The Sedona International Film Festival recently joined in celebrating the 100th birthday of the late Western actor Roy Rogers.

Although best known as a comedic, singing actor who starred in almost 100 films from the 1930s to 1950s, Rogers was a “mischievous kid” but one who had a huge heart, according to his oldest daughter, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett.

Rogers-Barnett at her husband, Larry Barnett, were in Sedona for the screening of the Rogers’ 1945 film “Don’t Fence Me In” hosted by the festival.

Rogers was born Leonard Franklin Slye in Cincinnati on Nov. 5, 1911. He moved to California and went into show business in 1930, forming the Sons of the Pioneers singing group, which began appearing in Western films in 1936.

In 1938, Slye changed his name and starred in his first lead role, “Under Western Stars.” Rogers appeared in almost 100 films by 1952.

From 1951 to 1957 he hosted “The Roy Rogers Show” with his wife, Dale Evans. The show is best known now for its closing song, “Happy Trails.”

Rogers-Barnett grew up in the midst of her parents’ stardom. Throughout the 1950s, Rogers and Evans were two of the biggest names in Hollywood appearing in films, variety shows and talk shows. Major television networks booked the couple during sweeps weeks because a huge number of viewers would tune in.

Rogers was a comedian known for his one-liners.

“Those one-liners saved his life with my mom when she was exasperated with him,” Rogers-Barnett said.

Rogers often said one line that always seemed to win Evans over, Rogers-Barnett said, and prompted her husband.

“You can take the kid out of the man but you ain’t got much left,” Barnett said.

Rogers-Barnett and her eight siblings, many of whom were adopted like she was, sometimes appeared with their parents on variety shows and commercials.

Rogers-Barnett had one speaking role, in her father’s 1950 film, “Trail of Robin Hood,” when she asked Western silent film star Jack Holt, playing himself, for his autograph.

Of her father’s nearly 100 films, “Don’t Fence Me in” is her favorite.

“Gabby [Hayes] has this huge role. They didn’t let him bumble in that and get Dad in trouble. That’s the sidekick’s role,” she said. “They really let him shine in that; he was a consummate actor.”

Rogers-Barnett said her father saved everything — movie posters, photographs, costumes and film memorabilia. He also collected cars, guns, boats and sports memorabilia.

“Dad never threw anything away in his life,” she said. “Mom would pitch a fit and call Bekins [Van & Storage] to take it away,” Rogers-Barnett said. Eventually Rogers bought an abandoned bowling alley in Vacaville Calif., and opened a museum.

“In the back room he kept enough stuff for another museum,” Barnett said.

Among the eventual items in the museum was Rogers’ palomino horse costar, Trigger, and his dog, Bullet. Both Trigger and Bullet have since been sold to RFD-TV in Omaha, Neb., and still travel the world.

Rogers-Barnett said her father was very shy unless he was talking about guns, horses and the Sons of the Pioneers. He loved to tease.

“Mom was the outgoing one. She would zero in on you and she would look you in the eye,” Rogers-Barnett said.

Evans loved to argue and had a great sense of humor but couldn’t tell a joke, Rogers-Barnett said, something her future son-in-law learned quickly.

“If you kept a straight face, you could take her around the block,” Barnett said.

Rogers-Barnett never really thought of her father as an actor, he just was who he was.

She recalled seeing the rough cuts of the 1975 film “Mackintosh and T.J.,” when Rogers played a dramatic role.

After the screening, she turned to her mother and said, “He really could act.

“Dad turned and said, ‘I guess I learned something all those years.’”

Rogers died in 1998. After his death the family encouraged Rogers-Barnett to write a memoir because she was the only child who had grown up during the studio years.

Rogers-Barnett put the book off until her husband convinced Evans to write the forward. Evans died about six months later and Barnett encouraged his wife to finish the book.

“Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents Roy Rogers and Dale Evans” was published in 2003 and has been called by critics one of the best biographies of Rogers and Evans.