Gail Davis Gender Roles

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Pages: 3

Although there are many famously interesting people in Arkansas, this lady changed the way women were looked in lead roles. She proved to society that women can attain the lead roles in television shows as well as masculine westerns. Gail Davis is a western icon for women all over the world. Gail Davis was born on October 5, 1925, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was born with the name Betty Jeanne Grayson. Her mother was a homemaker and her father, W.B. Grayson, was a physician in Desha County. Gail Davis attended school at Little Rock as a child when her father got a job as a state health officer. Because of his new job, the family had to move to Little Rock. From the time Gail was eight, she was dancing and singing in local shows. She was a tomboy at heart and grew up riding horses (Hendricks). In Gail’s young adulthood, she went to school at Little Rock Senior High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Throughout her high school and college career, she held different beauty titles. In high school, Gail was very athletically inclined. She played sports like golf, tennis, and swimming. When Gail graduated high school, she went to college at …show more content…
After Gail’s role in her first movie, she was discovered by Gene Autry who then gave her the name Gail Davis. Gene featured Gail in many of his movies and about thirty episodes of the “Gene Autry Show”. As a skilled rider and trick shot shooter, she got the opportunity to perform in Autry’s traveling rodeo. The audience was so pleased with Gail’s performance that Autry decided to make her a show of her own (Mowis). Gail’s new series was called “Annie Oakley”, and it aired on ABC from 1955 through 1958. Reruns of the show went through 1965. After Gail’s series “Annie Oakley”, she made personal appearances with Autry and made several appearances on many other shows and movies. In her later years, she worked as a celebrity agent