Tex Ritter

Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Background information
Born as:	Woodward Maurice Ritter
Born	Jan 12, 1905 Murvaul, Texas
Died	Jan 2, 1974 - at age 68 Nashville, Tennessee Aortic dissection
Spouse(s):	Dorothy Fay (1941 - )
Occupation:	Actor, Singer (1928–1973)
Label(s):	Columbia, Decca, Capitol
Editor's note about articles in this category

Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a singer, and an actor from the mid-1930s to the 1960s. He was the patriarch of the Ritter acting family, which includes his son John Ritter, grandsons Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter, and granddaughter Carly. He is also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

Ritter was born on January 12, 1905, in Murvaul, Texas, to Martha Elizabeth (née Matthews) and James Everett Ritter. He grew up on his family's farm in Panola County, Texas, and attended grade school in Carthage, Texas. He then went to South Park High School in Beaumont, Texas. After graduating with honors, he entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1922 to study pre-law, majoring in government, political science, and economics. Following a trip to Chicago with a musical troupe, he enrolled in Northwestern Law School.

Personal life

Tex Ritter married movie actress Dorothy Fay on June 14, 1941. They raised their two sons in Los Angeles, and then Tex and Dorothy moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1965, as Tex was not acting and was solely focused on singing and recording. He died of a heart attack in Nashville on January 2, 1974, at the age of 68. He was survived by Dorothy and their two sons, Tom and John. A few years later, John became famous as an actor, playing Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984). In 2003, John passed away at the age of 54 due to an aortic dissection. Initially diagnosed with a heart attack, and since aortic dissection is known to be hereditary, the family now believes that Tex died of an aortic dissection rather than a heart attack.

Legacy

In 1952, Ritter released Theme from High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)."

For his contributions to the recording industry, Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was a member of the charter group of inductees into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage in 1998.

In 1986, Ritter was honored posthumously with a Golden Boot Award for his work in Western films.

Ritter can still be heard as the voice of Big Al, an audio-animatronic bear, at Disney theme park attraction Country Bear Jamboree at Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, and formerly at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Selected filmography

Wikipedia article: Tex Ritter Selected filmography

Television

Wikipedia article: Tex Ritter Television

Discography

Wikipedia article: Tex Ritter Discography

External links

• Tex Ritter at the Internet Movie Database
• Tex Ritter at the Internet Broadway Database
• Tex Ritter at The Old Corral (a reference guide for B-Westerns)
• Tex Ritter at the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]]
• Tex Ritter Museum – Carthage, Texas
• Tex Ritter / Edward Finney Collection at the Autry Museum of the American West

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Tex_Ritter ]

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