He had him mounted (not stuffed) and he remains, in his rearing hind-leg pose, the most popular attraction at the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Victorville.Roy Rogers starred in 91 feature motion pictures and 102 halfhour television films. Their house stood about where second base now is at Riverfront Stadium, where the Cincinnati Reds play baseball. Who could forget the memory of Trigger rearing up majestically while Roy Rogers waves toward the cerulean Western sky? Mr. Rogers used to say, ''I hardly wore shoes until I was almost grown. He embodied unmistakably wholesome values and evoked a vanishing and idealized America, when men tipped their hats to the ladies and sang sentimental ballads around the bone-warming glow of a campfire.At the pinnacle of his fame in the decade after the end of World War II, Mr. Rogers was consistently the most popular western star in America, succeeding Gene Autry and William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd in the genre. They appeared briefly with Bing Crosby in ''Rhythm on the Range'' and in Gene Autry's first movie, ''Tumbling Tumbleweeds. Commenting on the adversity in his life, he wrote, ''If there were no valleys of sadness and death, we could never really appreciate the sunshine of happiness on the mountaintop. That theme was a title of their autobiography, published in 1979.When Mr. Rogers married Miss Evans, he had three children, an adopted daughter named Cheryl, another daughter, Linda Lou, and Roy Rogers Jr. She was a twice-married actress with a son, Thomas Frederick Fox Jr.In raising a family, the couple endured heartbreaks. She made it. In 1953, Miss Evans wrote a best-selling inspirational book about their daughter called ''Angel Unaware. He also performed with groups like the International Cowboys and the O-Bar-O Cowboys. "He was a good looking man, a good singer. He played the good guy who would shoot the gun out of the villain's hand, rather than shooting and wounding the villain. Always protective of the weak and brave, he was kind to animals, God-fearing and slow to anger. "I told him, 'OK, when you die I'm going to stuff you and put you on him," she said. Roy Rogers had several "Triggers" over the years. Rogers is survived by Evans; sons Roy Rogers Jr. and Tom Fox; daughters Cheryl Barnett, Linda Lou Johnson and Dodie Sailors; 15 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren. ''He also starred in touring rodeos, made records and developed extensive business interests in real estate, music publishing and fast-food restaurants. They made several films together, and in their television series for NBC, ''The Roy Rogers Show,'' which ran from 1951 to 1957, Miss Evans joined Mr. Rogers after every show to sing ''Happy Trails.'' A survey conducted by Life magazine among children found that when they were asked whom they most wanted to emulate, Mr. Rogers matched Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.Mr. Rogers's first wife was Arlene Wilkins, whom he met in 1931 while on the road with a singing group. It stuck, and in the middle 1930's they began to make transcriptions of romantic cowboy ballads. Who didn't ache for a chance to meet the hero in the flesh and drawl, ''Howdy, pardner''? He continued to wear his white Stetson, his gabardine shirts and his silver-and-leather belts. Trigger appeared in all the films and TV shows in which Rogers starred. They married three years later, 14 months after his first wife, Arlene, died. Mr. Rogers frowned on such public displays and was ever mindful that he was a potent role model for millions of children. There Mr. Rogers learned to ride a mule, acquired the ranch-hand skills and gained the familiarity with animals that he would eventually apply to the Hollywood range.Later, the family returned to Cincinnati.
The couple spent their later years greeting fans at the museum and enjoying life with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "Cowboys weren't allowed to kiss girls in pictures, so one time I gave Dale a little peck on the forehead and we got a ton of letters to leave that mushy stuff out," Rogers recalled. Who couldn't sing along as Roy and Dale shook off trail dust and broke into ''Happy Trails to You,'' their signature song that Miss Evans wrote? "When I was a boy, our parents taught us that hitting below the belt was a cowardly thing," he once said. He was 86. Indians basked in his accomplishments and in 1967 he was named ''outstanding Indian citizen of the year'' by a group of Western tribes.Though Mr. Rogers admired cowboy stars from the silent-screen era, he did not envision himself galloping across the prairie. It has shrunk to about 110 restaurants. Mr. Rogers spent many evenings playing the guitar and singing for fellow farm workers.To supplement his meager income, Mr. Rogers formed a singing duo with a cousin, Stanley Slye, and they performed at parties and square dances.Mr. VICTORVILLE, California (CNN) -- Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys who appeared in more than 100 films and rode atop his trusty horse named Trigger in most of them, singing his theme song "Happy Trails," died Monday morning at the age of 86. He recited some poetry.In the late 1940's and early 50's, more than 2,000 fan clubs declared their fidelity to the cowboy couple. They were married on New Year's Eve in 1947 and she remained until he died ''my sweetheart and hunting and fishing partner all wrapped up into one. 40. Singing cowboy ROY ROGERS was the white-hat hero to millions of kids, but between the sheets, he was a bedroom bad guy – a rough rider with a craving for hookers and kinky antics! His ambition was to become a dentist, a profession, he reasoned, that everyone needed.However, his absorption with the culture of the West began to grow in 1919, when Andrew Slye moved his family from the city to a small farm in Duck Run, Ohio. The name of the film was changed to ''Under Western Stars.'' Roy Rogers, a shoe factory worker's son from Cincinnati who rode a golden palomino and a harmonious voice to fame as Hollywood's most beloved and quintessential singing cowboy, died yesterday at his ranch in Apple Valley near Victorville, Calif. He never bragged or postured. ''Devoted as they were, they never kissed on the screen. Forming a band called "Sons of the Pioneers," Rogers enjoyed moderate success, appearing on Los Angeles radio. ''Today there will be a lot of sad and grateful Americans, especially of my generation, because of his career,'' said President Clinton, a boyhood fan of Mr. Rogers.He was an outsized and, for a cowpoke, an immaculately dressed figure.