Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys,[1] was an American singer, actor, television host, Freemason and rodeo performer.

Following early work under his given name, first as a co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then as an actor, the rebranded Rogers then became one of the most famous and popular Western stars of his era.

His productions usually featured a sidekick, often either Pat Brady, Andy Devine, George "Gabby" Hayes, or Smiley Burnette.

Alongside Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, and Tony Martin, he is the recipient of four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; the last of which was honored with the band mentioned above.

Dissatisfied with his job and city life, Andy and his brother Will built a 12-by-50-foot (3.7 m × 15.2 m) houseboat from salvage lumber, and in July 1912 the Slye family traveled up the Ohio River towards Portsmouth.

[3] In 1919, the Slye family purchased a farm in Duck Run, near Lucasville, Ohio, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Portsmouth, and built a six-room house.

[3] Len attended high school in McDermott, Ohio,[3] but after he completed his second year there, his family returned to Cincinnati, where his father worked at another shoe factory.

The Slye family rented a small house near Mary, and Len and his father found employment driving gravel trucks for a highway construction project.

[3] In spring 1931, after the construction company went bankrupt, Len traveled to Tulare, California, where he found work picking peaches for Del Monte.

After 19-year-old Len's return to Lawndale, his sister Mary suggested that he audition for the Midnight Frolic radio program, which was broadcast over KMCS in Inglewood.

A few nights later, wearing a Western shirt that Mary had made for him, he overcame his shyness and appeared on the program playing guitar, singing, and yodeling.

[3][4] By September 1931, Len hired the Canadian-born Bob Nolan, who answered the group's classified ad in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner that read, "Yodeler for old-time act, to travel.

When Spencer left the O-Bar-O Cowboys to take a break from music, Len joined Jack LeFevre and His Texas Outlaws, who were a popular act on a local Los Angeles radio station.

During this time, Len continued to work with his radio singing group, while Spencer and Nolan began writing songs for the trio.

[5] In early 1934, the fiddle player Hugh Farr joined the group, adding a bass voice to their vocal arrangements.

[5] By summer 1934, the popularity and fame of the Sons of the Pioneers extended beyond the Los Angeles area and quickly spread across the country through short syndicated radio segments that were later rebroadcast across the United States.

In addition to his own movies, he played a supporting role in the John Wayne classic Dark Command (1940), which also featured one of his future sidekicks, George "Gabby" Hayes.

Unlike other stars, the vast majority of his leading roles allowed him to play a character with his own name, in the manner of Autry.

With money from Rogers's films and from his public appearances going to Republic Pictures, he brought a clause into his 1940 contract with the studio where he would have the right to his likeness, voice, and name for merchandising.

[15] Beginning in 1949, they were part of the Hollywood Christian Group, founded by their friend, Louis Evans Jr., the organizing pastor of Bel Air Church.

In Apple Valley, California, where they later made their home, streets, highways, and civic buildings have been named after them in recognition of their efforts on behalf of homeless and handicapped children.

Rogers also made numerous cameo appearances on other popular television shows, starring as himself or other cowboy-type characters, such as in an episode of Wonder Woman called "The Bushwackers".

It also filmed other undertakings, including the 1955–1956 CBS Western series Brave Eagle, starring Keith Larsen as a young, peaceful Cheyenne chief, Kim Winona as Morning Star, his romantic interest, and the Hopi Indian Anthony Numkena as Keena, Brave Eagle's foster son.

Rogers also owned a thoroughbred racehorse named Triggairo, that won 13 career races, including the 1975 El Encino Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

[23][24] After their daughter Debbie was killed in a church bus accident in 1964, they moved to the 67-acre (27 ha) Double R Bar Ranch in Apple Valley, California.

[34] In 1967, Rogers, with Choctaw blood on his mother's side, was named outstanding Indian citizen of the year by a group of Western tribes.