On this day (October 31) in 1912, Frances Octavia Smith was born in Uvalde, Texas. Better known by her stage name Dale Evans, she made a name for herself among the male-dominated cowboy culture that ran rampant in the 1940s and 1950s. The third wife of the movement’s premier star, Roy Rogers, she shared a screen with him in numerous Western films such as Sunset in El Dorado (1945) and Bells of Coronado (1950).
Also a gifted songwriter, Evans penned more than 400 tunes, including the quintessential cowboy standard “Happy Trails”, which served as the theme song to the couple’s highly successful TV series The Roy Rogers Show. She also lent her vocal skills to a number of big bands on the Chicago scene.
On February 7, 2001, Dale Evans died of congestive heart failure at her home in Apple Valley, California. She was 88 years old. Today, we’re highlighting her remarkable legacy in honor of what would have been her 114th birthday.
Becoming Dale Evans
Before the world knew her as Dale Evans, Frances Octavia Smith grew up in the small town of Italy, Texas, where her father owned and operated a hardware store. At just 3 years old, she made her solo singing debut at the local Baptist church.
Smith moved to Osceola, Arkansas, with her family at age seven. She took piano lessons until her instructor quit, frustrated that the child preferred improvising her own songs to mastering her scales. At age 14, Smith eloped with her first husband, giving birth to their son at age 15.
The family moved to Memphis, and by 17, Smith was a divorced single mother looking to make it in the music industry. She took business courses and worked as a secretary at an insurance agency. Her music career got a boost when her boss overheard her singing at her desk, and he helped her find singing gigs on local radio stations.
A Breakout Star
After becoming a regular on the Memphis radio scene, Frances Smith moved to Chicago, Illinois, seeking to broaden her career horizons.
However, finding few job opportunities and plagued with health issues, she and her son soon relocated to Louisville, Kentucky. She found a job at a local radio station, where her boss christened her Dale Evans because it easily rolled off the tongue of announcers. She would use this stage name for the rest of her career, singing on radio stations and in clubs around Louisville.
Thus began a fruitful singing career, as Evans eventually returned to Chicago and began singing with a number of jazz, swing, and “big bands”. This led to a screen test for the 1942 film Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
While Evans did not get the role, she did gain an agent in Joe Rivkin. By 1942, she had secured a contract with 20th Century Fox, appearing in Western films such as Orchestra Wives and Girl Trouble.
Meeting Roy Rogers
Moving from Fox to Republic Records, Dale Evans co-starred alongside John Wayne in the 1943 film In Old Oklahoma before teaming up with Roy Rogers for 1944’s The Cowboy and the Senorita.
This marked a professional partnership that spanned 28 films, and their working relationship soon blossomed into a romantic one. Evans and Rogers tied the knot on New Year’s Eve 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, where they had filmed the movie Home in Oklahoma a year earlier.
Evans reportedly wrote the lyrics to “Happy Trails” on an envelope, teaching the melody to Rogers and his singing group, Sons of the Pioneers, only minutes before their radio show. “Happy Trails” became the theme song to The Roy Rogers Show, which ran from 1951 to 1957 on NBC.
A Lasting Legacy
Together, the couple founded their own production company, Roy Rogers Productions. Dale Evans starred in her own weekly Christian TV program, A Date with Dale, from 1996 until her death in 2001.
They also owned a ranch in Apple Valley, California, and founded the Roy Rogers–Dale Evans Museum in nearby Victorville. The power couple also established the Roy Rogers–Dale Evans Happy Trails Foundation for abused children, which remains active today.
Roy Rogers died of heart failure in July 1998 at age 86. Dale Evans followed three years later in 2001 at age 88.
Featured image by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
The post Born 114 Years Ago Today in the Lone Star State, the Singing Cowgirl Who Became a Country Music and TV Icon Alongside Roy Rogers appeared first on American Songwriter.