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Quick Facts
- NAME: Dale Evans
- OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Television Actress, Songwriter, Singer, Television Personality
- BIRTH DATE: October 31, 1912
- DEATH DATE: February 07, 2001
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Uvalde, Texas
- PLACE OF DEATH: California
- Originally: Frances Octavia Smith
Best Known For
Dale Evans was the longtime screen partner and wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. She wrote several hit songs, including "Happy Trails to You."
Dale Evans. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 10:41, May 25, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054
Dale Evans [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054, May 25
" Dale Evans." 2012. Biography.com 25 May 2012, 10:41 http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054
' Dale Evans', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054 [accessed May 25, 2012]
" Dale Evans," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054 (accessed May 25, 2012).
Dale Evans [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 25]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054.
Dale Evans, http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054 (last visited May 25, 2012).
Dale Evans, http://www.biography.com/people/dale-evans-9542054 (last visited May 25, 2012).
Synopsis
Dale Evans was born on October 31, 1912, in Uvalde, Texas. She got her start singing on radio before appearing on film opposite Roy Rogers, the "King of the Cowboys." Eventually they married and became one of Hollywood's best-loved couples. They appeared together on television for decades and were well known for their theme song, "Happy Trails to You," which Evans wrote. She died in 2001.
Early Life
Actress, singer, songwriter, author. Born Frances Octavia Smith, on October 31, 1912, in Uvalde, Texas. Evans eloped with her high school sweetheart, Thomas Frederick Fox, when she was 14 years old, but the marriage ended in divorce shortly after the birth of their child, Tom. She got her start singing on various radio programs (a station manager convinced her to take Dale Evans as her professional name) and in a Chicago supper club before earning a screen test in Hollywood and a one-year contract with 20th Century Fox.
Evans made two minor films for Fox before being released from her contract in 1943, whereupon she moved to Republic and appeared in her first western film, In Old Oklahoma (the film was later retitled The War of the Wildcats), opposite John Wayne. In 1944, she was cast in The Cowboy and the Señorita. Evans' leading man in that film was Roy Rogers, the rugged star of many well-known Westerns who had become known as the "King of the Cowboys."
Marriage to Roy Rogers
In 1945, Evans divorced her second husband, the pianist Robert Dale Butts. The following year, Rogers' wife Arlene died after the birth of their third child, Roy Jr. Evans and Rogers costarred in eight films together in 1946 alone, including My Pal Trigger, Rainbow Over Texas, and Roll on Texas Moon. They soon fell in love, and were married in December 1947.
Together, Evans and Rogers became one of Hollywood's best-known and best-loved couples. They appeared in numerous big-screen Westerns together and went on to costar in the extraordinarily popular 1950s television show The Roy Rogers Show (1951-57) as well as The Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Show in 1962. They appeared together on television throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and were well known for their theme song, "Happy Trails to You," which Evans wrote.
Personal Life
In addition to Evans’ son Tom Fox and Roy Rogers Jr., Rogers also had two daughters, Linda and Cheryl, from his first marriage. The couple's family life was tinged with tragedy, as their only biological child together, a daughter named Robin, died in 1952, shortly before her second birthday, of complications from Down's syndrome. In honor of her daughter, Evans penned the first of a number of inspirational books, the bestselling Angel Unaware. Evans and Rogers adopted or fostered four other children, but they experienced two more wrenching losses in the next decade, as their daughter Deborah died in a bus accident in 1964, and their son John David (Sandy) choked to death while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany in 1965.
Songwriting Success
Evans, known to her legions of fans as the "Queen of the West," compiled an impressive portfolio of songwriting credits, including the top-selling single "Aha, San Antone." She also made 30 children's records, most notably Happy Birthday, Gentle Savior, which featured her own songs. In 1994, she and Rogers published Happy Trails: Our Life Story, a memoir of their years together.
Roy Rogers died in 1998 at the age of 86. Evans herself suffered a heart attack and a stroke, but remained active, hosting her own show, A Date With Dale, on the religiously oriented Trinity Broadcasting Network. She died at her home in California on February 7, 2001, at the age of 88.
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- Roy Rogers
- Dale Evans
- Gene Autry
Cowboy Country Singers
View groupDuring the 1930s, partly to avoid the hillbilly image and partly owing to Hollywood's romance with the West, country music headed to the range. Western fringe and cowboy hats turned up on many singers onstage, while Gene Autry and Roy Rogers hit the country charts as "The Singing Cowboy" and the "King of the Cowboys," respectively. Autry made it big in Hollywood and on the radio, singing favorites like "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Frosty the Snowman." Rogers and his wife, "Queen of the West" Dale Evans, also straddled the worlds of music and movies with their Wild West personas.
The association of country music with the wide open spaces of the western United States made such a deep impact on popular culture during this time that it never quite faded from the public perception of the country genre. To this day, Cowboy Country music serves as a reminder of our continued yearning for a life that's beautiful, pastoral and—ultimately—more simple.
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Name Changers
View groupIn entertainment, where the line between fiction and reality is often blurry, names are a crucial part of a celebrity's image. Stage names are often chosen to make an actor or musician's name easier to pronounce or remember, or simply to make it sounds more attractive. Here are famous celebrities who have changed their names.
Name Changers 235 people in this group
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Notable Wild West Film Actors
View groupGot chaps? Their cowboy and cowgirl personas are tough, rugged, and wild—just like the frontier in which they come from—and in turn, they elicit the nostalgia of The Old West with its fierce individualism and sense of golden opportunity. From the indomitable swagger of John Wayne to the intimidating scowl of Clint Eastwood, explore our Wild West Film Actors group.
Notable Wild West Film Actors 15 people in this group
