Roy Rogers... Leonard Franklin Slye (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), who became famous as Roy Rogers, was a singer and cowboy actor. Roy, his golden palomino Trigger, starred in over 80 movies, and, along with Dale Evans, Pat Brady, and Bullet the Wonder Dog were in 100 episodes of The Roy Rogers TV Show. The show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. From his first film appearance in 1935, he worked steadily in western films, including a large supporting role as a singing cowboy while still billed as "Leonard Slye" in a Gene Autry movie. In 1938 when Autry temporarily walked out on his movie contract, Slye was immediately rechristened "Roy Rogers" and assigned the lead in Under Western Stars. Rogers became a matinee idol and American legend. A competitor for Gene Autry was suddenly born. In addition to his own movies, Rogers played a supporting role in the John Wayne classic Dark Command (1940). Rogers became a major box office attraction, and Dale Evans was cast in a movie with him in 1945. The next year, Roy's wife, Arline, died of a massive brain embolism from a blood clot following the birth of Roy Rogers, Jr. (nicknamed Dusty). Roy and Dale fell in love, and Roy proposed to her during a rodeo at Chicago Stadium. They married on New Years Eve in 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma where a few months earlier they had filmed Home In Oklahoma. Roy and Dale were married for over 50 years until his death. Rogers was an idol for many children through his films and television show. Most of his films were in color in an era when almost all other B-movies were black and white. There were Roy Rogers action figures, cowboy adventure novels, a comic strip, a long-lived Dell Comics comic book series (Roy Rogers Comics) written by Gaylord Du Bois, and a variety of marketing successes. Some of his movies would segue into animal adventures, in which Roy's horse Trigger would go off on his own for a while with the camera following him. Roy and Dale's famous theme song, which Dale wrote and they sang as a duet to sign off their television show, was "Happy trails to you, Until we meet again...". Over his career, Roy Rogers has achieved four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Roy and Dale were inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1976 and Roy was inducted again as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers in 1995. Roy was also twice elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, first as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers in 1980 and as a soloist in 1988. Roy died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998 and was residing in Apple Valley, California, at the time of his death. Roy was buried at Sunset Hills cemetery in Apple Valley, CA. You can learn more about Roy by visiting the Official Roy Rogers-Dale Evans website. Just click here > www.royrogers.com

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