Encore Westerns Celebrates the Life of Gene Autry with 100-Hour Marathon of Restored Films Beginning Sept. 28

Encore Westerns Celebrates the Life of Gene Autry with 100-Hour Marathon of Restored Films Beginning Sept. 28

Autry Movie Marathon Includes World TV Premiere of 30-Minute Original Special Looking at the Life of the Legend

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- When Gene Autry went to Hollywood in 1934, he couldn't act, he couldn't ride, he couldn't rope and he couldn't shoot. But that didn't prevent him from becoming the screen's most popular cowboy star within just a few years, revitalizing the whole genre and paving the way for Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and other Western warblers.

This September, Encore Westerns pays tribute to the legend on what would be his 100th birthday with "Gene Autry: A Century in the Saddle," a 100-hour marathon of fully-restored Autry films beginning Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). The marathon includes the exclusive world television premiere of "Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen," a 30-minute special which chronicles the singing cowboy's remarkable movie career through interviews with friends, colleagues and film historians, along with highlights from many of his 89 B- Westerns made between 1935 and 1953. Those featured in the special, among others, include Gene's widow Jackie Autry; Boyd Magers, author of "Gene Autry Westerns;" and Johnny Western, Gene Autry band member.

Autry's personal success built the fortune of his home studio, Republic, which purchased many hit songs for him to sing in such films as Tumbling Tumbleweeds (1935), South of the Border (1939), Melody Ranch (1940) and Back in the Saddle (1941). All of these films, and many more, will air as part of the 100-hour movie marathon.

After his wartime service, Autry returned briefly to Republic, but in 1947 set up shop on the Columbia lot, where he made several dozen musical Westerns before turning to television in the early '50s. In addition to his own TV series, his Flying A Productions also produced such early TV Westerns as "The Range Rider" and "Annie Oakley." He also enjoyed long-running success on the radio with his weekly "Melody Ranch" series, and sold millions of records over the years. A shrewd businessman from the start, Autry invested wisely and retired from performing in the late '50s, a multimillionaire. He owned hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels baseball team.

Gene Autry is the only entertainer to have all five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for records, radio, movies, television and live performances.

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 16.1 million and 28.4 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Vongo(R). Starz Entertainment (http://www.starz.com/) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group.

Gene Autry: A Century in the Saddle

In honor of what would be Gene Autry's 100th birthday, enjoy a 100 hour marathon of the actor's films. "Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen," a 30-minute special chronicling the singing cowboy's remarkable movie career through interviews with friends, colleagues and film historians, along with highlights from many of his 89 B-Westerns made between 1935 and 1953 will air throughout the marathon. The marathon kicks off Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

   (All times ET/PT)   Friday, Sept. 28   -- 8 p.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 8:30 p.m. -- Tumbling Tumbleweeds   -- 9:35 p.m. -- Melody Trail   -- 10:35 p.m. -- The Big Show    Saturday, Sept. 29   -- 12 a.m. -- Comin' Round the Mountain   -- 1 a.m. -- The Old Corral   -- 2 a.m. -- Red River Valley   -- 3 a.m. -- Sagebrush Troubadour   -- 4 a.m. -- The Singing Cowboy   -- 5 a.m. -- The Singing Vagabond   -- 6 a.m. -- Boots and Saddles   -- 7:05 a.m. -- Git Along Little Dogies   -- 8:20 a.m. -- Guns and Guitars   -- 9:30 a.m. -- Oh, Susanna!   -- 10:30 a.m. -- Public Cowboy No. 1   -- 11:35 a.m. --- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 12 p.m. -- Ride, Ranger, Ride   -- 1 p.m. -- Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm   -- 2:05 p.m. -- Round-up Time in Texas   -- 3:10 p.m. -- Springtime in the Rockies   -- 4:20 p.m. -- Yodelin' Kid from Pine Ridge   -- 5:30 p.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 6 p.m. -- Gold Mine in the Sky   -- 7 p.m. -- Man From Music Mountain   -- 8 p.m. -- The Old Barn Dance   -- 9:05 p.m. -- Prairie Moon   -- 10:05 p.m. -- Rhythm of the Saddle   -- 11:05 p.m. -- Western Jamboree    Sunday, Sept. 30   -- 12:05 a.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 12:30 a.m. -- Blue Montana Skies   -- 1:30 a.m. -- Colorado Sunset   -- 2:40 a.m. -- Home on the Prairie   -- 3:45 a.m. -- In Old Monterey   -- 5 a.m. -- Mexicali Rose   -- 6:05 a.m. -- Mountain Rhythm   -- 7:05 a.m. -- Rovin' Tumbleweeds   -- 8:10 a.m. -- South of the Border   -- 9:30 a.m. --- Carolina Moon   -- 10:35 a.m. -- Gaucho Serenade   -- 11:45 a.m. -- Melody Ranch   -- 1:10 p.m. -- Rancho Grande   -- 2:20 p.m. -- Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride   -- 3:30 p.m. -- Shooting High   -- 4:45 p.m. -- Back in the Saddle   -- 6:05 p.m. -- Down Mexico Way   -- 7:30 p.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 8 p.m. -- Ridin' on a Rainbow   -- 9:20 p.m. -- Sierra Sue   -- 10:30 p.m. -- The Singing Hill   --  11:50 p.m. -- Sunset in Wyoming    Monday, Oct. 1   -- 1 a.m. -- Under Fiesta Stars   -- 2:10 a.m. -- Bells of Capistrano   -- 3:30 a.m. -- Call of the Canyon   -- 4:45 a.m. -- Cowboy Serenade   -- 6 a.m. -- Heart of the Rio Grande   -- 7:20 a.m. -- Home in Wyomin'   -- 8:40 a.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 9:05 a.m. -- Stardust on the Sage   -- 10:20 a.m. -- Sioux City Sue   -- 11:30 a.m. -- The Last Round-up   -- 12:50 p.m. -- Robin Hood of Texas   -- 2:10 p.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 2:45 p.m. --- Saddle Pals   -- 4 p.m. -- Trail to San Antone   -- 5:10 p.m. -- Twilight on the Rio Grande   -- 6:30 p.m. --- Loaded Pistols   -- 8 p.m. -- The Strawberry Roan   -- 9:30 p.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 10:10 p.m. -- The Big Sombrero   -- 11:30 p.m. -- Cowboy and the Indians    Tuesday, Oct. 2   -- 12:50 a.m. -- Riders in the Sky   -- 2:05 a.m. -- Riders of the Whistling Pines   -- 3:20 a.m. -- Rim of the Canyon   -- 4:35 a.m. -- Mule Train   -- 5:50 a.m. -- Gene Autry and the Mounties   -- 7:05 a.m. -- Silver Canyon   -- 8:020 a.m. -- Texans Never Cry   -- 9:35 a.m. -- Hills of Utah   -- 10:50 a.m. -- Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen   -- 11:30 a.m. -- Apache Country   -- 12:35 p.m. -- Barbed Wire   -- 1:40 p.m. -- Blue Canadian Rockies   -- 2:40 p.m. -- Night Stage to Galveston   -- 3:405 p.m. -- The Old West   -- 4:50 p.m. -- Wagon Team   -- 6 p.m. -- Goldtown Ghost Riders   -- 7 p.m. -- Winning of the West   -- 8 p.m. -- On Top of Old Smoky   -- 9 p.m. -- Pack Train   -- 10 p.m. -- Saginaw Trail   -- 11 p.m. -- Last of the Pony Riders  

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Starz Entertainment, LLC

CONTACT: Rhiannon Hendrickson of Starz Entertainment, +1-720-852-5802,
rhiannon.hendrickson@starz.com; or Robin Mesger of The Lippin Group,
+1-323-965-1990, rmesger@lippingroup.com, for Starz Entertainment

Web site: http://www.starz.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Download high-resolution versions of related images at http://starz.mediaroom.com. A screening copy of "Gene Autry: White Hat, Silver Screen" will be available soon.

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Profile: International Entertainment