The Strawberry Roan

When a proud horse throws a rancher's son and nearly paralyzes him, the owner derides the pony -- and wants it dead. It's up to good-hearted singing cowboy Gene Autry to save The Strawberry Roan, which holds the key to the boy's recovery. A rare Autry western in color, the red rock vistas make this '48 movie a real Sedona chestnut.

Singing cowboys -- those Western movie heroes as likely to reach for a guitar as for a six-shooter -- lassoed film fans into movie theaters as reliably as any stars of the '30s and '40s. Tallest in the saddle among the warbling wranglers sat Gene Autry, to this day the only entertainer with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring his legendary success in movies, TV, radio, recordings and live performance. In 1948, Sedona's red rock beauty provided the backdrop for his 63rd movie, The Strawberry Roan.

The Strawberry Roan is one of only two Autry features shot in color (the other is 1949's The Big Sombrero) and Sedona is shown to beautiful advantage. Roan was completed in 27 shooting days; Autry appeared in 30 more feature films into the mid-'50s, as well as his own TV and radio series and live performances. By the early 1960s the old cowboy had reached the end of the trail as a performer and devoted himself to his considerable business interests, which included ownership of his beloved California (now Anaheim) Angels baseball team. In 1988, a lifelong dream came true when the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, an institution devoted to studying the reality and mythology of the American West, opened in Los Angeles. He died on Oct. 2, 1998, at age 91.

Text © 2006 Sedona Monthly

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