Sherwood Cryer

HOUSTON - Sherwood Cryer, the former owner of a Pasadena bar and nightclub made famous by the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy," has died. A Rosewood Funeral Home mortician in Pasadena confirmed Cryer's death but said the family didn't want to release details. Attempts to contact the family were unsuccessful. KTRK-TV in Houston cites Cryer associates as saying he died Thursday of natural causes. Cryer co-owned Gilley's, the quintessential Texas honky tonk in the industrial Houston suburb that was popularized in the movie starring John Travolta and Debra Winger. Hollywood's portrayal of the country music equivalent of "Saturday Night Fever" followed the trials of love-torn couple Bud and Sissy inside the bar where they emerge as local two-step heroes. A hotspot before the film, Gilley's took on new fame after the movie with its live music, multiple bars, shooting gallery, sledgehammer strength test and the trademark mechanical bull. The iconic Western nightclub opened in the 1970s and was named after Cryer's business partner and country singer Mickey Gilley. The club closed after the two broke up their partnership, and an arson fire later destroyed the huge structure in 1989.