11 HIGHLIGHTS OF OKC’S WESTERN HERITAGE AWARDS
George Strait charmed the crowd, Robert Duvall told epic stories, and Reba McEntire shared a deep cut from early in her career.
More than 1,000 folks duded up for the long-delayed 60th Western Heritage Awards Sept. 18 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The venerable event annually lauds people who have made significant contributions to Western heritage as well as the year’s top releases in Western literature, music, television and films.
Usually a spring event but delayed to fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sold-out show was live-streamed on the Wrangler Network, and it produced plenty of memorable moments.
The star-studded soiree was postponed last year from April to October and then pushed to 2021 in response to the pandemic. So, this year’s ceremony recognized honorees and inductees from both 2020 and 2021.
Here are 11 highlights from the 60th Western Heritage Awards:
1. Robert Duvall proclaims ‘What do we have? The Western!’
Along with his iconic roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” “The Godfather: Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” Oscar winner and 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Robert Duvall is known for starring in Westerns like “True Grit,” “Lonesome Dove” and “Broken Trail.”
“The English have Shakespeare, the French have Molière, and the Russians have Dostoevsky. What do we own? What do we have? The Western!” Duvall said, receiving the award with a standing ovation. “Through literature, through singing, through movies and television, through word of mouth, it's part of our heritage — and we own it.”
2. George Strait dedicates Lifetime Achievement Award to his dad.
“My dad is beaming right now,” country music icon George Strait said, as he accepted the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award to another standing O.
John Strait, who died in 2013 at the age of 91, raised the King of Country Music and his brother as a single dad in Texas.
“He's the one that taught me the ways of the cowboy life ... and I still got a lot to learn,” Strait said.
Attending the ceremony with his wife, Norma, and his son and daughterin-law, Bubba and Tamara, the Country Music Hall of Famer dedicated the award to his late father.
3. Reba McEntire pays tribute to her mother.
Fellow Country Music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire, an Oklahoma native, returned to the Western Heritage Awards along with her sister, Alice Foran, and Jana Shoulders. In a special segment, the trio honored their mothers, the late Jacqueline “Jackie” McEntire and Sharon Shoulders, the matriarchs of two prominent Oklahoma rodeo families.
Jackie McEntire, the wife of threetime world champion steer roper Clark McEntire, died in March 2020. Sharon Shoulders, the wife of seven-time world champion all-around cowboy Jim Shoulders, died in February 2021.
In tribute, Reba sang a verse of “The Ballad of John McEntire,” an ode to her grandfather that she and her siblings Pake and Susie used to croon as The Singing McEntires.
4. Rex Linn and Reba make a cute couple.
After the tribute to rodeo matriarchs, Reba exited the stage with a quick kiss for her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn (”Young Sheldon,” “Better Call Saul”), who returned to host this year's Western Heritage Awards.
Reba, who grew up on a Chockie ranch, and Linn, who was raised in OKC, started dating last year. Linn made several cute references to his sweetheart during his hilariously off-the-wall banter.
5. Barry Corbin is still alive
While presenting alongside fellow actor Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Corbin took a moment to confirm that he is indeed still alive.
“A fella came up to me last night over there at that cocktail party and says to me, ‘Barry Corbin, I'm so glad you're not dead,'” said Corbin, a 2018 inductee into the Hall of Great Western Performers.
“My first thought was to answer, ‘Well, I am, too.' But then I thought, ‘Well, why would you say that?' He said, ‘Well, I heard about this COVID thing, and they did away with the awards for last year. I thought you would die.' And I said, ‘No, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I ain't dead. ... I hid in my house like a troglodyte for a year and a half.'”
Corbin, who will celebrate his 81st birthday on Oct. 16, said he only worked two days last year. But the prolific actor recently filmed scenes in Oklahoma on Martin Scorsese's true-life epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” in which he plays an undertaker.
6. R.W. Hampton is alive and singing
Cowboy singer, songwriter and actor R.W. Hampton also was alive to receive the 2021 Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, annually bestowed on an honoree “who has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Western values and ideals.”
“I was looking on the criteria for this award, and you gotta be living. So, I got all dressed up ... and I went one last time and breathed on the mirror. And I could just see that I was still alive,” he quipped with a grin.
7. Red Steagall tips his hat to the cowboy.
Along with helping to usher African American cowboy and trailblazer Matthew “Bones” Hooks (1867-1951) and rodeo legend Mel O. Potter into the Hall of Great Westerners, cowboy singer, poet and musician Red Steagall provided the entertainment.
The 2003 Hall of Great Westerners inductee performed his crowd-pleasing ballad “Hats off to the Cowboy.”
8. The inspiration for ‘ Toy Story’s’ Woody honored
Patrick and Marisa Wayne, son and daughter of John Wayne, ushered actor Woodrow Wilson Woolwine “Woody” Strode (1914-1994) into the Hall of Great Western Performers.
“Woody Strode broke barriers as one of the NFL's first Black athletes. However, his stanza in the story of the West took a path of even higher greatness by becoming one of Hollywood's most prolific actors, when he met legendary film director — and my godfather — John Ford,” Patrick Wayne said.
Sheriff Woody of the blockbuster “Toy Story” animated films is named after Strode.
9. John Scott’s life melds ranching and moviemaking.
2020 Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award recipient John Scott not only has preserved the 100-year-old working ranch his grandfather established in 1904 in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, but he also has expanded the operation beyond cattle, horses and bison. He maintains three movie sets on the ranch, and he has worked on more than 100 films and television shows since 1969, including seven Academy Award-winning pictures.
Movies that have filmed on his Alberta ranch include “Unforgiven,” “Legends of the Fall” and “Days of Heaven,” and he has worked on Hollywood hits like “Shanghai Noon,” “The Revenant” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
10. George Strait keeps his hat on.
While accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award, Strait kept on his trademark black cowboy hat — and he shared a funny story about it to boot.
“When I first signed with MCA Records in 1981, all the people were going, ‘Take the hat off.' Now, can you imagine if I would have done that?” he said with a chuckle.
If it's hard to picture Strait without his familiar topper, it's even harder to imagine him with a different name.
“I had a producer early on, and he was trying to get me to change my name to Cane Cooper,” Strait said with a grin. “My dad was so glad I didn't do that.”
11. Kurt Russell to be honored next year.
Plans are already underway for the 61st Western Heritage Awards, including restoring the event's springtime dates.
We already know a couple of the honorees who will be lauded: Known for his roles in Western films like “Tombstone,” “The Hateful Eight” and “Bone Tomahawk,” Kurt Russell will be ushered into the Hall of Great Western Performers at next year's awards.
The busy actor was originally slated to be inducted at this year's ceremony, but he was forced to delay the honor to undergo hip surgery.