Smiley Burnette

Smiley Burnette

actor, music department, composer

Smiley Burnette was born on Mar 18, 1911 in USA. Smiley Burnette's big-screen debut came with In Old Santa Fe directed by David Howard in 1934, strarring Lester Burnette (uncredited). Smiley Burnette is known for Green Acres directed by Richard L. Bare, Eddie Albert stars as Oliver Wendell Douglas and Eva Gabor as Lisa Douglas. The most recent award Smiley Burnette achieved is Walk of Fame. The upcoming new tvshow Smiley Burnette plays is Green Acres - Season 2 which will be released on Sep 15, 1965.

Smiley worked on a local radio station and in Vaudeville after high school. Always interested in music, he was friends with Gene Autry and worked with him on the radio show "The National Barn Dance". When Westerns became a big draw with sound, the studios were always on the lookout for singing cowboys. In 1934, both Gene and Smiley made their debuts in In Old Santa Fe (1934). Smiley became well known as Gene's plump sidekick Frog Milhouse, and they worked together in over 80 Westerns. After Gene, Smiley provided the comic relief for other cowboy stars at Republic such as Sunset Carson and Charles Starrett (The Durango Kid). He also provided a lot of the music as he wrote over 300 western songs and sang quite a few in the films. Smiley was the first supporting actor to regularly appear on the Top Ten Western money-maker list. He became well known for his white horse with the black circle around one eye. When he used a team of white horses, as when he was 'Spec Specialist' Smiley Burnette, each white horse had one black circle around one eye. When the 'B' movie Western reign ended in 1953, Smiley retired from the screen. He made occasional appearances on television including being a regular on the music show "Ozark Jubilee (1959)". His last performance was as railroad engineer Charlie Pratt on Petticoat Junction (1963) from 1963-67.

  • Birthday

    Mar 18, 1911
  • Place of Birth

    Summum, Illinois, USA

Known For

Awards

1 wins & 0 nominations

Walk of Fame
1986
Motion Picture
Winner - Star on the Walk of Fame

Movies & TV Shows

All
Movies
TV Shows