Spade, The Life & Crimes of Spade Cooley

Donnell Clyde Cooley, better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western Swing musician, band leader, actor and television personality whose remarkable career ended in 1961 when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his wife. Cooley became famous as a popular Western Swing band leader who appeared in 38 Western films before he began hosting his own variety show on KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, California. Broadcast from the Santa Monica Pier Ballroom beginning in June of 1948, The Spade Cooley Show became a mainstay of 1950s television and was viewed coast-to-coast via the Paramount Television Network. But Cooley had a dark side. He suspected his second wife, Ella Mae, who was a singer in his band before they married, of repeatedly being unfaithful. In March 1961 she told a friend she had an affair with Roy Rogers in 1952 or 1953 and asked Cooley for a divorce. On April 26, 1961, Cooley was indicted by a Kern County grand jury for the murder of his wife in the couple's Willow Springs, California ranch home. Cooley's 14-year-old daughter, Melody, reportedly told the jury she watched in terror as her father beat her mother's head against the floor, stomped on her stomach, then crushed a lighted cigarette against her skin to see whether she was dead. Cooley claimed his wife had been injured by falling in the shower. In what was the longest trial in county history at the time; Cooley was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. After serving only eight years, however, the state of California agreed to parole him and in November of 1969 he received a 72-hour furlough to play a benefit concert for the Deputy Sheriffs Association at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. After the performance Cooley suffered a fatal heart attack in the backstage area. Today he is interred at Chapel of the Chimes cemetery in Hayward, California.

Added 16 Oct 2026