’s fame and fortune never went to his head. Cowboy singer Michael Martin Murphey tells the following story: In 1936 Autry got together with John Wayne at a movie opening, and they got drunk together.

John Wayne, a little bit tipsy, said, “You know, Gene, had I been able to sing, your career woulda’ been history. You would never have made it.” And apparently Gene’s retort to that was, “Hey, it’s not my singing, it’s my extra-fine acting that has carried me through.” Gene never considered himself a very good actor and never considered himself a very good singer either. He was very humble about that.

Autry remained vigorous and active throughout his life. In 1993 his theme song, “Back in the Saddle Again,” enjoyed a popular revival on the sound track for the film Sleepless in Seattle. The sound track stayed on Billboard Magazine’s charts for more than a dozen weeks, selling more than 2 million copies. Autry coauthored the song with Ray Whitley and first recorded it in 1939.

Autryville, in Sampson County, North Carolina, commemorates the singer’s name and memory. Located just east of Fayetteville, the tiny town is populated by about 79 families, totaling 166 people.

More prominently, two museums also feature the story of Autry’s life and legacy. The Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles near Griffith Park opened in November 1988. It perpetuates the mythical and movie West that he helped to shape. A superb facility, the museum also offers an engaging look at western history and culture and includes excellent research materials. At the museum’s Web site notes, The galleries also present the story of the West by contrasting the historical with the mythological. Art, film, and advertising have shaped perceptions of the region, and The Autry explores contemporary culture, as well as historical realities.

Whether it is the art of Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, or N. C.

Wyeth; the tools, clothing, and firearms of people who inhabited the West; or the costumes, scripts, and props of western film and television, The Autry offers an enjoyable and engaging opportunity to discover the legacy of the West.

On Autry’s eighty-fifth birthday on 29 September 1992, 100 schoolchildren gathered at the museum to serenade him with “Happy Birthday.” A cowboy riding a galloping steed topped his birthday cake, big enough to feed far more than 100 hungry children. As Autry observed, “Kids have always supported me.

I’ve always had a great following of kids.” Outfitted with his usual white cowboy hat, Autry expressed a special birthday wish: “My wish is that everybody’s dream would come true.”

The Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum of Local History is located in the old Gene Autry School building in the town bearing his name. Each September, the museum, funded solely by donations, sponsors a film and music festival that attracts many B-western film stars and fans. In 1997 Rhino Records honored the singer with Gene Autry: Sing, Cowboy Sing, a three-CD box collection that includes an informative booklet. Autry died, after a prolonged illness, in Studio City, California, on 2 October 1998. His passing, just three months after that of Roy Rogers, saddened fans around the world. His second wife, Jackie, and his sister Veda survive him. The only entertainer to earn five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he is remembered fondly for his films, musical recordings (635), television episodes, radio (16 seasons of Melody Ranch), and live performances.

It’s fitting that a modern-day cowboy legend like Gene Autry should also be tied to older western legends, such as the Alamo. One of Gene’s ancestors, North Carolina-born Micajah Autry, fought and died at the most famous battle in Texas history, the Alamo, on 6 March 1836. His name is prominently inscribed on the tall granite monument that towers in front of the old San Antonio mission/ fortress.

However, a living link also connects Autry and the Alamo. Joseph Blyth III, a retired automotive industry consultant, is also related to Micajah and Gene Autry. Furthermore, Blyth acted as an extra in a number of B-western and other films. Thus, myth connects with myth, but so do flesh-and-blood human beings, like the Autrys and Blyth.