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Eddie Dean

Full name:
Edgar Dillard Glosup
or
Edgar Dean Glosup


1907 - 1999


Special thanks to guest commentator Paul Dellinger for authoring the following narrative and background info on Eddie Dean.
Thanks also to Eva Breakenridge for Glosup history as well as sharing family photos. Eva's Mom was Eddie Dean's sister.


Eddie Dean may have had one of the best singing voices in western movies, but it took almost a decade before he was allowed to show it. Dean, born in 1907 as Edgar Glosup in Posey, Texas, seemed to have minor roles in everybody else's westerns before he finally landed a series of his own.

In less than a year, movie fans lost three of filmdom's singing cowboys: Roy Rogers and Gene Autry in 1998 and Eddie Dean in 1999. Dean's death on March 4, 1999 did not generate the publicity that followed the passing of the other two stars, but his film career started almost as early as theirs did and he even appeared in some of their movies.

Eddie started out as a radio singer in the early 1930s, and joined the NATIONAL BARN DANCE in 1934 on radio station WLS in Chicago. He appeared in small roles in westerns (except for his last film appearance, VARIETIES ON PARADE in 1951 and DOWN MISSOURI WAY in 1946, all 45 of his movie appearances were in westerns).  In addition to the movie bits, Dean was extremely active in radio, and by the 1940s, was strummin' and singin' on Gene Autry's MELODY RANCH program and later, THE JUDY CANOVA SHOW.



(Courtesy of Eva Breakenridge)

Above - Eddie Dean circa late 1920s. You'll find another photo taken the same day on a later webpage.



(Courtesy of Debbie Holden)
On the left is an early family photo showing from left to right: Jimmie Dean, mother Eva and Eddie Dean. Eddie and Jimmie's father was James Franklin Glosup and their mother's full name was Eva Alice Glosup, nicknamed "Evie".

Jimmie and Eddie are really young in this photo, and I'm guessing the photo is circa 1934, around the time that Eddie joined the WLS BARN DANCE, and a half-dozen or so years prior to the brothers working on Autry's MELODY RANCH radio program.

Eddie's brother was nicknamed 'Jimmie' ... but his full name was James Clifton Glosup. Jimmie was born sometime between 1901 and 1907, and he passed away on February 7, 1970.



(Courtesy of Eva Breakenridge)

Above are Eddie Dean's parents - James Franklin Glosup and Eva Alice Glosup.



(Courtesy of Eva Breakenridge)

Above are some of the Glosup family, and Eva identified the people as:
Back row left to right: Great Uncle Joel Glosup (Grandpa Glosup's brother), his wife Great Aunt Lena Glosup, her mother Grandma Facing, Grandma Eva Alice Glosup (Eddie's mother), Eva's mother Frances Lorene Glosup, Grandpa James Franklin Glosup (Eddie's father).
Front row left to right: unidentified man (might be a cousin), Edgar Dillard Glosup (Eddie Dean), James Clifton Glosup (Jimmie Dean). This photo had to be from 1935 or earlier because Grandma Glosup died in 1935.


Eva provided the following on Eddie and his siblings, including the reminder that "Uncle Eddie really was the 7th son of a 7th son":

  • Alvin Glosup - Director of YMCA, Houston, TX. Died in early '60s.
  • Virgil Glosup - Chief Engineer for the Chicago, Milwaukee Railroad, Chicago, IL. Died late '60s or early '70s.
  • Frank Glosup - Baptist Minister, First Baptist Church, Duncanville, OK. Also Baptist Missionary for Indian Reservations in OK.
  • James Clifton Glosup - Performer/musician with his brother Eddie Dean as well as many western musical groups including the Riders of the Purple Sage and Sons of the Pioneers. In later life, he was a chinchilla rancher.
  • Daisy Mae Glosup Roby - Teacher, Iowa Park, TX. Raised all her children alone and all have college educations. Husband died of pneumonia in the Texas oil fields right after youngest child was born. My Aunt Mae was one of my heroes!
  • Edgar Dillard Glosup - Performer, musician, song writer, B-western movie star, designed and constructed guitars. Two children: Ed (nicknamed "Little Ed") and Donna.
  • Frances Lorene Glosup - Performer, housewife ... and Eva Breakenridge's mother.
  • There were two other sons but they died either in child birth or shortly thereafter. They are buried in the cemetery at Posey, TX.
Eva Breakenridge
September, 2011



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