 |  | Eddie Dean Full name: Edgar Dean Glosup |
 | Special thanks to guest commentator Paul Dellinger for authoring the following narrative and background info on Eddie Dean |
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 Debbie Holden) | | On the left, an early family photo showing from L-to-R: Jimmie Dean, mother Eva (called Evie) and Eddie Dean. Jimmie and Eddie are really young in this photo, and I'm guessing the timeframe is about 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. Debbie Holden provided this photo and notes that Eddie's brother was nicknamed 'Jimmie' ... his full name was Jim Clifton Glosup ... he was born sometime between 1901 and 1907 ... and Jimmie passed away on February 7, 1970. |
Forrest Lee Green sent the Old Corral webmaster an e-mail in March, 1999:
"I was in the same squadron with T/S Orven (Gene) Autry, at Luke Field (Phoenix) in 1942 and '43. His MELODY RANCH radio program on Sunday afternoons was carried from the theater at Luke. Eddie Dean, his brother and Dick Rinehart, formerly with W. Lee O'Daniel's 'Lightcrust Doughboys', comprised the 'Gene Autry Trio'. The Deans were nice, gentlemanly fellows. The musical director was Carl Cotner whose violin is in the Gene Autry Museum. I sang in the group which introduced the Autry show and made a few appearances with Gene accompanied by Ruth Etting's husband, Merle Alderman (who was called Johnny in the movie about her life)."
Although his talents as a singer and composer served him longer, he had an interesting acting career as well. He first appeared in a 1938 Gene Autry-Smiley Burnette film at Republic, WESTERN JAMBOREE. The next year, he was part of the cast for the Republic serial, THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (1939) with Bob Livingston. Next came five William Boyd/Hopalong Cassidy films at Paramount: RENEGADE TRAIL, LAW OF THE PAMPAS (both 1939), SANTA FE MARSHAL, HIDDEN GOLD and STAGECOACH WAR (all 1940), and the loosely-adapted Zane Grey story, LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS (1940), starring Victor Jory as a leading man in a western for a change.
 (Courtesy of Minard Coons) | | On the left is Max Terhune and a very young Eddie Dean on the road. The date of this photo is unknown, but probably around 1937 or 38 when both performers were trying to earn a living in California. Terhune had come to Hollywood at the insistence of pal Gene Autry, and hooked up with Republic Pictures in an Autry film and then the Three Mesquiteers series. Dean went to Hollywood around 1937, and could only find bit parts and supporting roles in movies until about 1944. |
Dean once told of offering William Boyd a loan when Boyd had sunk everything he could raise and borrow into acquiring all his old Hoppy films, and trying in vain to sell them to television. A few days later, Dean said, he encountered Boyd again in an expensive suit and hat, and the news that everything had come together over the weekend and he was the richest cowboy in Hollywood.
For the next few years, Dean would pop up in western casts at a variety of studios with some of the most popular leading cowboy stars around. Some of those early Dean screen appearances include:
 (From Old Corral image collection) Above from L-to-R are: perpetual baddie Charlie King at the desk, Eddie Dean, Lee 'Lone Ranger' Powell, and Glenn Strange, standing and wearing the eye shade in this lobby card from RAIDERS OF THE WEST (PRC, 1942), one of the films in the short-lived 'Frontier Marshals' trio series. Dean and Strange were good friends, and even collaborated on some songs together.  (Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above, Lee 'Lone Ranger' Powell and Charles 'Slim' Whitaker are about ready to jump this quartet of no-goods in ROLLING DOWN THE GREAT DIVIDE (PRC, 1942), one of the Frontier Marshals trio series.Unaware of their pending doom, the four baddies are, from left to right: Rex Lease, Charlie King, Eddie Dean and Glenn Strange. Note the lineup as being shortest to tallest - and check the height of Glenn Strange vs. Rex Lease. |