Walter Henry "Hy" Heath (July 9, 1890 – April 3, 1965) was an American entertainer, songwriter, composer and writer. Born in

Oakville, Tennessee Oakville was a community in Tennessee located just east of the current site of the Memphis International Airport. It was centered along the Route of US 78 (Lamar Avenue) just a little northeast of the intersection with Getwell Road. In 1950, it ha ...

, he received his education in public schools and then became a comedian in musical comedy,

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer w ...

and

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

shows. His chief musical collaborators included Johnny Lange and Fred Rose. His most successful composition was " Mule Train" which earned him an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

nomination (it was featured in the 1950 film '' Singing Guns''). Another of his many popular songs which he composed was "The Hills of Utah" which was sung by

Ken Curtis Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the CBS western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Although he appeared on ''Gunsmoke'' earli ...

in the Hollywood western ''

Stallion Canyon ''Stallion Canyon'' is a 1949 American Western (genre), Western film directed by Harry L. Fraser and written by Hy Heath. The film stars Ken Curtis, Carolina Cotton, Shug Fisher, Forrest Taylor, Ted Adams (actor), Ted Adams and Billy Hammond. Th ...

'' starring Ken Curtis and Carolina Cotton.

References

1890 births 1965 deaths people from Memphis, Tennessee Vaudeville performers American composers 20th-century American comedians {{US-comedian-stub