Gene Autry starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial "The Phantom Empire." Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film. Pat Buttram was picked by Gene Autry, recently returned from his World War II service in the United States Army Air Forces, to work with him. Buttram would co-star with Gene Autry
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