Although his music propelled him to fame, Kenny Rogers’ movies also received huge plaudits. Here are Rogers’ top three films.
American singer Kenny Rogers grew up poor, living with his parents and six siblings in a federal housing project. However, as a youngster recognized his musical talents and knew he wanted to pursue a music career.
Subsequently, Rogers bought himself a guitar and started a band called “The Scholars.” The band released a few local hits, but by 1958, Rogers left the band and started a solo career releasing the hit song “That Crazy Feeling.”
Around that time, he also played with a few bands registering short stints with them before going solo again. By 1974 Rogers decided to focus on country music, and his song “Love Lifted Me” became his first country solo top 20 hits. However, mainstream success came two years later when he released the song “Lucille.”
The song made it into the top five on the pop charts. It also won Rogers his first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. Since then, Rogers has enjoyed massive success in the music scene. The late singer also joined the likes of acts like “The Judds,” to have been inducted into the Country Music hall of Fame.
However, Rogers had other interests he wanted to pursue apart from music. The singer had a passion for photography and acting. According to Rogers, although music is his main passion, photography comes second.
If we had to guess, the third on the list would be acting because Rogers did much of it in the 80s. But then, he started starring in Television series inspired by his music, including “The Gambler” and its sequels. In this article, we’ll be examining the top three movies by Rogers throughout his career.
Six Pack (1982)
In 1982, Rogers starred in the comedy and sports movie “Six Pack.” The film starred an ensemble cast of Anthony Michael Hall, Barry Corbin, Bob Hannah, Diane Lane, and others.
“Six Pack,” tells the story of a race driver in Texas who discovered his race car parked on a trailer behind his home expertly stripped. After chasing down the thieves, he found them to be six orphan children.
However, he could not get his car parts back because the corrupt town Sheriff took them in exchange for not sending the orphans to jail. Eventually, the kids got tired of the Sheriff and struck a friendship with the race driver.
He suddenly becomes like a father figure to them; in turn, the kids use their mechanical knowledge to help him with his racing career. In the movie, Kenny Rogers portrayed race driver Brewster, whose performance received hugely positive reviews.
The Gambler (1980)
Roger’s song “The Gambler,” released in 1978, proved to be a massive hit on the music scene. The song, which charted high on the country and pop charts, also won Rogers his second Grammy.
However, it took two years before a movie inspired by the song became available. Rogers portrayed Brady Hawkes, who gets on a train to El Paso after receiving a letter from his son, who he has never met.
His son had asked for his help due to his stepfather being abusive. However, before getting on the train, Hawkes meets an overconfident young gambler called Billy Montana.
After Hawkes defeated Montana, they quickly became friends, and the former taught the latter all the secrets to gambling. The pair also made friends with a former prostitute Jennie Reed on the train.
Nevertheless, things got tricky when Hawkes arrived in town to meet his son’s stepfather Rufe Bennett who had many henchmen waiting for him to arrive.
Although the movie “The Gambler” did not match the song’s success and popularity, Rogers still received praise for his performance.
Wild Horses (1985)
In 1985 Kenny Rogers started starring in the Western series “Wild Horses” on CBS. In the series, Rogers played Matt Cooper, a former rodeo champion who had settled down into family life in Texas.
However, after a while, Cooper gets bored of his life and decides to leave his wife and kids behind to chase past glories. Once in Wyoming, Cooper joins a government expedition to round up Wild Mustangs on government property.
However, they were told not to hurt the animals as they would be used for a national “adopt a pet” program for children. Nevertheless, things changed when a rogue government agent with plans of capturing many wild horses turned up.
Eventually, Cooper and a couple of others decided to protect the horses and defy the rogue agent’s plans.
Kenny Rogers’s Death
On March 21, 2020, Kenny Rogers’s family announced that the iconic entertainer had passed away at 81. In the statement released, they noted:
“The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25 p.m. at the age of 81. Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family.”
They further revealed that they hoped to celebrate Roger’s life and legacy with his friends and fans later. Unfortunately, his final concert occurred three years before, on October 26, 2017.