On this day in 1906, country music pioneer Woodward Maurice “Tex” Ritter was born in Mourval, Texas.
A founding member of Nashville’s Country Music Association and instrumental in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Ritter (left) was involved in every aspect of the business from song writer to recording artist.
Raised on the family farm, he majored in political science and economics at the University of Texas in Austin. By 22, however, Ritter found his true calling.
He hosted a 30-minute radio program singing cowboy songs on station KPRC in Houston. That same year he headed for New York, appearing in a number of Broadway productions including “Green Grow the Lilacs.” The 1930 stage play by Lynn Riggs was the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma.”
Starring in New York City’s first Western radio show on WOR, he became a hit in 1932 serenading Manhattanites with cowboy songs and spinning stories of the Old West. A daily children’s program, Cowboy Tom’s Roundup” the next year on station WINS was expanded to two other East Coast stations and he began recording for the American Record Company the same year.
Hollywood wasn’t far behind. Moving to Los Angeles in 1936, Ritter began his film career at Grand National Pictures. He made a dozen B-Westerns for the studio before defecting to Universal, appearing in many dozens more, generally in the role of a hero named “Tex.” (Right, 1937 movie poster)
Incredibly prolific as a film star, his recording career, however, was his most successful. After topping the country charts in the 1940s and touring Europe, he recorded the title track (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’) for the movie “High Noon,” which 
won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1953.
In 1965, Ritter and his wife, actress Dorothy Fay, (right) moved to Nashville. The couple became an institution at the Grand Ole’ Opry. Ritter worked for WSM Radio and the Opry and Dorothy served as the Opry’s official greeter for a number of years.
The couple had two sons. Tom, diagnosed with 
cerebral palsy, prompted Ritter to raise money for cerebral palsy charities. John, (right) best known for his role in the television series, “Three’s Company” died tragically in 2003 while undergoing surgery for a throat abnormality. He was 55.
Tex Ritter died of a heart attack on January 2, 1974, at the age of 69 and is buried in his home state of Texas at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in Port Neches. Dorothy Fay Ritter outlived her husband of 33 years by nearly three decades.
Following his death, Ritter was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He and son John both have stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the only father and son duo to be honored.
The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame/Tex Ritter Music, 310 W. Panola, Carthage, Texas, has drawn country music fans from around the world. The Tex Ritter Museum began in 1993 to honor Panola County native in 1993. The Country Music Hall of Fame opened in 2002 and has welcomed more 
than 30,000 visitors.
The museum was expanded to include other Texas country music stars and a significant Jim Reeves exhibit was added in 2004. The museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 4. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children. For more information go to tcmhof.com/museum/4-tex-museum, e-mail cvb@carthagetexas.com or call (903) 694-9561.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.