La ceremonia de entrega de los premios Western Heritage celebró los 50 años y premió a lo mejor del año en películas Western, TV, música y literatura. Más de 1.200 personas asistieron al evento que tuvo lugar en The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, en Oklahoma City.
Estos fueron los ganadores de 2011 en las distintas disciplinas:
Winners 2011:

Literary:

Western Novel

2011 Impatient with Desire, Author: Gabrielle Burton, Publisher: Hyperion Books

Art Books

2011 Robert Lougheed Follow the Sun, Author: Don Hedgpeth, Publisher: Diamond Trail Press

Juvenile Books

2011 Off Like the Wind! The First Ride of the PonyExpress, Author: Michael P. Spradlin, Illustrator: Layne Johnson, Publisher: Walker & Company, a Division of Bloombury Publishing, Inc.

Magazine Article

2011 Taking Stock of the Pony Express, Author: Frederick J. Chiaventone, Publisher: Wild West Magazine/Weider History Group

Nonfiction Book

2011 So Rugged and Mountainous; Blazing the Trail to Oregon and California 1812-1848, Author: Will Bagley, Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Outstanding Photography Book

2011 Life at the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency, Author: Krstina L. Southwell and John R. Lovett, Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Poetry Book

2011 Spare Parts, Author: Ken Hada, Publisher: Mongrel Empire Press

Film/Television

Fictional Television Drama

2011 “Yella Fella & The Lady from Silver Gulch”, Production Company: Dill Productions, Executive Producer: Jimmy Rane, Producer/Writer: Slats Slaton, Director: Norton Dill, Actors: Jimmy Rane and Dean Smith

Television Feature Film

2011 Temple Grandin, Production Company: A Ruby Films, Gerson Saines Production in association with HBO Films, Executive Producers: Alison Owen, Paul Lister, Anthony Edwards, Dante Di Lorento, Emily Gerson Saines and Gil Bellows, Producer: Scott Ferguson, Director: Mick Jackson, Actors: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O’Hara and David Strathairn

Theatrical Motion Pictures

2011 True Grit, Production Company: Paramount Pictures, Executive Producers: A.C. Lyles, Steven Spielberg and Paul Schwake, Producers: Ethan and Joel Coen, Scott Ruben, Director/Writers: Ethan and Joel Coen, Actors: Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfield

Western Documentary

2011 Wyatt Earp, Production Company: American Experience, Executive Producers: Mark Samels, Producer: Rob Rapley

Music

Outstanding Original Western Composition

2011 Shortgrass,from the Cimarron Sounds album Austin To Boston. Composer/ Writer/ Recording Artist: R.W. Hampton. Producers: Joe DiBlasi and Gary Bright

Outstanding Traditional Western Album

2011 Gillette Brothers – Cowboys, Mistrels and Medicine Shows, Recording Artists: Gillette Brothers, Producers: Gillette Brothers and Craig Swancey

A star-studded crowd turned out Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Western Heritage Awards, which honor last year’s best film, music and literary depictions of the American West’s golden age.
More than 1,200 attended the 50th annual awards banquet and reception, held Saturday night at the museum in Oklahoma City. TV actor Rex Linn, a regular on TV’s hit series, “CSI: Miami,” and film actor Ed Harris, star of the 2008 Western film, “Appaloosa,” served as the evening’s masters of ceremonies.
Like a lot of Hollywood stars turning 50, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s popular Western Heritage Awards has had a face-lift.
Museum Executive Director Chuck Schroeder said the Wrangler awards statue of a cowboy on horseback has gotten a makeover as a way to mark the event’s Golden Anniversary.
Oklahoma artist and sculptor Harold Holden, of Kremlin, handled the redesign of the hefty bronze, which is presented to each Western Heritage award winner and to all inductees into the Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers, Schroeder said Friday.

“For the awards’ 50th anniversary, we thought it fitting that we do a new design of our Wrangler, and we thought no one was more fitting to do it than the No. 1 cowboy and horse sculptor Harold Holden,” Schroeder said. “He has given us an absolutely spectacular piece that truly will be a treasured work of art by the recipients and their families for generations to come. Our new Wrangler commands respect and also delivers both the awards’ and the museum’s message better than almost anything.”
Noted TV and film actor Stuart Whitman and the late comedic character actor Andy Devine were inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. To be inducted, actors must have made significant contributions to the perpetuation of the Western film, radio or theater.
Whitman has appeared in more than 200 movies and television shows over a half-century span between 1951 and 2000. One of his early roles came in 1957 in the military dramas, “Harbor Command” and “The Silent Service.” In 1961, he earned an Academy Award-nomination for his leading role in “The Mark.”
Whitman also is known for playing the heroic “Marshal Jim Crown” in the Western TV series “Cimarron Strip.” Among his many supporting roles on film are “Francis of Assisi,” “The Longest Day,” “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” and “The Comancheros,” where he shared leading-man status with the legendary John Wayne.
In his induction remarks, Whitman said, “The museum is really great, and there’s such a lot to see. I’d love to camp out here for a few days. Getting this honor is so special to me. What an institution this is, and I’m so proud to be involved in it.”

In 1958, Whitman made Hollywood history when he romantically embraced actress Dorothy Dandridge in “The Decks Ran Red” — it was Hollywood’s first interracial kiss.
Andy Devine was known for his distinctive raspy voice, which could be heard throughout a 50-year career of portraying comic cowboy sidekicks and other memorable characters.
Devine had roles in more than 200 films and is well-remembered as “Jingles” on the television’s long-running Western series, “Wild Bill Hickock.” He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including “Stagecoach,” and also appeared in “Island in the Sky” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” He had many memorable roles in television including playing “Hap” on the series “Flipper.” Devine left moviemaking in 1970, but still lent his famous voice to animated film characters, including Friar Tuck in Disney’s “Robin Hood,” and “Cornelius the Rooster” in several Kellogg’s Cornflakes commercials.
Cattleman Ralph Chain of Canton and the late veterinary scientist O.M. Franklin of Pampa, Texas, were inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners. People receiving this honor are being recognized for extraordinary achievement and historical significance and must exemplify traditional Western values of honesty, integrity and self-sufficiency.
Chain, a well-known community leader and owner of Chain Land and Cattle Co., has developed his ranch into a leading beef supplier and sportsman’s club. He also has been involved in many agricultural-related organizations such as the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, North American Limousin Foundation, American Hereford Association, American Quarter Horse Association, American Angus Association and the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association. His dedication to the community is demonstrated through service to his church, Seiling schools and Oklahoma Christian University.

He has received numerous awards throughout his lifetime, including Cattleman of the Year from the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Who’s Who in the Western Livestock Industry from the Western Livestock Journal, and state and regional winner of the Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
Veterinarian O.M. Franklin developed the first successful vaccine for blackleg in Wichita, Kan., in 1916. Blackleg had become a deadly cattle disease, killing up to 20 percent of the hybrid calf crops throughout the American West in the early 1900s.
In the following years, Franklin, along with three other veterinarians and several cattlemen, formed the Kansas Blackleg Serum Co. and moved its operation to Amarillo, Texas. By 1923, their refined and patented vaccine proved effective and marketed to much success.
In 1927, the O.M. Franklin Blackleg Serum Co. was formed and Franklin served as president until his retirement in 1950. By 1972, the Franklin Serum Co. had become the largest cattle vaccine and supply company in the world.

Lawton saddle maker Howard Council received the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award. Named for the museum’s founder, this prestigious award honors people who have helped perpetuate the ideals, history and heritage of the American West.
A world-renowned saddle maker, Council roped calves for a hobby when he was a teenager and taught himself the craftsmanship of leather carving by making belts.
In 1950, Council opened his leather shop and became known for his well-fitting saddles. He also specialized in roping saddles favored by many of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tie-down roping and steer wrestling champions. Among professional ropers he has been called the greatest saddlemaker of all time.
Council also was a founder of the Wichita Mountain Horse Show Association in 1955 and was given the Hero Award by the American Heart Association. In addition to saddlemaking, Council also is an accomplished artist, specializing in oil painting.
This year’s masters or ceremonies were TV and film actors Ed Harris and Rex Linn. Celebrity presenters included actors Ernest Borgnine, Barry Corbin, Robert Fuller, Buck Taylor and Patrick Wayne; movie stuntman Dean Smith; movie producer, actor and scriptwriter Robert Knott; singer/musicians Lynn Anderson, Don Edwards, Michael Martin Murphey and Red Steagall; cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell and Western personalities Anita La Cava Swift and Wyatt McCrea.
Established in 1961, the Western Heritage Awards salute works in literature, music, television and film that best portray the history and culture of the American West. Wrangler Awards were presented for works completed in 2010. Qualified professionals outside the museum staff judged all categories of entries. This year, Wranglers were presented to creators of Western-genre works in 13 categories.