ROOTS of Country Music

Eddie Dean

(7/9/1907~3/4/1999)

An era ended with the death of Eddie Dean in West Lake Village,Calif. The 91-year-old Dean, who died of emphysema, was the last of the great cowboy singers. Eddie was a western singer and actor whom Roy Rogers and Gene Autry termed the best cowboy singer of all time. Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Rex Allen may have attained greater financial success and notoriety and all had fine voices in their own right, but they all envied Eddie's voice. Dean was best known for "I Dreamed of A Hill-Billy Heaven" (1955), which became an even greater hit in 1961 for Tex Ritter. 

Dean was born Edgar Dean Glossup in the rural community of Posey inHopkins County,Texas, northwest of Sulphur Springs. His father was a teacher, who encouraged Dean to launch a professional singing career. At the age of sixteen, Dean performed on the Southern gospel circuit with theVaughanand then the V.O. Stamps quartets. Dean and his brother, Jimmie Dean moved toChicagoand performed together on WLS Radio's National Barn Dance. They also did work from a radio station in Yankton,South Dakota. In 1934, Dean appeared in his first film in the role of Sam in Manhattan Love Song. 

In 1937, Dean relocated toHollywood,California, and began appearing in western films, often withMississippinative Roscoe Ates (1894~1962) in the role of Soapy Jones. Eddie appeared in over 30 western movies, including some with Gene Autry. The majority of his films were shot with Republic, Monogram and PRC studios. He had a starring role in 1944's "The Harmony Trail. Dean also appeared in the Hopalong Cassidy adventure series and in "Rhythm On The River" with Bing Crosby. Eddie appeared regularly on "The Judy Canova Show" on CBS radio.

Many of Dean's early roles were un-credited. Dean, Ates, and Jan Sterling also appeared in the short-running ABC television western, The Marshal of Gunsight Pass, broadcast live in 1950 to West Coast stations from a primitive studio lot at the Iverson Ranch inChatsworth,California. Dean was also featured in archival footage on NBC's The Gabby Hayes Show. 

Long after The Marshal of Gunsight Pass ended, Dean appeared as Trail Boss Tim in a 1962 television short called The Night Rider, with Johnny Cash as Johnny Laredo and Dick Jones, originally fromSnyder,Texas, as Billy Joe. Dean thereafter guest starred twice on CBS's The Beverly Hillbillies sitcom with Buddy Ebsen in the 1963 episodes Elly's Animals and in the role of Sergeant Dean in Jed Plays Solomon. 

Beginning in 1941, Dean recorded a string of singles for Standard, American Record Company, Just Film, Decca, and Radio Recorders, joining Mercury in 1948. He charted that year with One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart) (No. 11, 1948), a song written with his wife Lorene Donnelly Dean (10/4/1911~ 7/12/2002), whom he married in 1931. The song was a massive Billboard No. 1 hit for Jimmy Wakely that same year.

In 1955, Dean, a successful songwriter penned with Hal Southern and cut "I Dreamed of A Hill-Billy Heaven" (No. 1, 1955) and Eddie also wrote On the Banks of the Sunny San Juan. He is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Western Music Association Hall of Fame.

Dean was founder of theAcademyofCountry Music. He won many awards, and ranked in the top ten most popular cowboy stars before retiring from films to travel the world and give live performances. Dean was a avid golfer.