'' Saga of Death Valley ''is a 1939 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Joseph Kane Jasper Joseph Inman Kane (March 19, 1894, San Diego – August 25, 1975, Santa Monica, California) was an American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on Western f ...

and starring

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

Plot

When the senior Roy Rogers is gunned down in front of little Tim Rogers, he is taken by the killers, leaving his older brother Roy Jr. behind and alone. Tim is raised by his father's killers and called Jerry. Fifteen years later, Roy tracks down his father's killers to bring them to justice using an alias to disguise his motives. But he finds that his little brother is a leading henchman for the killers' gang.

Cast

as Roy Rogers *

George "Gabby" Hayes George Francis "Gabby" Hayes (7 May 1885 – 9 February 1969) was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, c ...

as Gabby Whittaker * Doris Day as Ann Meredith * Donald Barry as Jerry ''aka'' Tim Rogers *

Frank M. Thomas Frank Marion Thomas (July 13, 1889 – November 25, 1989) was an American character actor of stage, screen and television. He and his wife, actress Mona Bruns, both lived to 100 years old. He died the day before her 90th birthday; she died 11 y ...

as Ed Tasker

Production

''Saga of Death Valley'' was Roy Rogers 12th Western film in a starring role. Filmed in scenic Lone Pine near the actual Death Valley. Donald Barry would, in the next year—1940—find

film stardom in his own right after starring in the 12-chapter serial ''

The Adventures of Red Ryder ''The Adventures of Red Ryder'' is a 1940 12-chapter Republic movie serial directed by William Witney and John English and starring Don "Red" Barry and Noah Beery, Sr., based on the Western comic strip ''Red Ryder''. This serial is the 18th ...

''. It was for this star-making role that he became known as Don "Red" Barry for the rest of his film career. Western singing star

Jimmy Wakely Jimmy Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western movies ...

appears here in his first film role. He, too, would later star in his own series of Western films, following in Roy Rogers' footsteps as a singing cowboy hero. Doris Day (1910–1998), who played Ann Meredith, was a namesake of the famous Doris Day (1922–2019).

External links

* 1939 films 1939 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films Films shot in Lone Pine, California Republic Pictures films Films directed by Joseph Kane 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-Western-film-stub