- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMaxwell Emmett Buttram
- Nickname
- Pat
- Height1.82 m
- The son of a circuit-riding Methodist preacher in rural Alabama, Pat Buttram became one of America's best-known comic entertainers. He 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" radio 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 40 years Pat prospered in radio, films and television, making stand-up appearances on Toast of the Town (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show") and lending his vocal talents to many animated television shows and films, including several Walt Disney features. In the early 1960s he revealed a flair for dramatic acting when Alfred Hitchcock tapped him for roles in two Suspicion (1962) episodes. His big television break came in 1965 with the role of "Mr. Haney" in the long-running CBS comedy Les arpents verts (1965). Throughout his career Pat was in constant demand as a toastmaster and after-dinner speaker, where his agile and sophisticated wit belied his "countrified" 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.- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous
- SpousesSheila Ryan(December 26, 1951 - November 4, 1975) (her death, 1 child)Dorothy McFadden(August 3, 1936 - June 1, 1949) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenGayle ButtramKerry Buttram-Galgano
- ParentsWilson McDaniel ButtramMary Emmett Maxwell
- RelativesNatalie Galgano(Grandchild)Angie Galgano(Grandchild)
- Distinctive voice
- 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.
- On September 12, 1950, Buttram, Gene Autry's longtime sidekick, was seriously injured while filming an upcoming half-hour program of "The Gene Autry Show," called "The Peacemaker." A small prop antique cannon blew up when a powder charge prematurely exploded in the cabin where the scene was being shot on location in the high desert town of Pioneertown, California, where the program filmed. The explosion nearly killed Buttram. He suffered a 12-inch long gash in his chest, exposing a punctured lung, a severed artery in his leg, and his chin was nearly blown off. Autry was blown out of the cabin, which was destroyed from the blast. He emerged stunned from the explosion but without injury. Two others, sound boom-man Johnny Loomis and Johnny Brousseau, Autry's driver for years, both suffered injuries. Loomis was cut in the abdomen and Brousseau suffered a deep laceration on his kneecap. Autry flew in a doctor on his private plane before an ambulance arrived. The doctor, William Ince, was the son of famed silent film director Thomas Ince who pioneered Western movie making. Buttram was rushed in the back of a station wagon to a hospital in nearby 29 Palms, with Autry at his side, where he was given four blood transfusions, with more scheduled and plasma being flown in for him, due to the severity of his injuries. Two days later, he was removed from the critical list and doctors expected him to recover from his severe injuries. Buttram remained hospitalized for 10 weeks before he was discharged. As a result, during the first season, other actors filled in as Autry's sidekick--Alan Hale, Jr., who played a bad guy in several shows of Seasons 1 and 2, twice as Tiny Jensen; Chill Wills twice as Sheriff Chill Wills; and Fuzzy Knight four times as Sagebrush--in the last eight programs of the season while Buttram recovered.
- 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!".
- He claimed that he got some of his western sidekick roles because producers mistakenly thought they were hiring Pat Brady.
- He was a staunch conservative Republican and personal friend of Ronald Reagan.
- [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.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content