Will Rogers

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Profile / Biography

Will Rogers was born on November 4, 1879. He was the youngest of eight children and grew up on his ancestor’s cattle farm, where he rode horses, and learned to lasso at an early age.

Will Rogers went to many schools, and became a cowboy when he quitted his education in 1898. Four years later in December of 1902, Will joined the “Texas Jack’s Wild West Show,” in South Africa where he was known as “The Cherokee Kid” who did rope tricks.

On November 25, 1908, Will Rogers wedded Betty Blake and four children were born from their union. Only three of their children lived to become adults.

In May of 1916, Will Rogers gave President Wilson his first presentation. In 1917, Will Rogers’s basic interests were to talk and read to the public. He based his witty humor on everyone he met. In 1918, Will Rogers acted in many films that were silent. In 1919, Will Rogers and his family move to Los Angeles to star in more films.

In 1925, Will Rogers started to become a political figure. In 1928, he became one of the country’s foremost opinion leaders and was invited to the White House.  In 1929, He made non-silent movies.  In 1931, Will traveled to Africa and England as a humanitarian.

On August 12, 1935, Will Rogers was killed at the age of 55, along with his friend Wiley Post in an airplane crash near Alaska. His death was sudden and shocked the whole entire nation. Even so, his grave is in California, his wife erected a commemorative monument in, Oklahoma. Roger’s wife died in the same year, and her remain as well her son are buried with her husband.

Throughout Will Rogers’s career, he was the star of more than 70 films and Broadway shows.