Will Rogers, writer, actor, cowboy, and social commentator

Today marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Will Rogers. The writer, actor, cowboy, social commentator, and political humorist was born William Penn Adair Rogers on November 4, 1879 in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, near Oologah, Oklahoma. His parents were attorney Clement Vann Rogers and Mary America Schrimsher, both of whom were members of the Cherokee Nation.

After working as a cowboy, Rogers began a career as a rider and trick roper on the Vaudeville circuit. Eventually, he added rambling commentary about the news of the day, and his popularity soared. In 1918, Rogers began acting in silent movies, which at the time were filmed in New York City, allowing him to remain on Broadway in Ziegfield’s Follies. In 1929, he began making “talking pictures” and moved west. He played a version of himself in all of his films—the down-to-earth American with a sharp, acerbic wit untouched by social niceties—and in spite of his regular adlibbing, or perhaps because of it, he rose to become the most successful and beloved film actor of the 1930s.

Known for being relentlessly hardworking, Rogers also wrote a syndicated column in the New York Times; contributed to the Saturday Evening Post; had a Sunday radio show; was the mayor of Beverly Hills, California; briefly ran for President of the United States; starred in the Eugene O’Neill play, "Ah, Wilderness!” on Broadway; and toured on a national lecture circuit. He died during a tour of Alaska when the small plane he was flying in, piloted by his friend, aviator Wiley Post, crashed into a lagoon.