Merle Travis

Birthday: Nov 29, 1917

Bio: Renowned for decades as a musician, country guitar virtuoso Merle Travis dabbled a bit in acting -- nearly all of it involving the prominent use of his music skills -- during the 1940s and 1950s. His 1940s film appearances were in B-westerns starring Rod Cameron and Charles Starrett, but in the 1950s he made a decided leap up with a brief appearance in From Here To… More Bio: Renowned for decades as a musician, country guitar virtuoso Merle Travis dabbled a bit in acting -- nearly all of it involving the prominent use of his music skills -- during the 1940s and 1950s. His 1940s film appearances were in B-westerns starring Rod Cameron and Charles Starrett, but in the 1950s he made a decided leap up with a brief appearance in From Here To Eternity, one of the most prominent big-studio releases of 1953. Again, it was Travis's guitar and voice that were key to his role, as a G.I. singing the lament "Re-enlistment Blues" (which he co-wrote) in a key scene in the middle of the movie. Alas, that film did not lead to more prominent screen work for Travis. Part of the problem may have been the same personal difficulties that blighted his music career -- despite writing and recording a brace of hits in the late 1940s, Travis was never able to fully capitalize upon his renowned musical abilities because of his personal unreliability, a product of a drinking problem that he never fully overcame and also an unpredictable, hell-raising nature. His subsequent movie roles were in low-budget productions, including the Johnny Cash star vehicle Five Minutes To Live (1961). He did provide music for a few films, but it was only near the end of his life that Travis finally returned to another high-profile, big-budget feature films, with a cameo appearance in the Clint Eastwood-directed and starring vehicle Honkytonk Man (1982). ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi