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Rex Allen
Rex Elvie Allen Sr. (December 31, 1920 – December 17, 1999), known as "The Arizona Cowboy," was an American film and television actor, singer and songwriter; he was also the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For his contributions to the film industry, Allen received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975, located at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.
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.
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. Beginning in 1950, Allen starred as himself in 19 of Hollywood's Western movies. One of the top-ten box office draws of the day, whose character was soon depicted in comic books, 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.
In 1940, Allen married Doris Windsor, with whom he had one child (Rexine Allen). His second marriage was to Bonnie Linder (m. 1946–1973), with whom he had four children. His third and final marriage was to Virginia Hudson, on November 25, 1992. The couple divorced in 1999.
His five children included Rex Allen Jr., who became a singer like his father.
Allen was a cousin of the Gunsmoke cast members Glenn Strange (who played bartender Sam Noonan) and Taylor "Cactus Mack" McPeters (who played "Pa" in the episode "Marry Me").
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.
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Rex Allen
Rex Elvie Allen Sr. (December 31, 1920 – December 17, 1999), known as "The Arizona Cowboy," was an American film and television actor, singer and songwriter; he was also the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For his contributions to the film industry, Allen received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975, located at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.
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.
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. Beginning in 1950, Allen starred as himself in 19 of Hollywood's Western movies. One of the top-ten box office draws of the day, whose character was soon depicted in comic books, 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.
In 1940, Allen married Doris Windsor, with whom he had one child (Rexine Allen). His second marriage was to Bonnie Linder (m. 1946–1973), with whom he had four children. His third and final marriage was to Virginia Hudson, on November 25, 1992. The couple divorced in 1999.
His five children included Rex Allen Jr., who became a singer like his father.
Allen was a cousin of the Gunsmoke cast members Glenn Strange (who played bartender Sam Noonan) and Taylor "Cactus Mack" McPeters (who played "Pa" in the episode "Marry Me").
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.