Dale Evans

Dale Evans ( born October 30, 1912 in Uvalde, Texas, † February 7, 2001 in Apple Valley, California; native Lucille Woods Smith), the Queen of the West, was an American actress and singer. Their greatest popularity she reached the side of her husband Roy Rogers in numerous musical Western and named after Rogers TV show. It applies in addition to Patsy Montana as one of the few great female icons of Western Music.

According to her birth certificate Evans was born on October 30, 1912 under the name of Lucille Wood Smith in Uvalde, Texas, was born. In contrast, Evans was even on 31 October as their birthday. Her first name was later changed to Frances Octavia. She spent her childhood in Italy, Texas, an agricultural town south of Dallas, and later moved with her family to Memphis, Tennessee.

As it turned out, over time, Evans had vocal talent, and so she began to pursue a career as a singer. In the 1930s, she worked at several local radio stations in Memphis, Louisville, Dallas and Chicago. During this time she also took her stage name. In 1940, she competed for the first time in Hollywood, leading to contracts with the studios 20th Century Fox (1941 ) and Republic (1943 ) introduced, where she had leading roles in films such as Hillbilly Swing Your Partner. Finally, in 1943 she starred opposite John Wayne for the first time in a Western, War of the Wildcats.

The great turning point in her life came in 1944 when she landed a role on the side of Roy Rogers in the musical Western The Cowboy and the Senorita. The audience was excited about this pairing and it should follow 28 more films and numerous TV shows. It was Evans who had not yet given up their dream of a solo career as a pop singer, beginning still doubt whether they could permanently come to terms with her role as co-star and played in 1945 with the idea to leave the studio.

Privately, there is a close relationship between colleagues developed. After the death of Rogers ' first wife Arline 1946 Evans was the support on his side, on New Year's Eve 1947, she finally got married on the set of her film Home in Oklahoma. For Evans, it was the fourth marriage. Rogers and Evans were henceforth the dream couple of the Western scene, both on the screen and television as well as their numerous public appearances. From her pen the song Happy Trails, which would become hallmarks Rogers comes. In addition, she composed more familiar songs like Hazy Mountains or My Heart went That- A-Way.

The marriage went forth a daughter, Robin Elizabeth, who was born with Down's syndrome and died shortly before her second birthday. This blow processed deeply religious Evans in the book Angel Unaware, they also wrote other religious books and songs, such as The Bible tells me that. Mary ( " Dodie " ), David John ( "Sandy" ), Marion ( " Mimi: four more children - In addition, the couple adopted three children in addition to Rogers from his first marriage - Cheryl Darlene, Linda Lou and Roy Jr. ( " Dusty " ) " ) and Deborah Lee. The marriage lasted 51 years until the death of Rogers in 1998.

In addition to Patsy Montana Dale Evans has shaped the image of singing cowgirl at basic, although they, unlike colleagues such as Dorothy Page or Jane Frazee never played the lead role in a Western. Thus, the country band Dixie Chicks, who had maintained a cowgirl image before her big break in 1998, named her first album Thank Heavens for Dale Evans ( 1991) for her.

For their achievements Dale Evans has won several awards, including a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. She died on 7 February 2001 at the age of 89 years due to heart failure.