Rex Allen interview

By Nick Nicolas

December 1990 – Entertainment Magazine. Page 5

Rex Allen [1] is one of only a handful of silver screen cowboys who actually came from a cattle ranching background. Rex hailed from Willcox, Arizona– about 80 miles east of Tucson. He learned to ride almost as soon as he could walk, and helped with the livestock and ranch chores before and after school.

From early childhood, music filled the Allen house. His dad played fiddle and Rex learned to play a Sears Roebuck mail-order guitar to accompany him at dances. Wherever and whenever possible, he would sing. At age 12, he had a fine bass voice that spanned three octaves.

For awhile, young Allen considered competing professionally in rodeos, but found riding a two thousand pound bull was quite a different story from the steers he’d conquered locally. Music was undoubtedly more rewarding and definitely a lot safer. But he never lost his love for the rodeo and its bronco and bull riders, many of whom became good friends.

At the height of his movie popularity, Dell Comic Books published 30 Rex Allen comics and his picture appeared on cigarette cards, Dixie Cup lids and dozens of other promotional items. But for many people, he is most familiar as the narrator of over one hundred Walt Disney TV shows and movies. Literally thousands of TV and radio commercials throughout the country featured that distinctive, deep voice pitching everything from fertilizer to trucks, and racetracks to cowboy boots.

In 1989, the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum opened in Willcox, as a tribute to the man who never forgot his roots.

The town of Willcox also hosts the annual Rex Allen Days in October that features a golf tournament, PRCA rodeo, musical concerts and events for the whole family. It began back in 1951, and he’s never missed appearing there. There is a Rex Allen star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Other cherished honors include being elected the Rodeo Man of the Year, the first recipient of the Golden Boot Award and being inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Continue reading the Rex Allen Interview

[1] Rex Allen passed away on December 17, 1999. He was born on December 31, 1920. Allen was 70 years old at the time of this interview.

Photo of Koko the Wonder Horse, courtesy of Rex Allen. Entertainment Magazine.