Smiley Burnette(1911-1967)
- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Smiley worked on a local radio station and in Vaudeville after high
school. Always interested in music, he was friends with
Gene Autry and worked with him on the
radio show "The National Barn Dance". When Westerns became a big draw
with sound, the studios were always on the lookout for singing cowboys.
In 1934, both Gene and Smiley made their debuts in
In Old Santa Fe (1934). Smiley
became well known as Gene's plump sidekick Frog Milhouse, and they
worked together in over 80 Westerns. After Gene, Smiley provided the
comic relief for other cowboy stars at Republic such as
Sunset Carson and
Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid). He
also provided a lot of the music as he wrote over 300 western songs and
sang quite a few in the films. Smiley was the first supporting actor to
regularly appear on the Top Ten Western money-maker list. He became
well known for his white horse with the black circle around one eye.
When he used a team of white horses, as when he was 'Spec Specialist'
Smiley Burnette, each white horse had
one black circle around one eye. When the 'B' movie Western reign ended
in 1953, Smiley retired from the screen. He made occasional appearances
on television including being a regular on the music show "Ozark
Jubilee (1959)". His last performance was as railroad engineer Charlie
Pratt on
Petticoat Junction (1963) from
1963-67.
