Tex Ritter was born 110 years ago today. Ritter was a country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting (son John and grandson Jason). He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ritter was born in Murvaul, Texas, and grew up on his familys farm in Panola County and attended grade school in Carthage. He attended South Park High School in Beaumont, Texas. After graduating with honors, he entered the University of Texas at Austin; he studied pre-law and majored in government, political science and economics. An early pioneer of country music, Ritter soon became interested in show business. In 1928, he sang on KPRC-AM in Houston, a 30-minute program of mostly cowboy songs. That same year, he moved to New York City and landed a job in the mens chorus of the Broadway show, The New Moon (1928). He appeared as cowboy Cord Elam in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), the basis for the musical Oklahoma!. He also played the part of Sagebrush Charlie in The Round Up (1932) and Mother Lode (1934). In 1932, he starred in New York Citys first broadcast Western, The Lone Star Rangers on WOR-AM, where he sang and told tales of the Old West. Ritter wrote and starred in Cowboy Toms Roundup on WINS-AM in 1933, a daily childrens cowboy program aired over two other East Coast stations for three years. He also performed on the radio show WHN Barndance and sang on NBC Radio shows; and appeared in several radio dramas, including CBSs Bobby Bensons Adventures. Ritter was also cast in guest-starring roles on the syndicated television series, Death Valley Days, and the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams as a wandering former Confederate. Ritter began recording for American Record Company (Columbia Records) in 1933. His first release was Goodbye Ole Paint. He also recorded Rye Whiskey for the label. In 1935, he signed with Decca Records, where he recorded his first original recordings, Sam Hall and Get Along Little Dogie. He recorded 29 songs for Decca, the last in 1939 in Los Angeles as part of Tex Ritter and His Texans. In 1936, Ritter moved to Los Angeles. His motion picture debut was in Song Of The Gringo (1936) for Grand National Pictures. He starred in twelve B-movie Westerns for Grand National, including Headin For The Rio Grande (1936), and Trouble In Texas (1937) co-starring Rita Hayworth (then known as Rita Cansino). Between 1938 and 1945, he starred in around forty singing cowboy movies. He made four movies with actress Dorothy Fay at Monogram Pictures: Song of the Buckaroo (1938), Sundown on the Prairie (1939), Rollin Westward (1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (1940). Ritter then moved to Universal Pictures and teamed with Johnny Mack Brown for films such as The Lone Star Trail (1943), Raiders of San Joaquin (1943), Cheyenne Roundup (1943) and The Old Chisholm Trail (1942). He was also the star of the films Arizona Trail (1943), Marshal of Gunsmoke (1944) and Oklahoma Raiders (1944). Ritters recording career was his most successful period. He was the first artist signed with the newly formed Capitol Records as well as its first Western singer. His first recording session was on June 11, 1942. In 1974, Ritter had a heart attack and died in Nashville, ten days before his 69th birthday. For his contribution to the recording industry, Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard; he and John Ritter were the first father-and-son pair to be so honored in different categories. In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Ritter can be heard as the voice of Big Al, an audio-animatronic bear at the Country Bear Jamboree attraction in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. His character sings Blood On The Saddle and continues through the finale as the rest of the cast attempts to drown him out. Here, Ritter performs “High Noon” on the Dick Cavett Show in 1970.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 05:22:15 +0000
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