Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Ray Dean ( born August 10, 1928 in Plainview, Texas, † June 13, 2010 in Varina, Virginia) was an American country musician, actor and entrepreneur. He was admitted in 2010 ( posthumously ) into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Life
Jimmy Dean was born into a poor farming family. At the age of ten he learned guitar, piano and other instruments. At sixteen he joined the merchant navy, and two years later he was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. Here he became a member of a band, the Tennessee Haymakers for the first time. After his release, he founded the Texas Wildcats.
Career
In 1952 he recorded his first single. Bumming Around a respectable number five on the country charts. In 1957 he got his own TV show, the Jimmy Dean Show, but due to an unfavorable airtime had few viewers. In the same year he signed a record contract with Columbia label. After a long dry spell, he published in 1961 the original composition Big Bad John. The achieved with a Grammy award-winning number one single in both the country and the pop charts and was one of the biggest hits of the sixties.
With the anti-communist pronounced Dear Ivan and PT -109, a song about the warship, which was once commanded by John F. Kennedy, in 1962 he reached top positions in the charts. Thanks to this success, the Jimmy Dean Show was revived. The top spot in the country charts, he reached again in 1965 with the title The First Thing Ev'ry Morning ( And The Last Thing Ev'ry Night ). However, the sales of his records were then gradually subsided, although he was still in the charts. He had his last top- ten finish in 1976 with IOU.
Dean was more successful in business area. He founded the Jimmy Dean Meat Company, for which he also acted as an advertising medium. His television commercials for Jimmy Dean Pure Pork Sausage finally made him more popular than his musical achievements.
In 1971 he played the role of Willard Whyte in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. He plays the role of a billionaire with a vast corporate network. He is being held captive by the villain Blofeld. This makes use of his empire to threaten the world. The figure Whyte was an homage to Howard Hughes.
Discography ( albums)
Film
James Bond 007 - Diamonds Are Forever (1971 ) as Willard Whyte