Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family.
22 Facts About Tex Ritter
2.
Tex Ritter is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
3.
Woodward Maurice Ritter was born on January 12,1905, in Murvaul, Texas, to Martha Elizabeth and James Everett Ritter.
4.
Tex Ritter grew up on his family's farm in Panola County, Texas, and attended grade school in Carthage, Texas.
5.
Tex Ritter attended South Park High School in Beaumont, Texas.
6.
An early pioneer of country music, Tex Ritter soon became interested in show business.
7.
Tex Ritter wrote and starred in Cowboy Tom's Roundup on WINS in 1933, a daily children's cowboy program aired over two other East Coast stations for three years.
8.
Tex Ritter performed on the radio show WHN Barndance and sang on NBC Radio shows; and appeared in several radio dramas, including CBS's Bobby Benson's Adventures.
9.
Tex Ritter went on to appear in 70 movies as an actor, and 76 on movie soundtracks.
10.
Tex Ritter attracted special attention in 1952 for his rendition of "The Ballad of High Noon" over the opening credits of the celebrated film High Noon, and later sang it at that year's Academy Awards ceremony, where it won Best Original Song.
11.
Tex Ritter was the first artist signed with the newly formed Capitol Records.
12.
In 1952 Tex Ritter recorded "The Ballad of High Noon" for the film High Noon.
13.
Tex Ritter performed the track at the first televised Academy Awards ceremony in 1953, and it received an Oscar for Best Song that year.
14.
When television began to compete with movies for American audiences, Tex Ritter began to make appearances on the new medium following 71 straight movie appearances.
15.
Tex Ritter made his national TV debut in 1955 on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee and was one of five rotating hosts for its 1961 NBC-TV spin-off, Five Star Jubilee.
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Tex Ritter became one of the founding members of the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tennessee, and spearheaded the effort to build the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum into which he was inducted in 1964.
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Tex Ritter moved to Nashville in 1965 and began working for radio station WSM and the Grand Ole Opry, earning a lifetime membership in the latter in 1970.
18.
In 1970, Tex Ritter entered Tennessee's Republican primary election for United States Senate.
19.
Tex Ritter had a heart attack and died in Nashville in 1974, ten days before his 69th birthday.
20.
Tex Ritter was survived by his wife and two sons, one became famous actor John.
21.
Tex Ritter was a member of the charter group of inductees into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage, in 1998.
22.
In 1986, Tex Ritter was honored posthumously with a Golden Boot Award for his work in Western films.