Roy Rogers, for those too young to know, was called "King of the Cowboys." A star on radio, film and television, he was second only to Walt Disney characters when it came to product endorsements. Kids everywhere collected Roy Rogers cap guns, furniture, lunch boxes and more.
Rogers was born Nov. 5, 1911, in Cincinnati, and named Leonard Slye. He grew up on a farm in Duck Run, Ohio, where he learned to play mandolin, sing and yodel.
He dropped out of high school to help support his family. During the Great Depression, the family moved to California, where the future star picked fruit and did any other job he could.
He first sang on the radio in 1931. In 1933, he helped found the Pioneer Trio, later renamed The Sons of the Pioneers. The group started appearing in movies in 1935.
Slye became known as Roy Rogers in 1938, when Republic Pictures made him a star of cowboy movies.
Singer and actress Dale Evans (born Frances Octavia Smith, Oct. 31, 1912) became a regular in Rogers' movies in 1944.
Rogers' first wife (Arline) died in childbirth, leaving him to raise three children. Evans had eloped at 14 years of age, and found herself a single mother a year later.
Rogers and Evans married in 1947, and had a daughter born with Down syndrome who died just before her second birthday. A book Evans wrote about their daughter, "Angel Unaware," is credited with encouraging families to appreciate and include special children, rather than hiding them away.
Rogers' oldest child was adopted, and he and Evans added four more children to the family by adopting an American Indian daughter, an abused boy they met at a show, and an orphan from Korea, and caring for a foster daughter from Scotland.
The "Roy Rogers Show" premiered on television Dec. 30, 1951, ending each episode with the song "Happy Trails." It ran for six seasons.
Rogers died in 1998, and Evans in 2001.
Source: www.royrogers.com
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