ROOTS of Country Music

Rex Allen

WLS Barn Dance (1949)

Rex Allen (Dec. 31, 1920 ~Dec. 17, 1999) Rex was a film actor, singer and songwriter. He starred in 19 movies for Republic Pictures between 1950 and 1954. Allen became known as the "Last of the Silver Screen Cowboys." Rex and his horse, Koko were popular stars performing regularly on rodeo circuits.

Allen wrote and recorded many songs, a number of which were featured in his own films. Late in coming to the industry, his film career was relatively short as the popularity of westerns faded by the mid 1950s. As other cowboy stars made the transition to television, Allen tried too, cast as Dr. Bill Baxter for a half-hour weekly series called Frontier Doctor. There were 39 episodes produced from 1955 to 1956.

Allen narrated many of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color nature shows and other productions. He provided the voice for 150 different cartoon characters created for Disney. Rex acquired the nickname, The Arizona Cowboy.