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Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American Country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John Ritter, grandsons Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter, and granddaughter Carly).
Ritter had a birth defect known as a coloboma in his right eye. His father, Tex Ritter, was a singing cowboy and matinee star, and his mother, Dorothy Fay (née Southworth), was an actress. [4] He had an older brother, Thomas "Tom" Ritter. [5] Ritter attended Hollywood High School, where he was student body president.
Fay married singer/actor Tex Ritter on June 14, 1941; the marriage ended with his death on January 2, 1974. They had two sons, Thomas and John. Among her grandchildren are actors Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter. [citation needed] Fay made several more movies after she and Ritter married, but then retired from show business in late 1941.
In the latest Texas history piece, Ken Bridges looks at the illustrious career of Tex Ritter who sang his way to country music stardom
On Nov. 10, 1973, Tex Ritter stood on the Ryman Auditorium stage and brought David "Stringbean" Akeman to the "Grand Ole Opry." ... beaten and shot to death in a Nashville alley, and no one could ...
Years later, he played the lead in a B-movie called The Marshal of Windy Hollow (1972), a film that co-starred a host of old time actors, including Ken Maynard, Tex Ritter, and Bill Cody, Jr. He then had a bit part in the film Buckstone County Prison in 1978, and another bit part in the 1985 sci-fi movie Alien Outlaw (his last film role).
Ritter's official cause of death was an undetected aortic dissection, when the body's main artery, aka the aorta, tears. However, doctors initially thought the actor was experiencing a heart attack.
The Collins Kids became regular performers on Town Hall Party in 1954 and on the syndicated for television version of the show, Tex Ritter's Ranch Party, which ran from 1957 to 1959. [ 2 ] It was on Town Hall Party that Ricky Nelson first saw Lorrie Collins, and soon after they began dating. [ 3 ]