Orvon Gene Autry was born in Tioga, Tex., on Sept. 29, 1907, and raised in Oklahoma. He worked as a railroad telegraph operator from his late teens until 1928, when, on the advice of Western humorist Will Rogers, who heard him singing and playing the guitar, he went into radio and then recording. In 1931 he wrote and recorded the hit song That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine, the first record to be certified gold (for selling more than a million copies).
Autry made his movie debut as a dude ranch cowboy singer in 1934, in the Ken Maynard film In Old Santa Fe, the first of some 90 musical Westerns in which he appeared. Between 1939 and 1942, at the height of his career, he was one of the top ten box-office attractions, had his own radio show (Melody Ranch, which aired from 1904 to 1956), starred in national rodeos, and recorded numerous Western, folk, and novelty songs.
After serving in the Air Force from 1942 to 1945, Autry resumed his film career and moved into television, where his eponymous series was a fixture between 1950 and 1956. He retired from motion pictures in 1953 and television some ten years later, returning to the latter in the late 1980s to host, along with his postwar film and television sidekick, Pat Buttram, Melody Ranch Theatre on cable television's Nashville Network. Among the songs Autry made famous over the years—his recordings numbered over 600, more than half of which he wrote or co-wrote—were South of the Border; Mexicali Rose; Back in the Saddle Again (also the title of his 1978 autobiography, co-written with Mickey Herskowitz); Don't Fence Me In; Here Comes Santa Claus; Peter Cottontail; and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the second best-selling single of all time.
Autry's many business interests included film, broadcast, and music publishing companies; oil wells; and real estate. He was also the owner and chairman of the board of the California (later, Anaheim) Angels baseball team from its founding in 1961 until 1995, when he sold a 25% interest in the team to the Walt Disney Company. A longtime collector of Western art and memorabilia and champion of the importance and influence of the heritage of the American West, he was the founder and chief executive officer of the board of directors of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, which opened in Los Angeles's Griffith Park in 1988 and is considered one of the premier institutions of its kind. Autry died at his home in the Studio City section of Los Angeles on Oct. 2, 1998.
