Dale Evans
was the stage name of Lucille Wood Smith
(October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001), a writer, movie star, and singer-songwriter. She was the second wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers.
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DALE EVANS TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Born
Lucille Wood Smith
in
Uvalde,
Texas, her name was changed in infancy to Frances Octavia Smith. She had a tumultuous early life, eloping at the age of 14 with her first husband, Thomas F. Fox. She bore one son, Thomas F. Fox, Jr. when she was 15. Divorced in 1929 at 17, she married August Wayne Johns that same year, a union that lasted until their divorce in 1935. She took the name Dale Evans in the early 1930s to promote her
singing career. She then married her accompanist and arranger Robert Dale Butts in 1937. In 1947 she married
Roy Rogers. The marriage was his second, and her fourth. Together they had two children and were happily married for 51 years.
A songstress emerges
After beginning her career singing at the radio station where she was employed as a secretary, Evans had a productive career as a
jazz,
swing, and
big band singer that led to a screen test and contract with
20th Century Fox studios. She gained exposure on radio as the featured singer for a time on the
Edgar Bergen/
Charlie McCarthy show.
During her time at
20th Century Fox, the studio promoted her as the unmarried supporter of her teenage "brother" Tommy (actually her son Tom Fox, Jr.). This deception continued through her divorce from Butts in 1946, and her development as a cowgirl co-star to
Roy Rogers at
Republic Studios.
Joint efforts
Evans married Roy Rogers at the Flying L Ranch in
Davis, Oklahoma, on
New Year's Eve 1947.
[1] Rogers ended the deception regarding Tommy. Rogers and Evans were a team on- and off-screen from 1946 until Rogers' death in 1998. Together they had one child, Robin Elizabeth, who died of complications of
Down's Syndrome shortly before her second birthday. Her life inspired Evans to write her bestseller
Angel Unaware
. Evans was very influential in changing public perceptions of children born with developmental disabilities and served as a role model for many parents. After she wrote
Angel Unaware
, a group then known as the “Oklahoma County Council for Mentally Retarded Children” adopted its better-known name
Dale Rogers Training Center in her honor. Evans went on to write a number of religious and inspirational books.
From 1951 to 1957, Dale Evans and her husband starred in the highly successful television series
The Roy Rogers Show
, in which they continued their cowboy/cowgirl roles, with her riding her trusty
buckskin horse,
Buttermilk. In addition to her successful TV shows, more than thirty films and some two hundred songs, Evans wrote the well-known song "
Happy Trails." In later episodes of the TV show she was outspoken in her
Christianity, telling people that
God would assist them with their troubles and imploring adults and children to turn to Him for help.
In the fall of 1962, the couple co-hosted a comedy-western-variety program,
The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show
, which aired on
ABC. It was cancelled after three months, losing in the ratings to the first season of
The Jackie Gleason Show
, another comedy-variety program, on
CBS.
In the 1970s, Evans recorded several solo albums of religious music. During the 1980s, the couple introduced their films weekly on the former
The Nashville Network. In the 1990s, Dale hosted her own religious television program.
Evans died of
congestive heart failure, two and a half years after the death of her husband Roy.
Legacy
For her contribution to radio, Dale Evans has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6638 Hollywood Blvd. She received a second star at 1737 Vine St. for her contribution to the television industry. In 1976, she was inducted into the
Western Performers Hall of Fame at the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in
Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. She ranked #34 on
CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music
in 2002.
References
- Happy Trails Forever - Honoring the *King of the Cowboys* & *Queen of the West*, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans - Their Story