Net Worth Ranker
What Is Gene Autry’s Net Worth?
Adjusted for inflation, Gene Autry’s net worth at the time of his death in October 1998 was approximately $500 million. This substantial net worth was the culmination of a multifaceted career encompassing music, film, television, and shrewd business ventures.
Gene Autry’s Diverse Career Ventures
Autry’s primary rise to fame was as a singing cowboy. From 1934 to 1953, he showcased his talents in over 90 movies, including notable films such as “Comin’ Round the Mountain” (1936), “Oh, Susanna!” (1936), “The Last Round-Up” (1947), and “Riders in the Sky” (1949). He also starred in and produced “The Gene Autry Show” from 1950 to 1956, which ran for 91 episodes over five seasons.
His singing career was equally prolific, producing more than 600 recordings and selling over 100 million records, and achieved the first-ever Gold-certified record. His signature song, “Back in the Saddle Again,” and Christmas classics like “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Up on the House Top” solidified his place in music history. Several of Autry’s singles reached #1 on the “Billboard” country chart, including “I’m Beginning To Care,” “Were You Sincere,” “You Are My Sunshine,” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas.”
Beyond entertainment, Autry was a savvy businessman. In 1960, he acquired the Anaheim Angels baseball team, which he held until his death. In 1995, he sold a portion of the team to Walt Disney, and after his death, his widow sold the remainder. In 1982, Autry sold KTLA television station for $245 million. By the time of his death, his estimated net worth was $320 million, which placed him among the 400 wealthiest individuals in America.
Autry’s media ventures included producing TV series such as “The Range Rider” (1951) and “Buffalo Bill, Jr.” (1955–1956) through his Flying A Productions. He also hosted the weekly CBS Radio show “Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch” from 1940 to 1956.
Autry’s real estate ventures included ownership of the Flying A Ranch near Berwyn, Oklahoma (renamed Gene Autry in November 1941). In 1997, Gene and Jackie acquired a 13,500-square-foot home in Palm Springs, California, for $2.05 million. The property, built in 1927, featured five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a three-car garage with an attached apartment, an outdoor kitchen, and a tennis court. In early 2020, Jackie listed the property for $8.25 million, eventually selling it for $7 million in April 2020. As of today, the property is estimated to be worth over $11 million.
Early Life and Career Beginnings of Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry, later known as Gene Autry, was born on September 29, 1907, near Tioga, Texas. His parents, Elnora Ozment and Delbert Autry, moved the family to southern Oklahoma in the 1920s. As a teenager, Gene worked on his father’s ranch.
Autry dropped out of high school in 1925 and worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. While working in Chelsea, Oklahoma, he was fired for singing and playing guitar, but a customer, humorist Will Rogers, advised him to pursue singing professionally. In 1928, Autry began singing on Tulsa radio station KVOO as “Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy,” and in 1929, he signed with Columbia Records. He spent four years working on the Chicago WLS-AM radio show “National Barn Dance.” He had his first hit with 1932’s “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” a duet he wrote and performed with Jimmy Long.
Gene Autry’s Military Service and Later Years
During World War II, Autry enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a tech sergeant in the Army Air Forces. He earned his Service Pilot rating and served as a C-109 transport pilot.
Gene Autry was married twice. His first marriage was to Ina Mae Spivey on April 1, 1932. After Spivey’s death in May 1980, Autry married Jacqueline “Jackie” Ellam on July 19, 1981, and they remained married until his death in 1998.
Autry passed away from lymphoma on October 2, 1998, at his Studio City home at the age of 91. He was buried at the Hollywood Hills Cemetery at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Accolades and Recognition
Autry received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. In 1942, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song for “Be Honest with Me” from “Ridin’ on a Rainbow.” He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 and won a Special Award of Merit at the 1987 ICG Publicists Awards. At the Golden Boot Awards, Gene earned a Golden Boot in 1983 and a Founder’s Award in 1995.
Gene Autry is the only person to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Radio, Recording, Television, Motion Picture in 1960 and Live Performance in 1987.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1969), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1970), the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center’s Hall of Great Western Performers (1972) and Hall of Great Westerners (1980), the ProRodeo Hall of Fame (1979), the Texas Trail of Fame (1988), the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame (2013), the Oklahoma Hall of Fame (1991) and the National Radio Hall of Fame (2003).
The Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, awarded Autry the American Patriots Medal in 1977, and he received the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award in 1983.
Several locations are named in his honor, including Gene Autry Trail in Palm Springs, California, Gene Autry Way in Anaheim, California, and the Interstate 5–State Route 134 interchange near the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, which is called the Gene Autry Memorial Interchange.
