Smiley burnette children
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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&
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March 18th, 1911 — February 16th, 1967
Above: A publicity portrait of Smiley Burnette circa 1946, in the outfit he wore throughout his B-western career.
The rotund and rubber-faced Lester Alvin “Smiley” Burnette–musician, singer, composer and slapstick comedian–was one of the most popular B-western performers of the 1930s and 1940s, one of the only “sidekicks” to rate as a box-office attraction in his own right. When singing, Burnette could hit almost every note on the musical scale; when acting, he could also hit every note on the comedy scale, from manic energy to poker-faced calm. Burnette’s best work was in his features with Gene Autry, but he began his distinguished matinee career as a sidekick in cliffhanger serials.
Burnette was born in Summum, Illinois, the son of a minister. He became interested in music at a young age, and had learned to play over half-a-dozen instruments before he was ten years old. He dropped out of school in his early teens to help support his family, and worked at innumerable odd jobs until he landed a job at a
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Smiley Burnette
American country music performer and comedic actor (1911–1967)
Smiley Burnette | |
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Burnette in 1937 | |
| Birth name | Lester Alvin Burnett |
| Also known as | Smiley Burnette |
| Born | (1911-03-18)March 18, 1911 Summum, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | February 16, 1967(1967-02-16) (aged 55) Encino, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Country music |
| Occupations |
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| Instrument(s) | Accordion, guitar, banjo, many others |
| Years active | 1933–1967 |
| Labels | Abbott Starday Capitol Columbia ARA Rancho |
| Website | Smiley Burnette.org |
Musical artist
Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie cowboys.[1] He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who is reported to have played proficiently over 100 musical instruments, sometimes more than one simultaneously.[2] His career, beginning in 1
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