Smiley Burnette
Encyclopedia
Lester Alvin Burnett better known as Smiley Burnette, was a popular American
country music
performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick
to Gene Autry
and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter
who could play as many as 100 musical instruments, some simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction
in the 1960s.
, on March 18, 1911, and grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. He began singing as a child and learned to play a wide variety of instruments by ear, yet never learned to read or write music. In his teens he worked in vaudeville
and, starting in 1929, at the state's first commercial radio station, WDZ-AM
in Tuscola, Illinois
.
Burnette came by his nickname while creating a character for a WDZ children's program. He was reading Mark Twain
’s "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
" at the time, which included a character named Jim Smiley. He named the radio character Mr. Smiley and soon adopted the moniker as his own, dropping the title.
to play accordion on National Barn Dance
on Chicago's WLS-AM
, on which Autry was the major star. As sound film
s became popular, Hollywood sought musical talent for Western films; and in 1934
, producer
Nat Levine
cast the duo in their film debut (unbilled) as part of a bluegrass band in Mascot Pictures' In Old Santa Fe
starring Ken Maynard
. Burnette sang and played accordion, and the film included two of his compositions.
He had other small parts until a secondary but more prominent role in the 1935
serial
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty
. That same year, Levine gave Autry his first starring role in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire
, with Burnette playing "Oscar," a comic relief role. Mascot was soon absorbed by Republic Pictures Corp.
, and Burnette teamed up with Autry for the studio as his lovable comedic sidekick, Frog Millhouse, with his trademark floppy black hat. Their association produced 62 feature-length musical westerns. Frog was known for sometimes singing in a deep, froglike, croaking voice.
By 1940, he ranked second only to Autry in a Boxoffice
magazine popularity poll of Western stars, the lone sidekick among the top ten, and when Autry left for World War II
service, Burnette provided a sidekick to Eddie Dew
, Sunset Carson
, and Bob Livingston
and appeared in nine other films with Roy Rogers
. He had a fan club and was especially popular among younger fans. Burnette's movie horse, white with a black-ringed left eye, also became famous, first as Black-eyed Nellie, then as Ring-eyed Nellie, and finally as just Ring Eye.
After leaving Republic in June 1944, he became the sidekick to Charles Starrett
at Columbia Pictures
in the long-running Durango Kid series. Starrett starred in the series from 1945 until 1952, and the pairing resulted in 56 films. When the series ended, Burnette rejoined Autry for Autry's final six films, all released by Columbia Pictures in 1953.
, Riders in the Sky, and Johnnie Lee Wills. Other compositions included "On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar" (Jimmy Wakely
's theme song in the 1940s), "Fetch Me Down My Trusty .45," "Ridin' All Day," and "It's Indian Summer" as well as "The Wind Sings a Cowboy Song," "The Old Covered Wagon," and "Western Lullaby." He also composed musical scores for such films as The Painted Stallion
and Waterfront Lady. His songs were recorded by a wide range of singers, including Bing Crosby
, Ferlin Husky
, and Leon Russell
. His performance of "Steamboat Bill" appeared on The Billboard's country chart in 1939.
In the 1940s, he invented and patented an early home audiovisual system called "Cinevision Talkies." Each package contained a 78 rpm record with four of his songs and fifteen 35mm
slides. The slides were to be projected in order and advanced each time a short tone played on the record during the songs. An inside cover of the record album was white so that those with no projector and screen could simply shine a flashlight through the slides and view them on the cover. He also devised more than a dozen clever uses for a common wire clothes hanger
and demonstrated several of them during a TV show guest appearance.
When the cowboy movie genre waned, Burnette retired but made guest appearances on many country music
radio and TV shows, including Louisiana Hayride
, the Grand Ole Opry
, and Ranch Party
. He spent time in Springfield, Missouri
, from the late 1940s into the 1950s producing a nationally syndicated 15-minute radio program, The Smiley Burnette Show, through RadiOzark Enterprises
.
He also made regular appearances on ABC-TV
's Ozark Jubilee
from Springfield. In early 1957, when quiz shows were popular, he filmed a pilot
for a proposed ABC-TV series to originate from Springfield called Pig 'N Poke, a quiz show with a country theme, although ABC did not buy the show.
As the 1960s began, Burnette continued to make personal appearances at drive-ins, fairs, hospitals, town squares, and rodeos. Among other venues, he once appeared with Dewey Brown and the Oklahoma Playboys at a Friday night dance at Jump's Roller Rink in Fairfax, Oklahoma
.
In the mid 1960s, he portrayed railway engineer Charley Pratt on the CBS-TV
programs Petticoat Junction (106 episodes) and Green Acres
(seven episodes).
drive-ins. The first location was in Orlando, Florida
, and two locations still exist in Redding
and Escondido, California
, but are no longer owned by the Burnette family.
and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park
in Hollywood Hills
, California.
. For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Burnette has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard, dedicated in 1986. In 1998, he was inducted into the Western Music Association
.
Burnette is mentioned in the Statler Brothers
' 1973 country music hit "What Ever Happened to Randolph Scott
?" (later the title of a 1994 Scott biography), which reached No. 22 on the country chart.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
to Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
who could play as many as 100 musical instruments, some simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
in the 1960s.
Biography
Lester A. Burnett (he added the final "e" later in life) was born in Summum, IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, on March 18, 1911, and grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. He began singing as a child and learned to play a wide variety of instruments by ear, yet never learned to read or write music. In his teens he worked in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and, starting in 1929, at the state's first commercial radio station, WDZ-AM
WDZ (AM)
WDZ is the oldest commercial radio station in Illinois, and broadcasts to Decatur on 1050 kHz. It broadcasts a sports-talk format.-History:...
in Tuscola, Illinois
Tuscola, Illinois
Tuscola is a city in Douglas County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,480 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Douglas County.-Geography:Tuscola is located at ....
.
Burnette came by his nickname while creating a character for a WDZ children's program. He was reading Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
’s "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain, his first great success as a writer, bringing him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"...
" at the time, which included a character named Jim Smiley. He named the radio character Mr. Smiley and soon adopted the moniker as his own, dropping the title.
Film career
His break came in December 1933, when he was hired by Gene AutryGene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
to play accordion on National Barn Dance
National Barn Dance
National Barn Dance, broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry...
on Chicago's WLS-AM
WLS (AM)
WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
, on which Autry was the major star. As sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
s became popular, Hollywood sought musical talent for Western films; and in 1934
1934 in film
-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Nat Levine
Nat Levine
Nat Levine , was an American film producer. He produced 105 films between 1921 and 1946. He was personal secretary to Marcus Loew, formed Mascot Pictures in 1927, and merged Mascot with Herbert Yates's Republic Pictures in 1935.He was born in New York, New York and died in Los Angeles,...
cast the duo in their film debut (unbilled) as part of a bluegrass band in Mascot Pictures' In Old Santa Fe
In Old Santa Fe
In Old Santa Fe is a U.S. 1934 Western film starring Ken Maynard and George "Gabby" Hayes. The movie features the first screen appearance of Gene Autry, singing a song with a bluegrass band that includes Smiley Burnette...
starring Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard was an American motion picture stuntman and actor.-Biography:Born Kenneth Olin Maynard in Vevay, Indiana, he was one of five children. His younger brother, Kermit Maynard, also became a stuntman and actor....
. Burnette sang and played accordion, and the film included two of his compositions.
He had other small parts until a secondary but more prominent role in the 1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
serial
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty
The Adventures of Rex and Rinty is a Mascot film serial starring the Rex and canine actor Rin Tin Tin, Jr..-Cast:* Rex as Rex, The King of Wild Horses* Rin Tin Tin, Jr...
. That same year, Levine gave Autry his first starring role in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire
The Phantom Empire
The Phantom Empire, starring Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy, was a 12-chapter 1935 Mascot serial that combined the western, musical, and science fiction genres. The first episode is 30 mins, the rest about 20 minutes...
, with Burnette playing "Oscar," a comic relief role. Mascot was soon absorbed by Republic Pictures Corp.
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, and Burnette teamed up with Autry for the studio as his lovable comedic sidekick, Frog Millhouse, with his trademark floppy black hat. Their association produced 62 feature-length musical westerns. Frog was known for sometimes singing in a deep, froglike, croaking voice.
By 1940, he ranked second only to Autry in a Boxoffice
Boxoffice (magazine)
Boxoffice is a film industry magazine dedicated to the movie theatre business published by Boxoffice Media LP. It started in 1920 as The Reel Journal, taking its current name in 1931 and still publishes today, with an intended audience of theatre owners and film professionals.Boxoffice is the...
magazine popularity poll of Western stars, the lone sidekick among the top ten, and when Autry left for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service, Burnette provided a sidekick to Eddie Dew
Eddie Dew
Eddie Dew was an American actor, film director, and television director. As an actor he is best remembered for his starring roles in B movie western films during the 1940s...
, Sunset Carson
Sunset Carson
Sunset Carson, born Winifred Maurice Harrison was an American B-western star of the 1940s.-Early life, acting:...
, and Bob Livingston
Robert Livingston (actor)
Robert Livingston was an American film actor. He appeared in 135 films between 1921 and 1975.Often billed as "Bob Livingston," he was the original "Stony Brooke" in the "Three Mesquiteers" Western B-movie series, a role later played by John Wayne for eight films...
and appeared in nine other films with Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
. He had a fan club and was especially popular among younger fans. Burnette's movie horse, white with a black-ringed left eye, also became famous, first as Black-eyed Nellie, then as Ring-eyed Nellie, and finally as just Ring Eye.
After leaving Republic in June 1944, he became the sidekick to Charles Starrett
Charles Starrett
Charles Starrett was an American actor best known for his starring role in the Durango Kid Columbia Pictures western series. He was born in Athol, Massachusetts.-Career:...
at Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
in the long-running Durango Kid series. Starrett starred in the series from 1945 until 1952, and the pairing resulted in 56 films. When the series ended, Burnette rejoined Autry for Autry's final six films, all released by Columbia Pictures in 1953.
Singer-songwriter
Burnette wrote more than 400 songs and sang a significant number of them on screen. His Western classic, "Ridin’ Down the Canyon (To Watch the Sun Go Down)," was later recorded by Willie NelsonWillie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Riders in the Sky, and Johnnie Lee Wills. Other compositions included "On the Strings of My Lonesome Guitar" (Jimmy Wakely
Jimmy Wakely
James Clarence Wakeley , better known as Jimmy Wakely, was an American country-Western singer and actor, one of the last crooning cowpokes following World War II...
's theme song in the 1940s), "Fetch Me Down My Trusty .45," "Ridin' All Day," and "It's Indian Summer" as well as "The Wind Sings a Cowboy Song," "The Old Covered Wagon," and "Western Lullaby." He also composed musical scores for such films as The Painted Stallion
The Painted Stallion
The Painted Stallion is a 1937 Republic Movie serial. It was the sixth Republic serial of the sixty-six made by that company. Western serials such as this made up a third of the serials from Republic, a studio that was also heavily involved in making B-Western feature films at the time.This...
and Waterfront Lady. His songs were recorded by a wide range of singers, including Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky honk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes...
, and Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
. His performance of "Steamboat Bill" appeared on The Billboard's country chart in 1939.
Inventor
Burnette devised and built some of his unusual musical instruments in his home workshop. His "Jassackaphone," for example, which he played in the film The Singing Cowboy, resembled an organ with pipes, levers, and pull mechanisms.In the 1940s, he invented and patented an early home audiovisual system called "Cinevision Talkies." Each package contained a 78 rpm record with four of his songs and fifteen 35mm
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
slides. The slides were to be projected in order and advanced each time a short tone played on the record during the songs. An inside cover of the record album was white so that those with no projector and screen could simply shine a flashlight through the slides and view them on the cover. He also devised more than a dozen clever uses for a common wire clothes hanger
Clothes hanger
A clothes hanger, coat hanger or coathanger, is a device in the shape of:* Human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse or dress in a manner that prevents wrinkles, with a lower bar for the hanging of trousers or skirts.* Clamp for the hanging of...
and demonstrated several of them during a TV show guest appearance.
Radio and television
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
radio and TV shows, including Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
, the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
, and Ranch Party
Town Hall Party
Town Hall Party was an American country music radio and television show broadcast over KXLA-AM, Pasadena, California, KFI-AM, Los Angeles, California, and KTTV-TV. The first radio broadcast was in the autumn of 1951.Promoter William B...
. He spent time in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
, from the late 1940s into the 1950s producing a nationally syndicated 15-minute radio program, The Smiley Burnette Show, through RadiOzark Enterprises
Ralph D. Foster
Ralph David Foster , was an American broadcasting pioneer and philanthropist who created the framework for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as the nation's country music capital during the 1950s...
.
He also made regular appearances on ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and was the centerpiece of a strategy for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital...
from Springfield. In early 1957, when quiz shows were popular, he filmed a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
for a proposed ABC-TV series to originate from Springfield called Pig 'N Poke, a quiz show with a country theme, although ABC did not buy the show.
As the 1960s began, Burnette continued to make personal appearances at drive-ins, fairs, hospitals, town squares, and rodeos. Among other venues, he once appeared with Dewey Brown and the Oklahoma Playboys at a Friday night dance at Jump's Roller Rink in Fairfax, Oklahoma
Fairfax, Oklahoma
Fairfax is a town in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census, down 11.3 percent from 1,555 at the 2000 census.-History:...
.
In the mid 1960s, he portrayed railway engineer Charley Pratt on the CBS-TV
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
programs Petticoat Junction (106 episodes) and Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
(seven episodes).
Restaurateur
Burnette enjoyed cooking and opened a restaurant chain in the 1950s called The Checkered Shirt, the first A-frameA-Frame
An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized beams, arranged in a 45-degree or greater angle, attached at the top...
drive-ins. The first location was in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, and two locations still exist in Redding
Redding, California
Redding is a city in far-Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. With a population of 89,861, according to the 2010 Census...
and Escondido, California
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...
, but are no longer owned by the Burnette family.
Death
Just after completing the fourth season of Petticoat Junction, Burnette became ill. On February 16, 1967, a month prior to his 56th birthday, he died in Encino, California, from leukemiaLeukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
in Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
, California.
Legacy
Burnette donated his original hat and shirt to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1962. In 1971, he was inducted posthumously into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of FameNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is uniquely associated with music community in the city of...
. For his contributions to the motion picture industry, Burnette has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6125 Hollywood Boulevard, dedicated in 1986. In 1998, he was inducted into the Western Music Association
Western Music Association
The Western Music Association was incorporated in 1989 to promote and preserve western music in its traditional, historical, and contemporary forms....
.
Burnette is mentioned in the Statler Brothers
Statler Brothers
The Statler Brothers were an American country music vocal group founded in 1955 in Staunton, Virginia.Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen...
' 1973 country music hit "What Ever Happened to Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...
?" (later the title of a 1994 Scott biography), which reached No. 22 on the country chart.