Entertainer, cowgirl, and world rodeo champion. Having been brought up on a working ranch, Orr began her rodeo career with the Jack King's Wild West Show, where she and her siblings, the Riding Greenoughs, performed. She rode saddle broncs and bulls on occasion, but bronc riding was her specialty. She excelled in almost every rodeo event, from trick riding to bull riding. She went on to win four World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider titles in 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1941 and performed in 46 states, Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, England, and Australia. While in Spain, she rode a fighting bull into an arena without a sword before dismounting and leaving the bull to the matador. She and Joe Orr founded the Greenough-Orr rodeo, which toured the country in the early 1940s. They are credited with inventing women's barrel racing by putting on the first event. In the late 1930's, she appeared in endorsement commercials and did stunt doubling in a number of western films, including the 1937 film "The Californians" and the 1970s through 1980s television series "Little House on the Prairie." Her last public appearance on a horse was in a 1992 parade in Red Lodge, Montana. In 1975, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum Hall of Fame, the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2010, as well as the 100 Most Influential Montanans of the 20th Century in 2012.
Entertainer, cowgirl, and world rodeo champion. Having been brought up on a working ranch, Orr began her rodeo career with the Jack King's Wild West Show, where she and her siblings, the Riding Greenoughs, performed. She rode saddle broncs and bulls on occasion, but bronc riding was her specialty. She excelled in almost every rodeo event, from trick riding to bull riding. She went on to win four World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider titles in 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1941 and performed in 46 states, Canada, Mexico, Spain, France, England, and Australia. While in Spain, she rode a fighting bull into an arena without a sword before dismounting and leaving the bull to the matador. She and Joe Orr founded the Greenough-Orr rodeo, which toured the country in the early 1940s. They are credited with inventing women's barrel racing by putting on the first event. In the late 1930's, she appeared in endorsement commercials and did stunt doubling in a number of western films, including the 1937 film "The Californians" and the 1970s through 1980s television series "Little House on the Prairie." Her last public appearance on a horse was in a 1992 parade in Red Lodge, Montana. In 1975, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum Hall of Fame, the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2010, as well as the 100 Most Influential Montanans of the 20th Century in 2012.
Bio by: Debbie Gibbons
Family Members
Siblings
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