Will Rogers Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, American cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. Known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son", Rogers was born to a Cherokee family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma). As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. By the mid-1930s Rogers was hugely
Will Rogers Memorial April 21, 1938, with Will's sister, Sallie Rogers McSpadden, turning the first spade full of dirt. Construction was completed November 4, 1938, on what would have been Rogers' 59th birthday. The museum opened in 1938, three years after Rogers' death. An addition was constructed in 1983. The rotunda contains a famous sculpture of Will Rogers by artist Jo Davidson. The pedestal is inscribed with a famous quotation by Rogers, "...I never met a man I didn't like." The statue is another cast of the work that the artist created in 1938 and which has represented the state in the National