Rex Allen

Birthday: 31 December 1920, Willcox, Arizona, USA

Birth Name: Rex Elvie Allen

Rex Allen started out as a singer in vaudeville, and sang on numerous radio shows before hooking up with a traveling rodeo show. He signed with Republic Pictures and became a popular singing cowboy, and was often paired with sidekick Slim Pickens. He starred in his own western TV series, Frontier Doctor (1958) and in the 1960s was the narrator on m... Show more »

You strap two guns on, they're heavy, and it's like wearin' a girdle. And then they say, "Run, jump ...Show more »

You strap two guns on, they're heavy, and it's like wearin' a girdle. And then they say, "Run, jump on that horse, go do so-and-so and so-and-so", and you got all that gear and it's in your way, and I was happy to go with just one gun, just so you could get off and on a horse. Show less «

I didn't want anybody to say, "Well, he's copying Roy Rogers" or "He's copying Gene Autry" or "He's ...Show more »

I didn't want anybody to say, "Well, he's copying Roy Rogers" or "He's copying Gene Autry" or "He's copying Hoppy". So I purposely looked for a horse that was different, that no cowboy had used -- I turned my guns around backwards, and didn't know for two years that Bill Elliott did it, too. I just didn't want to be accused of copying anybody else, so I tried to go in as opposite a direction in everything that I could. Show less «

[on his first film, The Arizona Cowboy (1950)] I'd like to find the damn negative of that thing and ...Show more »

[on his first film, The Arizona Cowboy (1950)] I'd like to find the damn negative of that thing and burn it. It was the most horrible thing ever made. Boy, was it bad. Show less «

My dad was a fiddle player. He used to play for all the dances and stuff, and I learned to play guit...Show more »

My dad was a fiddle player. He used to play for all the dances and stuff, and I learned to play guitar when there was nobody to accompany him. And then I sang in all the church choirs and glee clubs in the school. Basically, all I ever wanted to do was try to be a singer and make a living at that. And then, went into radio and the recording field, and had a few hit records. Roy Rogers was getting ready to leave Republic Pictures and get into television, and they were looking around for another poobah in a white hat, so I got my foot in the door there. Show less «

[on Roy Barcroft] When I think of Barcroft, I think of him coming to work on a motorcycle, roaring t...Show more »

[on Roy Barcroft] When I think of Barcroft, I think of him coming to work on a motorcycle, roaring through the front gate. Off screen, he was the nicest, big, old Saint Bernard you could ever want to be around. I had a very high respect for his acting ability and his photographic memory. He was a real pro. Show less «

[in 1982] Now I'm not for gun control, but the week that Martin Luther King was killed, I decided I ...Show more »

[in 1982] Now I'm not for gun control, but the week that Martin Luther King was killed, I decided I just didn't feel right about appearing with guns. And I haven't since. Show less «

Yeah, I rode bulls and buckin' horses for about two years when I first got out of high school, but I...Show more »

Yeah, I rode bulls and buckin' horses for about two years when I first got out of high school, but I got tired of pickin' myself up off the arena floor, and I found that a guitar never kicked me, never hurt me a bit, so I decided I better stick with that. Show less «

[on Republic Pictures boss Herbert J. Yates and why the studio finally went out of business in 1959]...Show more »

[on Republic Pictures boss Herbert J. Yates and why the studio finally went out of business in 1959] He absolutely would not recognize that television was the wave of the future. He thought the studios could destroy TV. Show less «

Rex Allen

Rex Allen's FILMOGRAPHY

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