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The son of a circuit-riding Methodist preacher in rural Alabama, Pat Buttram became one of America's best-known comic entertainers.
Pat left Alabama a month before his 18th birthday to attend the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. An announcer from radio station WLS was on hand to interview members of the crowd and settled on Pat as a typical visitor from the south. The interview that followed was anything but typical. Pat made a hit with his hilarious observations on the fair and was immediately offered a job with the station. This led to a long and happy association with the popular National Barn Dance program. During those years, Pat met Gene Autry, who took a liking to the young comic and later brought him to Hollywood to replace Smiley Burnette, who had found other work while Gene served in WWII. Together, Pat and Gene made many western films and a television series, "The Gene Autry Show" (1950), which aired from 1950 until 1956. They remained close friends until Pat's death in 1994.
In 1952, Pat married actress Sheila Ryan, whom he had met on the set of Mule Train (1950). Over the next forty years, Pat prospered in radio, films and television, making stand-up appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and lending his vocal talents to many animated television shows and films, including several Disney features.
In the early Sixties, he revealed a flair for dramatic acting when Alfred Hitchcock tapped him for roles in two "Alfred Hitchcock Hour" episodes. His big television break came in 1965 with the role of "Mr. Haney" in the long-running CBS series, "Green Acres" (1965).
Throughout his career, Pat was in constant demand as a toastmaster and after dinner speaker, where his agile and sophisticated wit belied his ingenuous appearance. In 1982, Pat founded the Golden Boot Awards to honor actors, directors, stunt people and other industry professionals who have made significant contributions to the Western film genre. Proceeds from the annual event are donated to the Motion Picture Health and Welfare Fund.
My voice never quite made it through puberty. It has been described as sounding like a handful of gravel thrown in a Mix-Master.
Pat Buttram
Pat Buttram joined WLS and the National Barn Dance in 1934. His dry wit and humor would allow him to spin all sorts of stories about his kin folk from down south. One of his self-appointed duties was to step on stage, snap his suspenders and announce to the audience that "...you can dance in the aisles and tear up the place if you want to - it don't belong to us!".
Pat Buttram
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Maxwell Emmett Buttram
19 June 1915, Addison, Alabama
8 January 1994, Los Angeles, California
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Interred at Maxwell Chapel, Haleyville, Alabama.
A popular, in-demand toastmaster and after-dinner speaker in the Hollywood movie colony for many years, his good-natured jibes at Hollywood's elite are still quoted, and laughed at, among performers to this day.
Has one daughter, Kathleen.
Uncle of John Buttram.
He replaced Smiley Burnette as Gene Autry's sidekick during the forties.
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[on Milton Berle] You know, Milton recently switched from comedy to drama. Unfortunately, it happened while he was still doing comedy.
[on Mae West] Do you realize that she went through her life without once having a man say to her, "You remind me of my mother"?
[on Dean Martin] Dean would eat hay if you dipped it in gin.
[on Johnny Carson] He's an Episcopalian - that's an Off-Broadway Catholic.
[on Ed McMahon] It's good we honor Ed, because I understand that next week a group of Texas businessmen are going to buy him, tear him down, and put up a Ramada Inn.
[on Roy Rogers and Dale Evans] The [Alfred Lunt] and [Lynn Fontanne] of the fertilizer set.
I didn't get along too well with horses. At the beginning, not too well; at the end, terrible. I always say that horses are hard in the middle and dangerous at both ends.
Gene Autry used to ride off into the sunset. Now he owns it.
[repeated line] More fun than being on location with Mary Beth Hughes.
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