Nov. 4, 1964 - Opening today is “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” a fictionalized biographical musical directed by Gene Nelson and starring George Hamilton as country singer Hank Williams. It co-stars Susan Oliver and Red Buttons.
Williams, born and raised in Alabama, is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singer-songwriters of the 20th century. After winning an amateur talent contest, Williams began his professional career in Montgomery in the late 1930s playing on local radio stations and at area venues such as school houses, movie theaters, and bars. Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams’ health, and at the age of 29, he died unexpectedly of heart failure in the back seat of a car near Oak Hill, West Virginia, en route to a concert in Canton, Ohio, on New Year’s Day 1953.
In the film’s story, a young Hank Williams is trying to earn money by pitching a snake-oil cure-all to the gullible, capping his spiel by picking up his guitar and singing. In the crowd are the Drifting Cowboys, a group of touring country-western musicians who are passing through. They invite Williams to join their group, and music history is made.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments