Talk about stars that can do it all. Woodward Maurice Ritter certainly fits the bill. And if the name doesn’t sound familiar, that’s because you know him by his nickname, “Tex” Ritter.
Early Life
Tex Ritter was born on January 12, 1905, in Murvaul, Texas, the youngest of six kids. After graduating with honors from a high school in Beaumont, he attended the University of Texas at Austin where he majored in government, political science, and economics. You see, he planned to become a lawyer.
Did You Know…
- Tex Ritter had a brother named Booty in the 1910 and 1920 census.
- Tex Ritter enrolled at Northwestern University’s Law School, but never completed the program.
Radio & Broadway
While at UT, Tex embraced his love of music. He participated in the school’s Oratory and Choral Societies, the Glee Club, and even directed a church choir.
In 1928, he jumped into show business. First, he began singing at Houston’s KPRC radio station. The 30-minute program featured mostly cowboy songs. Then he moved to New York City, and before the year ended, landed a role in the chorus of Broadway’s, The New Moon.
His accent earned him the “Tex” nickname in 1931 when he played cowboy Cord Elam in Green Grow the Lilacs. In 1932, he starred in New York City’s first Western broadcast, The Lone Star Rangers, where he sang and told stories of the Old West. In 1933, he wrote and starred in Cowboy Tom’s Roundup, a daily children’s cowboy program. For three years this show could be heard on three East Coast radio stations.
Did You Know…
- Green Grow the Lilacs was the basis for Rodger and Hammerstein’s 1943 musical hit, Oklahoma!
- Tex Ritter sang and performed on various radio shows and dramas throughout the mid-1930s.
Movies & Television
In 1936, Tex moved to Los Angeles and set his sights on motion pictures. Back in the 1930s and 40s, all B-movie Westerns contained black-hatted villains, white-hatted heroes, and gold-hearted barmaids. Often, these heroes were singing cowboys. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were two of the most famous, but Tex wasn’t far behind them.
He debuted in Song of the Gringo in 1936 and went on to act and sing in many more movies. In the 1950s, when television began to compete with movies, Tex jumped into that field, too, hosting country music programs, Town Hall Party and Ranch Party.
Did You Know…
- Tex Ritter acted and sang in 70 movies and sang on 76 movie soundtracks.
- Between 1936-1945, Tex Ritter played singing cowboys named “Tex” in almost 50 western movies.
Singing & Recording
Tex’s greatest success came as a country music recording artist. While working in movies and television, he also recorded songs. He had a string of Top 10 hits in the 1940s and continued to have hits in the following three decades, including the popular 1961 song, I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven.
Tex helped establish the Country Music Association, and in 1963 was elected its president. He also worked to create the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. After moving to Nashville, TN, in 1965, he began working for WSM radio. He joined the Grand Ole Opry that year, too.
Did You Know…
- Newly formed Capitol Records signed Tex Ritter as their first artist in 1942.
- I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You was Tex Ritter’s first number one country hit.
- Tex Ritter recorded the song Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair on December 30, 1947, at Capitol Records in Hollywood, CA.
- Disney World’s “Big Al,” an audio-animatronic figure in the Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Magic Kingdom, continues to feature Tex Ritter’s voice. Big Al, the fattest bear, wears a red vest and tan hat while playing an always out-of-tune guitar.
Awards
Over his lifetime, Tex Ritter received numerous awards in recognition of his talents.
He won the Best Song Oscar at the 1953 Academy Awards for The Ballad of High Noon, the theme song for the 1952 multiple-Oscar-winning movie, High Noon. He performed the song that night at the first televised Academy Awards ceremony.
As an American country music pioneer, Tex’s musical accomplishments were recognized when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1964. He was the first singing cowboy to be inducted.
Did You Know…
- Because of all he contributed to the recording industry, Tex Ritter was awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
- Tex Ritter became a lifetime Grand Ole Opry member in 1970.
- The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK, inducted Tex Ritter into the Western Performers Hall of Fame in 1980.
- In 1998, the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame (Carthage, TX), included Tex Ritter as a member of their charter group of inductees.
- Posthumously, Tex Ritter was presented with a Golden Boot Award in 1986 for his work in Western films.
Other
Radio, Broadway, movies, television, and recordings, Tex Ritter really did do it all. But his acting and singing weren’t all that defined him. He was also a husband—marrying actress Dorothy Fay Southworth, on June 14, 1941—and father to two sons, Thomas and John.
In 1970, his government/political science roots reappeared when he ran for U.S. Senator in Tennessee. He lost the Republican primary election to the man who would defeat incumbent Senator Al Gore, Sr., in the general election.
On January 2, 1974, ten days prior to his 69th birthday, Tex had a heart attack in Nashville and died. He’s buried in Port Neches, TX. Years later, after his son John’s death from aortic dissection (misdiagnosed originally as a heart attack), the family concluded this hereditary condition also killed Tex.
Bonus Did You Knows…
- Tex Ritter helped found United Cerebral Palsy. He spent time and money advocating and raising awareness of this disease after his son Thomas was diagnosed with it.
- John Ritter, of TV sitcom Three’s Company fame, was Tex Ritter’s son, and actors Jason and Tyler Ritter are his grandsons.