Actors Donna Douglas of “The Beverly Hillbillies” fame and Denny Miller of “Wagon Train” will join a cast of film stars, cowboy and country entertainers, Western authors and cowboy look-alikes for five days of entertainment starting today.
Vintage films, lively music, panel discussions and fellowship for fans of all things Western will fill the air during the Gene Autry Oklahoma Film & Music Festival, which concludes Sunday at the Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum in the tiny southcentral Oklahoma town of Gene Autry.
The reason for this gathering is to celebrate the legacy of the singing cowboys of the B-Western films of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
The celebration takes place each year on the weekend closest to Sept. 29, Gene Autry’s birthday. This 18th annual event follows the theme “The Music, The Movies, The Memories,” and a variety of activities and concerts are planned that will emphasize those three aspects of the singing cowboy legacy.
Other celebrities on the program are Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, Roy Rogers’ and Dale Evans’ daughter; Jeff Hildebrandt, program director with The Western Channel and cowboy storyteller; Judy Keel, widow of actor Howard Keel; and Bill Hale, brother of recently deceased cowboy star Monte Hale.
Johnny Western, who played guitar with both Gene Autry’s and Johnny Cash’s bands, headlines the cast of performers. Headliners also include Oklahoma Balladeer Les Gilliam, Texas singer/songwriter Andy Wilkinson, Nebraska cowgirl poet Yvonne Hollenbeck, Western duo Call of the West, “Voice of the Western Channel” Bill Barwick, Missouri old-timey singers Bob & Barb Lewis and Prairie Moon, a Texas-based cowboy quintet.
Authors who will present programs include Mike Nevins, Bobby Copeland, Sandy Grabman, Joyce Spizer Foy and Judy Gail Krasnow, all writers of books on B-Western subjects.
Other film stars scheduled to appear include Burton Gilliam (the Pace Picante cowboy), Western actor Ben Cooper; Dale Berry, a regular on “Walker, Texas Ranger”; Don Reynolds, who played the last “Little Beaver” in the Red Ryder films; and James Hampton of TV’s “F Troop.”
Tickets to the festival range from $10 to $25. Call the museum at (580) 294-3047 or go online to www.geneaturyokmuseum.com to find out more.
The museum is offering free admission to the festival for active military personnel in uniform as its tribute to the troops. The Thursday evening lineup includes a special ceremony and a program ofpatriotic music, poetry and prose, designed to honor the troops.
