Biography
Born on 18 June 1910 in Flemington, New Jersey, John Nicholas Foran died on 10 August 1979 in Panorama City, California. The son of a US senator, he majored in geology at Princeton University. A brief stint as an investigator for the Pennsylvania Railroad gave way to his goal of performing vocally on screen, prompting a move to Hollywood. His screen debut arrived in 1934 with Gentlemen Are Born, and the following year he shared the frame with Shirley Temple in the musical Stand Up And Cheer. Warner Brothers introduced him late in 1935 as a singing cowboy atop his palomino Smoke in Moonlight On The Prairie, positioning him as the second artist in the category after Gene Autry’s Tumbling Tumbleweeds reached theaters two months earlier. Between 1935 and 1937 he remained the studio’s sole singing cowboy, headlining twelve B-westerns that included Cowboy From Brooklyn. Universal signed him in 1938, where he took on assorted parts and appeared in the western serials Winners Of The West (1940) and Riders In Death Valley (1941). In 1941 he joined the Sons Of The Pioneers for the radio series Ten-Two-Four Ranch. Although his accomplishments in the singing-cowboy field never rivaled Autry’s, his acting range carried him through well over 100 films, the final one released in 1967. The 1950s also brought numerous television roles. Despite his operatic training, western viewers readily embraced his singing.