Description 406 pages, 64 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Note Includes filmography: pages 382-385

Includes discography: pages 337-381

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-336) and index

Contents The Autrys and the Ozments -- Cross Timbers -- Tioga -- Workin' on the railroad -- Musical mentors -- A new name, a new profession -- The Oklahoma yodeling cowboy -- Hillbilly recording artist -- Midwestern buckaroo -- Uncle Art -- From "High steppin' Mama" to "Silver haired daddy" -- Sweet home Chicago -- "The singing and yodeling marvel" -- Motherless son -- WLS radio star -- Cowboy balladeer -- Smiley, Patsy, and Pee Wee -- Celluloid cowboy -- Negotiations by post -- Republic pictures star -- Battles, on screen and off -- The singing cowboy -- Public cowboy No. 1 -- Strike! -- At home and abroad -- Melody ranch -- A town called Gene Autry -- War! -- Sergeant Gene Autry -- Don't fence me in -- Back in the saddle -- Gene Autry, Inc. -- From horses to reindeer, from big screen to small -- Last of the pony riders -- On the road again-- and again -- The last round-up

Summary The only performer to earn five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame--for film, recordings, television, radio, and live performance--Gene Autry was the singing cowboy king. Journalist George-Warren offers the first serious biography, tracing Autry's climb from farm boy to multimillionaire. Autry's loving mother died on the brink of her son's success, while his ne'er-do-well father married five times and wandered the West. Autry battled his own demons but emerges here as one of America's most charitable benefactors, known for his boundless generosity, and a patriot who enlisted during World War II. The book provides colorful details of Autry's lengthy radio and recording career; his movie career, where he breathed new life into the Western genre; and his role in early television, the first movie star to develop his own TV shows. Along the way, he invested shrewdly, becoming the only entertainer listed among 1990's Fortune 400.--From publisher description

Subjects Autry, Gene, 1907-1998

Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Biography

Singers -- United States -- Biography

Genre/Form Biographies. lcgft

Other Titles Public cowboy number one

Link Online version: George-Warren, Holly. Public cowboy no. 1. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2007 (OCoLC)608415810

LC NO PN2287.A9 G46 2007

Dewey No 791.4302/8092 B 22

OCLC # 74987915

ISBN 9780195177466 (alk. paper)

0195177460 (alk. paper)

Isn/Std # (OCoLC)74987915 (OCoLC)156344124 (OCoLC)1382332594

LCCN 2006036369