Rex Allen

Rex Elvie Allen Sr. (December 31, 1920 – December 17, 1999),

Early life Allen was born to Horace E. Allen and Luella Faye Clark on a ranch in Mud Springs Canyon, forty miles from Willcox in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. As a boy he played guitar and sang at local functions with his fiddle-playing father, until high-school graduation when he toured the Southwest as a rodeo rider. He got his start in show business on the East Coast.

Early career

Allen began his singing career on radio station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after which he became better known as a performer on the National Barn Dance on WLS in Chicago.

When singing cowboys such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were very much in vogue in American film, in 1949 Republic Pictures in Hollywood gave him a screen test and put him under contract. on screen Allen personified the clean cut, God-fearing American hero of the Wild West, who wore a white Stetson hat, loved his faithful horse Koko, and had a loyal buddy who shared his adventures. Allen's comic-relief sidekick in his first few pictures was first Buddy Ebsen and then character actor Slim Pickens.

Later career Allen wrote and recorded many songs, a number of which were featured in his own films. Late in coming to the industry, his film career was relatively short as the popularity of series westerns faded by the mid 1950s. But he starred in a number of B-Westerns during the 1950s. In 1961, he was one of five rotating hosts for NBC-TV's Five Star Jubilee.

Allen had a rich, pleasant voice, ideally suited for narration, and was able to find considerable work as a narrator in a variety of films, especially for Walt Disney Pictures wildlife films and television shows. He had collapsed in his driveway after suffering a heart attack and was then accidentally run over by his caregiver. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at Railroad Park in Willcox.

Legacy

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Allen was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1983, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 1989, his life story was told in the book Rex Allen: My Life, Sunrise to Sunset – The Arizona Cowboy, written by Paula Simpson-Witt and Snuff Garrett.

The Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum and Willcox Cowboy Hall of Fame in Willcox features Allen's collection of memorabilia, including photos, movie posters, cowboy outfits, records and musical instruments. His cremated ashes were scattered in Railroad Park, across the street from the museum, near a bronze statue of Allen.

Discography Albums Year Album US Country Label 1956 Under Western Skies — Decca 1958 Mister Cowboy — 1960 Rex Allen Sings — Hacienda 1961 Say One for Me — Buena Vista 1962 16 Golden Hits — Faith of a Man — Mercury Sings and Tells Tales of the Golden West — 1964 Western Ballads — Hilltop 1968 The Smooth Country Sound of Rex Allen 42 Decca 1970 Touch of God's Hands — 1973 Boney Kneed Hairy Legged Cowboy Song — JMI 1980 Love Gone Cold — Longhorn

Singles Year Single Chart Positions Album US Country US 1949 "Afraid" 14 — singles only 1951 "The Roving Kind" – 20 1951 "Sparrow in the Treetop" 10 28 1953 "Crying in the Chapel" 4 8 1961 "Marines, Let's Go" 21 — 1962 "Don't Go Near the Indians" 4 17 Sings and Tells Tales of the Golden West 1964 "Tear After Tear" 44 — single only 1968 "Tiny Bubbles" 71 — The Smooth Country Sound of Rex Allen

Partial filmography

The Arizona Cowboy (1950) as himself Hills of Oklahoma (1950) as himself Redwood Forest Trail (1950) as himself Under Mexicali Stars (1950) as himself aka Mike Jordan Trail of Robin Hood (1950) as himself Silver City Bonanza (1951) as himself Thunder in God's Country (1951) as himself Rodeo King and the Senorita (1951) as himself Utah Wagon Train (1951) as himself Colorado Sundown (1952) as himself The Last Musketeer (1952) as himself Border Saddlemates (1952) as himself I Dream of Jeanie (1952) as Mr. Tambo Old Oklahoma Plains (1952) as himself South Pacific Trail (1952) as himself Old Overland Trail (1953) as himself Iron Mountain Trail (1953) as himself Sweethearts on Parade (1953) as Jim Riley (singing voice, uncredited) Down Laredo Way (1953) as himself Shadows of Tombstone (1953) as himself Red River Shore (1953) as himself Phantom Stallion (1954) as himself The Wetback Hound (1957, Short) as narrator (voice) The Hound That Thought He Was a Raccoon (1960) as narrator (voice) For the Love of Mike (1960) as himself Tomboy and the Champ (1961) as himself The Legend of Lobo (1962) as narrator The Saga of Windwagon Smith (1961) as narrator (voice) Yellowstone Cubs (1963) as narrator (voice) The Incredible Journey (1963) as narrator (voice) Swamp Country (1965) as Sheriff Jim Turner Run, Appaloosa, Run (1966) as narrator Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar (1967) as narrator Last of the Log Drives, 1970 (1970) as narrator The Virginian (TV series) (1971) season 9 episode 20 (Tate: Ramrod) : as Square Dance Caller Charlotte's Web (1973) as narrator (voice) Starbird and Sweet William (1973) as narrator (voice) Vanishing Wilderness (1974, Documentary) as narrator The Secret of Navajo Cave (1976) as narrator