Memorial Held For Roy Rogers
Mourners and fans of the "King of the Cowboys" gathered Saturday afternoon for a Roy Rogers memorial service in Apple Valley.
Rogers, a singer-actor who captured the true grit of the Old West in films and on television, died Monday of congestive heart failure. He was 86.
Thousands came for the service, held at the Church of the Valley. The cowboy crooner's funeral procession took him on one final lap around his beloved Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum.
Rogers established the museum in 1967 with his wife, Dale Evans, who was his co-star in several films. The museum features mementos from the couple's Hollywood achievements, plus Rogers' favorite horse, Trigger. The famous horse was stuffed for permanent display after its death.
"Trigger was without a doubt one of the greatest things that ever happened to me,"Rogers once said. "He was the greatest horse I've ever seen."
Back in the 1940's and 50's Rogers was not only the number one western star but a hero to generations of fans. Young and old loved to watch his straight shooting stunts, alongside Evans.
"We heard him say, 'Well, Lord, it's been a long hard ride," Rogers' son, Dusty told KCBS News Correspondent Jaei Avila Monday. "This morning, he took one last breath."
Loaded with fights and chases that corralled the bad guys, Rogers' 87 films, with names like Under Western Stars and Song of Arizona, were especially popular in small towns. His television series, which ran from 1951 to 1957, and thereafter in reruns, had similar appeal.
"I'm an introvert at heart," Rogers once said. "And show business-even though I've loved it so much-has always been hard for me."
It made him a millionaire, though. His investments included real estate, a chain of restaurants bearing his name, and a TV production company.
Rogers was a Depression-era truck driver, peach picker, and country singer who in 1937 landed a $75 a week job as singing cowboy at Hollywood's Republic Studio.
Rogers preferred to play down violence, shooting the gun out of the villain's hand, rather than hurting the villain himself. He criticized other, more violent Westerns.
"When I was a boy, our parents taught us that hitting below the belt was a cowardly thing," he once said. "I don't believe this kind of thing is entertainment no matter how you look at it."
Rogers was a pioneering singing cowboy who accented the western in what used to be called country and western music.
"He and Gene Autry WERE the cowboy sound. They were on the side of angels, Americanism, good wins over evil," said Ronnie Pugh, a historian with the Country Music Foundation, which runs the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville.
Rogers was born Leonard Slye on Nov. 5, 1911, in Cincinnati, of part-Indian ancestry. The family moved to California in 1930.
Rogers is survived by vans; sons Roy Rogers Jr. and Tom Fox; daughters Cheryl Barnett, Linda Lou Johnson, and Dodie Sailors; 15 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.