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Tex Ritter

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This article is about the singer and actor. For the basketball player, see Tex Ritter (basketball).

Tex Ritter
Ritter in 1966
Ritter in 1966
Background information
Birth nameWoodward Maurice Ritter
Born(1905-01-12)January 12, 1905
Murvaul, Texas, U.S.
DiedJanuary 2, 1974(1974-01-02) (aged 68)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
GenresCountry
Occupations
  • Singer
  • actor
Years active1928–1973
LabelsColumbia, Decca, Capitol
Spouse
​
(m. 1941)​

Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) 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 (son John Ritter, grandsons Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter, and granddaughter Carly). He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

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Woodward Maurice Ritter was born on January 12, 1905, in Murvaul, Texas,[1] 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 attended South Park High School in Beaumont, Texas. After graduating with honors, he entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1922[2] to study pre-law and major in government, political science, and economics. After traveling to Chicago with a musical troupe, he entered Northwestern Law School.[1]

Career

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Radio and Broadway

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An early pioneer of country music, Ritter soon became interested in show business. In 1928, he sang on KPRC in Houston, Texas,[3] a 30-minute program of mostly cowboy songs. That same year, he moved to New York City and landed a job in the men's chorus of the Broadway show The New Moon (1928). He appeared as cowboy Cord Elam in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs (1931),[2] the basis for the musical Oklahoma! He also played the part of Sagebrush Charlie in The Round Up (1932)[4] and Mother Lode (1934).

In 1932, he starred in New York City's first broadcast Western, The Lone Star Rangers on WOR, where he sang and told tales of the Old West. 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. He also 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.[5]

Movies

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In 1936, Ritter moved to Los Angeles. His motion picture debut was in Song of the Gringo (1936) for Grand National Pictures.[2] He went on to appear in 70 movies as an actor, and 76 on movie soundtracks. He 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.

Poster from 1942 film
Poster from 1942 film

Recording

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Ritter's recording career was his most successful period. He was the first artist signed with the newly formed Capitol Records in 1942.[1]

In 1944, he scored a hit with "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You", which hit number one on the country chart and number 11 on the pop chart. An article in the trade publication Billboard noted 14 years later that with that song, he "reached the style of rhythmic tune that would assure his musical stature".[6]

In 1952 Ritter recorded "The Ballad of High Noon" for the film High Noon. He performed the track at the first televised Academy Awards ceremony in 1953, and it received an Oscar for Best Song that year.[7]

Television

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When television began to compete with movies for American audiences, Ritter began to make appearances on the new medium following 71 straight movie appearances. In 1953, he began performing on Town Hall Party on radio and television in Los Angeles. In 1957, he co-hosted Ranch Party, a syndicated version of the show. He 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.

Later work

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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.[2]

He 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.[2]

Senate campaign

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In 1970, Ritter entered Tennessee's Republican primary election for United States Senate. Despite high name recognition, he lost the nomination to United States Representative Bill Brock, who then defeated the incumbent Senator Albert Gore, Sr. in the general election.

Personal life

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Ritter's grave marker in Port Neches in Jefferson County, Texas

Ritter died of a heart attack in Nashville on January 2, 1974, at age 68. He was survived by his wife and two sons. Ritter's son, John, became famous as an actor, playing Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984). In 2003, John died, at the age of 54, of an aortic dissection. Because John was initially diagnosed as having a heart attack, and because aortic dissection is known to be hereditary, the family now believes that Tex died of an aortic dissection rather than a heart attack.[8]

Legacy

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For his contribution to the recording industry, Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard.[9] In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame[10] 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.[11]

In 1986, Ritter was honored posthumously with a Golden Boot Award for his work in Western films.[12]

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

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Discography

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Albums

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Year Album US Country Label
1948 "Children's Songs and Stories" (4 p's 78's in a cover with pictures) Capitol
1954 Cowboy Favorites (4 p's 78's in a cover with pictures)
1958 Songs from the Western Screen
Psalms
1960 Blood on the Saddle
1961 Lincoln Hymns
Hillbilly Heaven
1962 Stan Kenton! Tex Ritter!
1963 Border Affair
1965 Friendly Voice
1966 The Best of Tex Ritter 38
1967 Sweet Land of Liberty 43
Just Beyond the Moon 18
1968 Bump Tiddil Dee Bum Bum! 38
Tennessee Blues (Label: Hilltop Records)
Wild West
1969 Chuck Wagon Days
1970 Green Green Valley
1972 Super Country Legendary
1973 An American Legend 7
1974 Fall Away 44
1976 Comin' After Jinny

Singles

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Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country US
[13]
1944 "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You" 1 11 singles only
"There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" 2 21
1945 "Jealous Heart" 2
"You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" 1
1946 "You Will Have To Pay" 1
"Christmas Carols by the Old Corral" 2
"Long Time Gone" 5
"When You Leave, Don't Slam the Door" 3
"Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?" 3
1948 "Rye Whiskey" 9
"The Deck of Cards" 10
"Pecos Bill" (w/ Andy Parker & The Plainsmen) 15
"Rock and Rye" 5
1950 "Daddy's Last Letter" 6
1952 "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)" 12
1956 "The Wayward Wind" 28
1961 "I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven" 5 20 Hillbilly Heaven
1966 "The Men in My Little Girl's Life" 50 Just Beyond the Moon
1967 "Just Beyond the Moon" 13
"A Working Man's Prayer" 59 single only
1968 "Texas" 69 Wild West
1969 "A Funny Thing Happened (On the Way to Miami)" 53 singles only
"Growin' Up" 39
1970 "Green Green Valley" 57 Green Green Valley
1971 "Fall Away" 67 Fall Away
1972 "Comin' After Jinny" 67 Comin' After Jinny
1974 "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" 35 90 An American Legend

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Tex Ritter: Movie Star, Recording Artist, All-Around Talent". Billboard. February 26, 1972. p. CMHF 22. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Tex Ritter". Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  3. ^ Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960, 2nd Edition. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. P. 558.
  4. ^ ""The Round Up" Cast". Playbill Vault. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  5. ^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. P. 48.
  6. ^ "Golden Era of Success". Billboard. December 7, 1968. p. 46. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  7. ^ [1] Archived October 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Actor John Ritter's wife brings message of awareness to condition that led to his death". Abc13.com. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  9. ^ "Tex Ritter". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  10. ^ "Great Western Performers". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  11. ^ "1998 Inductees..." Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  12. ^ "The Golden Boot Awards". B-Westerns.com. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  13. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2011). Top Pop Singles 1955–2010. Record Research, Inc. p. 753. ISBN 978-0-89820-188-8.
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