My 1st Celebrity Story: King & Queen of the West

This is but the first

celebrity story

of many in my Hollywood Memoir, Three Stages.

In fact, this one, about Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, didn’t make it into the book.

Every Sunday morning at the Fountain Avenue Baptist Church in Hollywood, just before the eleven o’clock service started Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, usually accompanied by their friend Buddy Baer, would quietly take their seats in the second pew next to my dad who sat there to record Dr. Jack MacArthur’s sermons.

King & Queen of the West

They actually dressed like this for church.

Buddy was the younger brother of heavyweight champion Max Baer. At six feet seven inches, he played giants in Quo Vadis, Jack and the Beanstalk and several other movies. My dad Bish, who towered a full five feet seven inches, was often heard to tell folks that when the congregation rose to sing a hymn he would look at Buddy then check to be sure that he was actually standing.

Roy and Dale were huge movie stars at that time but you could not find more down-to-earth and friendly folks. They participated in many of the church activities, visited us at home and hosted us at their ranch. By the time I started college we had been friends for four or five years and I dated their daughter Cheryl for a while.

In my very early days as an actor Dale was a personal counsellor, advising me about maintaining my standing as a good Christian in the wild and sinful world of showbiz.

On the home page of this website there’s a short home movie, featuring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, “King & Queen of the West”.

Click here to get my Hollywood memoir Three Stages

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