The Official Website of Gene Autry, America's Favorite Singing Cowboy

Television

Flying A Pictures, Incorporated

Gene's venture into television led to the creation of a new company, Flying A Pictures, on April 17, 1950. It successfully produced five half-hour wholesome Westerns that American boys and girls, and their parents, loved.

The Gene Autry Show – aired July 1950 to December 1955, starring Gene Autry (Gene Autry) and Pat Buttram (Pat Buttram). 91 episodes. Gene and sidekick Pat travel the Southwest maintaining law and order.

The Range Rider – aired December 1950 to June 1953, starring Jock Mahoney (the Range Rider) and Dick Jones (Dick West). 78 episodes. The Range Rider and his young sidekick, Dick West, defend justice during the pioneering years of the Old West.

Annie Oakley – aired January 1954 to February 1957, starring Gail Davis (Annie Oakley), Brad Johnson (Deputy Sheriff Lofty Craig), and Jimmy Hawkins (Tagg Oakley). 81 episodes. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her brother, Tagg, assist Deputy Lofty Craig in rounding up badmen near her hometown of Diablo.

Buffalo Bill, Jr. – aired March 1955 to September 1956, starring Dick Jones (Buffalo Bill, Jr.), Nancy Gilbert (Calamity), and Harry Cheshire (Judge Ben Wiley). 42 episodes. Buffalo Bill, Jr. is the marshal of the town of Wileyville, Texas, in the 1890s. He is assisted by his sister, Calamity, and his adopted father, Judge Ben Wiley.

The Adventures of Champion – aired September 1955 to March 1956, starring Barry Curtis (Ricky North), Jim Bannon (Sandy North), Francis McDonald (Will Calhoun), and Ewing Mitchell (Sheriff Powers). 26 episodes. This series, set in the Southwest of the 1880s, dealt with the adventures of 12-year-old Ricky North, and his stallion Champion, the Wonder Horse.

Gene sold the rights to all but The Gene Autry Show in the early 1970s to finance his purchase of the copyrights to his feature films. By the end of that decade, The Gene Autry Show was no longer on the air, but it was safely stored in Gene's personal film archive.

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The Melody Ranch Show, KTLA