Roy Rogers is known as the “King of the Cowboys” for his prodigious career, spanning nearly 200 films and television programs.
Leonard Slye was born on November 5, 1911, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up on his family’s farm in Duck Run. He won a county fair 4H competition with his beloved pet pig, Evangeline, when he was 12.
His victory allowed him to fly to Columbus, where he felt the delight and awe of being exposed to a vast metropolis for the first time.
On that vacation, he remembered being wholly engaged with riding elevators up and down in the Old Neil House Hotel all day. Roy Rogers’ love of animals, which he had since childhood, was crucial in defining his legacy, which will continue forever.
Growing up during the Great Depression, Roy Rogers aspired to be a medical practitioner or a dentist. Regrettably, he had to abandon his education and work in a shoe factory to ensure his family had enough money and resources to survive.
Roy grew up learning to play the mandolin and call square dances, so music was always a part of his life. Roy and his family traveled to California, hoping to obtain better employment.
The warm weather season has inspired hope that they could make it big in this new place. Nevertheless, when they arrived, they found significantly fewer opportunities than anticipated. Despite this setback, Roy began pursuing his musical profession at this time.
Roy had a strong desire to entertain others, and despite the odds, he continued to hone his guitar talents. Roy and his family grew up on a three-room houseboat on the Ohio River while his father worked in a shoe factory.
They later relocated to a farm outside Portsmouth, Ohio, where Roy and his sisters assisted their mother with household tasks.
Despite his love of music, Roy’s acute shyness made it difficult to follow his dream of performing in public. Roy stated in a 1953 article, “I’ve always been shy since my childhood days when we resided on the Ohio River.”
Our family—mother, father, and three sisters—later relocated to a farm outside of Portsmouth, where we all collaborated to make it a success.” Roy had various jobs during this time, including driving stone trucks and picking fruit.
Roy Rogers mastered guitar playing and square dancing by the age of eleven. But the notion of having to speak in front of an audience, no matter how small, made his escape across cornfields.
His sister was surprised by how good he was at music, so she told him to try out for a local radio show that gave amateurs 15 minutes of fame.
He agreed, and Roy soon became a singer and guitarist with the country band The Rocky Mountaineers.
He traveled and sang with numerous country music ensembles for two years before founding The Pioneer Trio with Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan.
In addition to writing songs, they went on several tours across the country, which made them very popular.
Something unusual happened during one of their performances in New Mexico in 1933 that would affect Roy’s career forever. In an interview with David Letterman, he discussed this event and what happened afterward.
Rogers, Roy Rogers grew up with a passion for music, learning to play the guitar and calling square dances at the age of ten.
His sister urged him to audition for a local radio show, where he was asked to join The Rocky Mountaineers as a vocalist, singer, and guitarist.
Roy Roy formed his group in 1933, The Pioneer Pioneer Tri Trioo, with Tim Tim Spencer and Bob Bob Nolan Nolan. Not only did they tour and write songs together, but they also became enormously trendy throughout America.
In an interview with David Letterman, Roy Roy recounted a story about one of their performances in New Mexico that proved exceptionally special for them.
Roy Rogers met his first wife, Lucille Ascolese, in an unlikely way in the early 1930s: through a pie. As Rogers pointed out, life was difficult: “You were simply worried about obtaining enough to eat.”
Rogers and his band landed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1933 after struggling financially, when he sang on the local radio station and began making jokes about what they wanted to eat. Others responded by bringing them dishes like fried chicken, but Roy preferred lemon cream pies.
He received an invitation to do a Swiss Yodel one day and was compensated with not one but two large lemon meringue pies, which led him to meet his first wife.
Roy Rogers’ band members were excited as a young woman and her mother arrived at their motel with two delectable-looking lemon meringue pies.
The young lady revealed herself to be Roy’s first wife. After this chance meeting, the KFWB radio station in Los Angeles, California, heard about the group.
This began their run of success, which started with a series of radio transcriptions and culminated in a deal with Decca Records.
Unsurprisingly, as the Pioneer Three gained popularity in 1935 and 1936, their music was more frequently included in films.
This eventually led to Roy Rogers embarking on acting jobs. His stage presence drew attention to him, and he became known as “The King of the Cowboys.”
He appeared in numerous films with Gene Autry, including The Great Show (1936) and The Old Coral (1937). (1936). Autry was regarded as “America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy,” Rogers would later marry his co-star Dale Evans, widely known as “The Queen of the West,” and create a legendary film star combo.
When Gene Autry canceled his contract with Republic Pictures in 1937, he helped Roy Rogers’ career take off. With the opening, Rogers, then known as Leonard Slye, auditioned for and was cast in Beneath Western Stars.
His performance in this picture catapulted him to prominence, and Roy Rogers became one of the most popular western actors at the box office within five years.
Autry and Rogers went on to enjoy extensive careers in show business spanning over five decades. After they died, the Autry National Center kept essential items that showed their lives and contributions.
Both men developed a great friendship throughout the years, which is a monument to their enduring legacy.
Roy Rogers, the “King of the Cowboys,” and his wife, Dale Evans, had a deep chemistry that fans and the studio praised. The pair married in 1947, a year after Roy’s first wife died while giving birth to their third child.
This surprised Roy’s daughter, Cheryl Rogers, who initially refused to accept Evans as her new mother. On the other hand, Dale was courteous and patient with her.
In the 1950s, Roy jumped from film to television with his show, The Roy Rogers Show, on NBC’s network, which proved tremendously popular among viewers with over 100 episodes.
