Pat Brady (December 31, 1914 – February 27, 1972) was best known as
cowboy Roy Rogers' "comical sidekick." Pat's full name was Robert
Ellsworth Patrick Aloysious O'Brady and this was shortened to "Bob
Brady," although it is not known when the "O'" was dropped from
"O'Brady."
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Pat Brady first set foot on-stage at the age of
four, in a road-show production of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.
From that moment he was hooked on showbiz for life. While appearing as
a bass guitarist in California in 1935, Pat struck up a friendship
with a young country & western singer named Leonard Slye, a member of
the popular The Sons of the Pioneers. When Len Slye was elevated to
screen stardom as Roy Rogers, he recommended Brady as his replacement
in "The Sons". However, as Bob Nolan, an original member of The Sons,
was referred to as "Bob," and The Sons thought one "Bob" was enough,
"Bob Brady" became "Pat Brady" from then on.
Making the transition to films himself in 1937, Brady played comedy
relief in several of the Charles Starrett Westerns at Columbia. In the
early 1940s, he moved to Republic, where he played zany camp cook
Sparrow Biffle in the Roy Rogers vehicles. When Rogers moved to
television in 1951, he took Brady with him. Now billed as "himself,"
Brady enlivened over 100 episodes of The Roy Rogers Show, happily
driving about the sagebrush at the wheel of his faithful jeep
"Nellybelle."
Long after the cancellation of the weekly series, Brady continued his
association with Rogers on television and in personal appearances. He
also rejoined The Sons of the Pioneers in 1959, as a replacement for
the defecting Shug Fisher, a well-known character actor. In late 1962,
Brady appeared with Rogers and Evans in their short-lived ABC comedy,
western, and variety program, The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show,
which lost out in the Saturday evenings ratings to The Jackie Gleason
Show on CBS. Joining Brady on that program was comedian Cliff Arquette
in his Charley Weaver role. Coincidentally, Arquette, like Brady, was
born in Toledo.
Pat Brady died at the age of fifty-seven in Green Mountain Falls,
Colorado. At his funeral on March 1, 1972, Hugh Farr and Lloyd, both
members of The Sons of the Pioneers, sang "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and
"At the Rainbows End".