Editing Gene Autry (section)

=== Retirement ===
Autry retired from show business in 1964, having made almost 100 films up to 1955 and over 600 records. He was elected to the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]] in 1969 and to the [[Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame]]<ref name=HoF>{{cite web|title=Gene Autry|url=http://nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/Site/inductee?entry_id=1157|series=Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame|website=Nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com|access-date=December 24, 2017|language=en}}</ref> in 1970. After retiring, he invested widely in real estate, radio, and television. He also invested in ownership of the KOOL-TV CBS-affiliate (now [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[KSAZ-TV]]) in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], which created local shows such as the weekly bilingual children's show ''Niños Contentos''.

Republic Pictures, its finances failing, had shut down production in 1957. By the late 1960s Republic was barely operational, managing only its film library. Gene Autry, correctly assessing the company's cash-poor situation, made a cash offer for the rights and negatives to his Republic films. The company accepted Autry's terms, and Autry now controlled the film materials for home-movie reprints and home-video tapes and discs.