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 Annie Oakley Intro |
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Home > Children's Programmes > Westerns > Annie Oakley
'Annie Oakley' (1954-56)
Starred Gail Davis as Annie with Brad Johnson as Deputy Sheriff Lofty Craig and Jimmy Hawkins as Tagg Oakley. Pigtails and pistols were the formula in one of the 1950's more unusual Westerns. Five-foot-two, 95 pounds, and cute as a button, Annie was also a crack shot and the scourge of badmen around her hometown of Diablo, where she lived with her kid brother, Tagg (the rest of the immediate family was unaccounted for). Towering Deputy Lofty Craig was her friend and silent suitor, and Annie's uncle, Luke MacTavish, was the seldom-seen town sheriff. Co-starring were the horses--Annie's 'Target', Lofty's 'Forest', and Tagg's 'Pixie'. (81 Episodes)
Gail Davis was discovered by Gene Autry, who featured her in nearly 20 of his movies, 30 of his own program's episodes, and then spun her off into this series of her own, which was produced by his company. She really was a good rider and trick shot, performing in Autry's traveling rodeo as well. She once said "So far as I'm concerned, I'm going to be Annie Oakley for the rest of my born days," and apparently she was right. Today she manages other celebrities.
The real Annie Oakley lived from 1859 to 1926, and was an exhibition sharpshooter for Buffalo Bill and other traveling shows. She traveled around the world, and once shot a cigarette from the mouth of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
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