Roy Rogers was the enormously popular singing cowboy actor who, with his horse, Trigger, and his dog, Bullet, enamored himself to generations of children and Western fans as “King of the Cowboysâ€. Born Leonard Franklin Slye in Cincinnati, Ohio, young Roy weathered the Depression with his family, and finally took a chance on a musical career, eventually becoming part of the “Sons of the Pioneers.†His big break through came when he was hired to replace the popular Gene Autry in an oater movie in 1938, and he never looked back. Roy Rogers starred in over 100 films, many with his wife, Dale Evans, as well as headlining on television and radio shows. His name and image were licensed to numerous sideline options, including toys, games and even a restaurant franchise. When his horse, Trigger, died in 1965, Roy famously had his hide stretched over a plaster likeness and put on display in his museum (a fate which other associates of Rogers seem to have escaped). It is hard to say anything even approaching ill-willed about Roy Rogers – he appears to have been a genuinely good man, a devoted husband and father, a sincere Christian, a philanthropist and a real patriot. There aren’t too many celebrities who earn chops like those!
