Gene Autry 12 acres. A decade after he purchased Melody Ranch, a brushfire swept through in August 1962, destroying most of the original standing sets. However, the devastated landscape did prove useful for productions such as "Combat!." A complete adobe ranch survived at the northeast section of the ranch. In 1990, after his favorite horse Champion, which lived in retirement there, died, Autry put the remaining 12-acre ranch up for sale. It is now known as the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio and Melody Ranch Studios on 22 acres. The ranch has Melody Ranch Museum open year-round; and one weekend a year,
Gene Autry Never Cry", with a role for newcomer Mary Castle. After 1951, Autry formed his own production company to make Westerns under his own control, which continued the 1947 distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures. Autry purchased the 110-acre Monogram Movie Ranch in 1953, in Placerita Canyon near Newhall, California, in the northern San Gabriel Mountains foothills. He renamed it the Melody Ranch after his movie "Melody Ranch." Autry then sold 98 acres of the property, most of the original ranch. The Western town, adobes, and ranch cabin sets and open land for location shooting were retained as a movie ranch on