MUSIC AND MOVIES
In the 1960's Boone remained a major star.
Boone also conquered film, starring in 26 features including such family fare as "Bernardine" (1957), "April Love" (1957), "Mardi Gras" (1958), "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959), and "State Fair" (1961).
Although his TV program ceased production in 1960, Boone remained a major star as the new decade dawned, hitting the charts with the first vocal recording of "Exodus," which he also wrote the lyrics for...and Ernest Gold won 'Best Soundtrack Album' and 'Song of the Year' at the 1961 Grammy Awards. That same year Boone topped the charts again with "Moody River," covered later by Frank Sinatra, Johnny Rivers and John Fogerty.
The 1962 rise of Beatlemania put the brakes on Boone's run as a teen idol --- but not before his version of "Speedy Gonzales" peaked at #6 during a 13 week chart run in the U.S., and selling a million copies in Europe. He continued recording for DOT Records through the late 1960s, and in his live performances regularly appeared with his wife and their four daughters, further reinforcing his family-friendly image. Publicly, Boone was a deeply religious man and model husband and father. He authored several books concerning his born-again Christianity, as well as his best-selling "teen advice" volume "Twixt Twelve and Twenty."