Wednesday, December 12, 2018

COWBOY #6


4 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Tex Ritter

No idea what show

Roger Smith said...

He sang the Oscar-winning song for the 1951 Western, HIGH NOON, starring Best Actor winner Gary Cooper. Dimitri Tiomkin named his song "High Noon", but some of us rustics call it "Do Not Forsake Me".

Tex remains among the most beloved Country & Western singers of them all. Most folks know he was the father of TV star John Ritter. He was remembered as loved by his friends, and a gentleman to his fans, and all he worked with. He never forgot a friend, and was visiting an old musician pal who was in jail in Nashville, when Tex died there of a sudden heart attack.

Chic Silber said...


I worked on a film starring

John Ritter but I never knew

He had many stories but never

mentioned his father

Roger Smith said...

Tex studied law, politics, and government at the University of Texas, and entered law school at Northwestern, before showbiz turned his head. As a singer, he was cast in the chorus of GREEN GROW THE LILACS, the show which developed into OKLAHOMA!

He also helped begin the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, when his son, Tom, was stricken with the disease. His son, John, who went on to film fame, assisted his father seeking awareness and donations.

Tex was the 5th inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the 1st of the singing movie cowboys.

He was married to one woman for 4 decades, a co-star of one of his 60+ B-Westerns, Dorothy Fay.

When Tex died in 1974, son John told of those who came to him with stories of how his father got them started in their careers, and those who Tex introduced to their spouses. Tex's fatal heart attack was later diagnosed as an aortic dissection, the inherited disorder that took John's life in 2003.

John was taping his NBC series, 8 RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER, when during a break, he was at the craft services table. He complained of a strong copper taste in his mouth, a certain sign of internal bleeding. He collapsed, and was rushed off the set to St. Jospeh's Hospital, right across the street, in Burbank, but they were unable to save him. Johnny Cash had died earlier that same day.