Singing cowboy Sandy's elaborate costumes. While other western actors, such as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, only dabbled in singing roles, some actors became known mainly for their parts as singing cowboys. The most famous of them was Gene Autry, and the moniker "the singing cowboy" usually refers to him in particular. When Wayne declined further singing cowboy roles, Republic looked for a replacement. Former rodeo rider Autry was chosen because he was the one candidate who could both sing and ride a horse, namely Champion the Wonder Horse. The choice was so successful that, at the time of his death in
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special) Couple of Misfits". The special has been edited to make more time for commercial advertising by shortening some musical numbers. When "Rudolph" was first issued on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc by Family Home Entertainment and Broadway Video from 1989 to 1997 under the "Christmas Classics Series" label, the 1965 rebroadcast print described above was used. All current video prints of "Rudolph" by Classic Media are a compendium of the two previous telecast versions of the special. All the footage in the current versions (starting with the 1998 VHS by Sony Wonder) follow the original 1964 NBC broadcast (without the original