Champion the Wonder Horse to 1953, and in the television series during the 1950s. Several other "Champion" horses were used as stunt doubles and for personal appearances throughout the years. There were three official Champions that appeared in Gene Autry films. The original Champion was a dark sorrel with a blaze face and white stockings on all his legs except the right front. The original Champion first appeared on screen with Autry in "Melody Trail" (1935) and went on to co-star in 51 additional Autry films. The horse was previously owned by Tom Mix and was used during the filming of "The Phantom Empire"
Gene Autry the Starz Entertainment Corporation joined forces with the Autry estate to restore all of his films, which have been shown on Starz's Encore Western Channel on cable television on a regular basis to date since. Autry was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1991. Autry is the only person to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one in each of the five categories defined by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. All of Autry's stars are located along Hollywood Boulevard: Recording at 6384, Radio at 6520, Motion pictures at 6644, Television at 6667, and Live theatre