SHORT TAKES : Producer Had No Faith in Autry
Singing cowboy Gene Autry was presented with a recently discovered letter written in 1938 saying he had no future in Hollywood.
The letter, by producer Al Levoy, was found in the Republic Pictures archives. It said that the young Autry needed to improve his acting, that a preliminary acting course was “evidently wasted” and that the actor needed darker makeup to “give him the appearance of virility.”
“A lot of that is true,” the 83-year-old Autry said Thursday. “I got better as I went along. I couldn’t get any worse.”
Autry went on to become one of Republic’s biggest stars, starring in 93 movies.
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