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{{Image|Larry McMurtry Photo Last Picture Show 1966.png|right|300px|Author photo on the 1966 book jacket of his novel ''The Last Picture Show''.}}
{{Image|Larry McMurtry Photo Last Picture Show 1966.png|right|300px|Author photo on the 1966 book jacket of his novel ''The Last Picture Show''.}}
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'''Larry Jeff McMurtry''' (Jun. 3, 1936 - Mar. 25, 2021) was a prolific American novelist whose work was predominantly set in either the early years of the Western [[United States of America|U.S.]] or in [[Texas]].<ref name="Rawson" /> His novels included ''Horseman, Pass By'' (1962), ''The Last Picture Show'' (1966), and ''Terms of Endearment'' (1975), all of which were adapted into films. Altogether, films adapted from McMurtry works won 13 Oscar Awards (and 34 nominations).
'''Larry Jeff McMurtry''' (Jun. 3, 1936 - Mar. 25, 2021) was a prolific American novelist of books about the U.S. Old West, many of which were adapted to film or TV.<ref name="Rawson" /> His novels ''Horseman, Pass By'' (1962), ''The Last Picture Show'' (1966), and ''Terms of Endearment'' (1975) were all adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry works won 13 Oscar Awards (and 34 nominations). His 1985, McMurtry's [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning novel ''Lonesome Dove'' was adapted into a television miniseries that won 7 Emmy Awards (and 18 nominations). The subsequent three novels in his ''Lonesome Dove'' series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations.  In 2005, McMurtry co-wrote, with Diana Ossana, the screen play of the film ''Brokeback Mountain'', adapted from a short story by E. Annie Proulx.<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>  In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.<ref name=NatHumMedal />


His 1985, McMurtry's [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning novel ''Lonesome Dove'' was adapted into a television miniseries that won 7 Emmy Awards (and 18 nominations). The subsequent three novels in his ''Lonesome Dove'' series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations.  
See the [[Larry McMurtry/Works|list of his writings]].


In 2005, McMurtry co-wrote, with Diana Ossana, the screen play of the film ''Brokeback Mountain'', adapted from a short story by E. Annie Proulx.<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry's copious body of work:
<blockquote>
"Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter.  If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass.  If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books.  When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."<ref name=Daugherty />
</blockquote>
 
==Personal life==
In 1936, McMurtry was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and he grew up on his parents' ranch outside Archer City, Texas. The city was the model for the town of Thalia, which is a setting for much of his fiction.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Life After 'The Last Picture Show' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/magazine/new-life-after-the-last-picture-show.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 4, 1982}}</ref> In his memoir, McMurtry said that during his first five or six years in his grandfather's ranch house, there were no books, but his extended family would sit on the front porch every night and tell stories. In 1942, McMurtry's cousin Robert Hilburn stopped by the ranch house on his way to enlist for World War II and left a box containing 19 boys' adventure books from the 1930s. The first book he read was ''Sergeant Silk: The Prairie Scout''.<ref>{{cite book |last=McMurtry |first=Larry  |date=2008 |title=Books: A Memoir |pages=1–8}}</ref>


In 2014, McMurtry received the [[National Humanities Medal]].<ref name=NatHumMedal />
McMurtry earned a BA from the University of North Texas in 1958 and an MA from Rice University in 1960.


In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry:
In 1959, McMurtry married Jo Scott, an English professor who authored five books.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hendricks |first1=Diana Finlay |title=Larry McMurtry: An Accidental Feminist? |url=http://www.dianahendricks.com/larry-mcmurtry-an-accidental-feminist.html |website=dianahendricks.com |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> They separated in 1964 and divorced in 1966, but before divorcing, they had a son together, James McMurtry. Both James and ''his'' son (Larry's grandson, Curtis McMurtry) are singer/songwriters and guitarists.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Granberry |first1=Michael |title=Texas literary giant Larry McMurtry dies at 84 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/2021/03/26/texas-literary-giant-larry-mcmurtry-dies-at-84/ |work=The Dallas Morning News |date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>


<poem style="border: 2px solid #d6d2c5; background-color: #f9f4e6; padding: 1em; width: 80%">
In 1991, McMurtry underwent heart surgery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoinski |first1=Michael |title='Lonesome Dove' Legend Larry McMurtry on Fiction, Money, Womanizing, and Old Age |url=http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/larry-mcmurtry-lonesome-dove-new-book-interview/ |date=May 22, 2014 |website=Grantland |access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref> During his recovery, he suffered severe depression. He recovered at the home of his future writing partner Diana Ossana and wrote his novel ''Streets of Laredo'' at her kitchen counter.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://abc11.com/larry-mcmurtry-death-writer-texas-obituary/10450245/| title = Larry McMurtry, one of Texas' greatest writers, dead at 84 - ABC11 Raleigh-Durham| date = March 26, 2021}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Horowitz |first1=Mark |title=Larry McMurtry's Dream Job |date=December 7, 1997 |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/article2.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 9, 2018}}</ref>
"Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books.  When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."<ref name=Daugherty />
</poem>


==Early life and education==
In 2011, McMurtry married Norma Faye Kesey, the widow of writer [[Ken Kesey]], in a civil ceremony in Archer City, Texas.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110505-author-larry-mcmurtry-marries-ken-keseys-widow.ece | last=Granberry | first=Michael | title=Author Larry McMurtry marries Ken Kesey's widow | work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] | date=May 5, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508042526/http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110505-author-larry-mcmurtry-marries-ken-keseys-widow.ece | archive-date=May 8, 2011 | access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref> McMurtry died in 2021 at his home in Archer City. He was 84 years old.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=March 26, 2021|title=Larry McMurtry, Novelist of the American West, Dies at 84|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/larry-mcmurtry-dead.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/larry-mcmurtry-dead.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|access-date=March 26, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
According to the astrodatabank website, McMurtry's birth certificate states that he was born in [[Wichita Falls, Texas]], the son of Hazel Ruth (née McIver) and William Jefferson McMurtry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/32/Larry-Jeff-McMurtry.html|title=Larry (Jeff) McMurtry Biography (1936-)|website=www.filmreference.com}}</ref> He grew up on his parents' ranch outside Archer City. The city was the model for the town of Thalia which is a setting for much of his fiction.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Life After 'The Last Picture Show' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/magazine/new-life-after-the-last-picture-show.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 4, 1982}}</ref> He earned a BA from the [[University of North Texas]] in 1958 and an MA from [[Rice University]] in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Judkins|first1=Julie|date=June 3, 2015|title=Happy birthday to our distinguished alumni Larry McMurtry!|url=https://blogs.library.unt.edu/unt125/2015/06/03/happy-birthday-to-our-distinguished-alumni-larry-mcmurtry/|publisher=UNT Special Collections|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Falk |first1=Jeff |title=Rice alum, author Larry McMurtry receives National Humanities Medal |url=https://news.rice.edu/2015/09/03/rice-alum-author-larry-mcmurtry-receives-national-humanities-medal/ |publisher=Rice University |date=September 3, 2015}}</ref>


In his memoir, McMurtry said that during his first five or six years in his grandfather's ranch house, there were no books, but his extended family would sit on the front porch every night and tell stories. In 1942, McMurtry's cousin Robert Hilburn stopped by the ranch house on his way to enlist for World War II, and left a box containing 19 boys' adventure books from the 1930s. The first book he read was ''Sergeant Silk: The Prairie Scout''.<ref>{{cite book |last=McMurtry |first=Larry  |date=2008 |title=Books: A Memoir |pages=1–8}}</ref>
In early 2023, it was announced that McMurtry's personal property, including his writing desk, typewriters, and personal book collection, would be sold at public auction by Vogt Auction in [[San Antonio, Texas]], on May 29, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marini |first=Richard A. |date=2023-02-07 |title=Larry McMurtry auction includes signed books, desk, typewriter, boots |url=https://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/article/larry-mcmurtry-auction-17762043.php |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=San Antonio Express-News |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==


===Writer===
===Writer===
During the 1960–1961 academic year, McMurtry was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at the [[Stanford University]] Creative Writing Center, where he studied the craft of fiction under [[Frank O'Connor]] and [[Malcolm Cowley]],<ref name="MothJon_">{{Cite web |title=Novelist Larry McMurtry's last kind words: "Lonesome Dove" author on closeted cowboys, pointless Pulitzers, and his latest Old West novel. |work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=May 2014 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url= https://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/larry-mcmurtry-brokeback-mountain-last-kind-words/ }}</ref> alongside other aspiring writers, including [[Wendell Berry]], [[Ken Kesey]], [[Peter S. Beagle]], and [[Gurney Norman]]. [[Wallace Stegner]] was on sabbatical in Europe during McMurtry's fellowship year.<ref name="NYRB_OnTheRoad_2002-12-05">{{Cite magazine |title=On the Road |last=McMurtry |first=Larry |magazine=The New York Review of Books |date=December 5, 2002 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/12/05/on-the-road/ }}</ref>
During the 1960–1961 academic year, McMurtry was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at the [[Stanford University]] Creative Writing Center, where he studied the craft of fiction under Frank O'Connor and Malcolm Cowley,<ref name="MothJon_">{{Cite web |title=Novelist Larry McMurtry's last kind words: "Lonesome Dove" author on closeted cowboys, pointless Pulitzers, and his latest Old West novel. |work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]] |date=May 2014 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url= https://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/larry-mcmurtry-brokeback-mountain-last-kind-words/ }}</ref> alongside other aspiring writers, including [[Wendell Berry]], [[Ken Kesey]], [[Peter S. Beagle]], and [[Gurney Norman]]. [[Wallace Stegner]] was on sabbatical in Europe during McMurtry's fellowship year.<ref name="NYRB_OnTheRoad_2002-12-05" />


McMurtry and Kesey remained friends after McMurtry left California and returned to Texas to take a year-long composition instructorship at [[Texas Christian University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=A Guide to the Larry McMurtry Papers, 1968, 1987–1991 |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tsusm/00048/tsu-00048.html |publisher=The Witcliff Collections |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In 1963, he returned to Rice University, where he served as a lecturer in English until 1969, and a visiting professor at George Mason College (1970) and American University (1970–71). <ref>{{cite web |title=Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers, 1890–2008, bulk dates 1980-2008 MS 276 |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ricewrc/00133/rice-00133.html |publisher=Woodson Research Center |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He entertained some of his early students with accounts of Hollywood and the filming of ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'', for which he was consulting. In 1964, Kesey and his [[Merry Pranksters]] conducted their noted cross-country trip, stopping at McMurtry's home in Houston. The adventure in the day-glo-painted school bus ''[[Further (bus)|Furthur]]'' was chronicled by [[Tom Wolfe]] in his book ''[[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]''. That same year, McMurtry was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]].<ref name="Guggenheim_Foundation_1964">{{Cite web |title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation: Larry McMurtry |work=[[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>
McMurtry and Kesey remained friends after McMurtry left California and returned to Texas to take a year-long composition instructorship at Texas Christian University.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Guide to the Larry McMurtry Papers, 1968, 1987–1991 |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tsusm/00048/tsu-00048.html |publisher=The Witcliff Collections |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In 1963, he returned to Rice University, where he served as a lecturer in English until 1969, and a visiting professor at George Mason College (1970) and American University (1970–71). <ref>{{cite web |title=Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers, 1890–2008, bulk dates 1980-2008 MS 276 |url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ricewrc/00133/rice-00133.html |publisher=Woodson Research Center |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> He entertained some of his early students with accounts of Hollywood and the filming of ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'', for which he was consulting. In 1964, Kesey and his [[Merry Pranksters]] conducted their noted cross-country trip, stopping at McMurtry's home in Houston. The adventure in the day-glo-painted school bus ''[[Further (bus)|Furthur]]'' was chronicled by [[Tom Wolfe]] in his book ''[[The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test]]''. That same year, McMurtry was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]].<ref name="Guggenheim_Foundation_1964">{{Cite web |title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation: Larry McMurtry |work=[[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation]] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>


McMurtry won numerous awards from the [[Texas Institute of Letters]]: three times the [[Jesse H. Jones]] Award—in 1962, for ''Horseman, Pass By''; in 1967, for ''The Last Picture Show'', which he shared with Tom Pendleton's ''The Iron Orchard''; and in 1986, for ''Lonesome Dove''. He won the [[Amon G. Carter]] award for periodical prose in 1966 for ''Texas: Good Times Gone or Here Again?''<ref name="TIL_Awards">{{Cite web |url=https://www.texasinstituteofletters.org/archives/TIL-awards-complete-history.pdf |title=Texas Institute of Letters: Awards |last1=Compton |first1=Bob |last2=Wiesepape |first2=Betty |publisher=[[Texas Institute of Letters]] |access-date=March 27, 2021}}</ref> and the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984.<ref name="TIL_Awards_Lifetime">{{Cite web |title=Texas Institute of Letters: Literary Awards |work=[[Texas Institute of Letters]] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.texasinstituteofletters.org/awards/ }}</ref> In 1986, McMurtry received the annual [[Helmerich Award|Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award]] from the [[Tulsa City-County Library|Tulsa Library Trust]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award |url=http://helmerichaward.org/winners.php |publisher=Tulsa Library Trust |access-date=March 26, 2021}}</ref> He reflected on his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, ''Lonesome Dove'', in ''Literary Life: A Second Memoir'' (2009), writing that it was the "''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone With the Wind]]'' of the West … a pretty good book; it's not a towering masterpiece."<ref name="Guardian_Flood_2021-03-27" />
McMurtry won numerous awards from the [[Texas Institute of Letters]]: three times the [[Jesse H. Jones]] Award—in 1962, for ''Horseman, Pass By''; in 1967, for ''The Last Picture Show'', which he shared with Tom Pendleton's ''The Iron Orchard''; and in 1986, for ''Lonesome Dove''. He won the [[Amon G. Carter]] award for periodical prose in 1966 for ''Texas: Good Times Gone or Here Again?''<ref name="TIL_Awards">{{Cite web |url=https://www.texasinstituteofletters.org/archives/TIL-awards-complete-history.pdf |title=Texas Institute of Letters: Awards |last1=Compton |first1=Bob |last2=Wiesepape |first2=Betty |publisher=[[Texas Institute of Letters]] |access-date=March 27, 2021}}</ref> and the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984.<ref name="TIL_Awards_Lifetime">{{Cite web |title=Texas Institute of Letters: Literary Awards |work=[[Texas Institute of Letters]] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.texasinstituteofletters.org/awards/ }}</ref> In 1986, McMurtry received the annual [[Helmerich Award|Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award]] from the [[Tulsa City-County Library|Tulsa Library Trust]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award |url=http://helmerichaward.org/winners.php |publisher=Tulsa Library Trust |access-date=March 26, 2021}}</ref> He reflected on his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, ''Lonesome Dove'', in ''Literary Life: A Second Memoir'' (2009), writing that it was the "''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone With the Wind]]'' of the West … a pretty good book; it's not a towering masterpiece."<ref name="Guardian_Flood_2021-03-27" />


McMurtry described his method for writing novels in ''Books: A Memoir''. He said that from his first novel on, he would get up early and dash off five pages of narrative. When he published the memoir in 2008, he said this was still his method, although by then, he wrote 10 pages a day. He also wrote every day, ignoring holidays and weekends.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McMurtry|first1=Larry|title=Books : a memoir|date=2008|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=9781416583349|page=[https://archive.org/details/booksmemoir00mcmu/page/49 49]|edition=1st Simon & Schuster hardcover|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/booksmemoir00mcmu/page/49}}</ref> McMurtry was a regular contributor to ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''.<ref name="NYRB_McMurtry">{{Cite web |title=Larry McMurtry |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url= https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>
McMurtry described his method for writing novels in ''Books: A Memoir''. He said that from his first novel on, he would get up early and dash off five pages of narrative. When he published the memoir in 2008, he said this was still his method, although by then, he wrote 10 pages a day. He also wrote every day, ignoring holidays and weekends.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McMurtry|first1=Larry|title=Books : a memoir|date=2008|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=9781416583349|page=[https://archive.org/details/booksmemoir00mcmu/page/49 49]|edition=1st Simon & Schuster hardcover|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/booksmemoir00mcmu/page/49}}</ref> McMurtry was a regular contributor to ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''.<ref name="NYRB_McMurtry">{{Cite web |title=Larry McMurtry |work=[[The New York Review] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url= https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>


McMurtry was a vigorous defender of free speech and, while serving as president of PEN American Center (now [[PEN America]]) from 1989 to 1991, led the organization's efforts to support writer [[Salman Rushdie]],<ref name="Ransom_Center">{{Cite web |url=https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingaid.cfm?eadid=00470 |title=Larry McMurtry: Biographical Sketch |publisher=[[Harry Ransom Center]] at the University of Texas at Austin |access-date=March 27, 2021}}</ref> whose novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' (1988) caused [[The Satanic Verses controversy|a major controversy]] among some [[Muslims]], with the [[Supreme Leader of Iran]], [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], issuing a ''[[fatwā]]'' calling for Rushdie's assassination, after which attempts were made on his life.<ref name="Tomb">{{cite news |date=June 8, 2005 |title=Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie |last=Loyd |first=Anthony |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece |url-status=dead |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601171205/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece|archive-date=June 1, 2010 |access-date=March 27, 2021 }}</ref>
McMurtry was a vigorous defender of free speech and, while serving as president of PEN American Center (now [[PEN America]]) from 1989 to 1991, led the organization's efforts to support writer [[Salman Rushdie]],<ref name="Ransom_Center">{{Cite web |url=https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingaid.cfm?eadid=00470 |title=Larry McMurtry: Biographical Sketch |publisher=[[Harry Ransom Center]] at the University of Texas at Austin |access-date=March 27, 2021}}</ref> whose novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'' (1988) caused [[The Satanic Verses controversy|a major controversy]] among some [[Muslims]], with the [[Supreme Leader of Iran]], [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], issuing a ''[[fatwā]]'' calling for Rushdie's assassination, after which attempts were made on his life.<ref name="Tomb">{{cite news |date=June 8, 2005 |title=Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie |last=Loyd |first=Anthony |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece |url-status=dead |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601171205/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece|archive-date=June 1, 2010 |access-date=March 27, 2021 }}</ref>
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In 1989, McMurtry testified on behalf of PEN America before the [[U.S. Congress]] in opposition to immigration rules in the 1952 [[McCarran–Walter Act]] that for decades permitted the visa denial and deportation of foreign writers for ideological reasons.<ref name="Guardian_Flood_2021-03-27">{{Cite web |title=Lonesome Dove author and Brokeback Mountain screenwriter Larry McMurtry dies at 84 |author=Flood, Alison |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=March 27, 2021 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/26/lonesome-dove-author-and-brokeback-mountain-screenwriter-larry-mcmurtry-dies-at-84 }}</ref> He recounted how before PEN America was to host the 1986 International PEN Congress, "there was a serious question as to whether such a meeting could in fact take place in this country... the McCarran–Walter Act could have effectively prevented such a gathering in the United States." He denounced the relevant rules as "an affront to all who cherish the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and association. To a writer whose living depends upon the uninhibited interchange of ideas and experiences, these provisions are especially appalling." Subsequently, some provisions that excluded certain classes of immigrants based on their political beliefs were revoked by the [[Immigration Act of 1990]].<ref name="PEN_America_2021-03-26">{{Cite web |title=PEN America Mourns Death of Novelist, Former PEN America President Larry McMurtry |work=PEN America |date=March 26, 2021 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-mourns-death-of-novelist-former-pen-america-president-larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>
In 1989, McMurtry testified on behalf of PEN America before the [[U.S. Congress]] in opposition to immigration rules in the 1952 [[McCarran–Walter Act]] that for decades permitted the visa denial and deportation of foreign writers for ideological reasons.<ref name="Guardian_Flood_2021-03-27">{{Cite web |title=Lonesome Dove author and Brokeback Mountain screenwriter Larry McMurtry dies at 84 |author=Flood, Alison |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=March 27, 2021 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/26/lonesome-dove-author-and-brokeback-mountain-screenwriter-larry-mcmurtry-dies-at-84 }}</ref> He recounted how before PEN America was to host the 1986 International PEN Congress, "there was a serious question as to whether such a meeting could in fact take place in this country... the McCarran–Walter Act could have effectively prevented such a gathering in the United States." He denounced the relevant rules as "an affront to all who cherish the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and association. To a writer whose living depends upon the uninhibited interchange of ideas and experiences, these provisions are especially appalling." Subsequently, some provisions that excluded certain classes of immigrants based on their political beliefs were revoked by the [[Immigration Act of 1990]].<ref name="PEN_America_2021-03-26">{{Cite web |title=PEN America Mourns Death of Novelist, Former PEN America President Larry McMurtry |work=PEN America |date=March 26, 2021 |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url=https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-mourns-death-of-novelist-former-pen-america-president-larry-mcmurtry/ }}</ref>


===Antiquarian bookstore businesses===
===Antiquarian bookstores===
{{Image|Booked Up In Archer City.JPG|right|240px|One of McMurtry's bookstores in Archer City, Texas.}}
{{Image|Books! at Booked Up 29 Mar 2010.jpg|right|240px|One of the aisles of books at Booked Up in Archer City.}}
{{Image|Cat, Booked-Up 2008.jpg|right|240px|Bookstore cat, Booked Up (2008).}}
While at Stanford, McMurtry became a rare-book scout.<ref>{{cite news |last1=West |first1=Richard |title=Working Book Bound |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1985/june/working-book-bound/ |work=D Magazine |date=June 1985 |language=en}}</ref> During his years in [[Houston]], he managed a book store called the Bookman. In 1969, he moved to the Washington, D.C., area. In 1970 with two partners, he started a bookshop in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], which he named Booked Up. In 1988, he opened another Booked Up in Archer City. It became one of the largest antiquarian bookstores in the United States, carrying between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after great public support.
While at Stanford, McMurtry became a rare-book scout.<ref>{{cite news |last1=West |first1=Richard |title=Working Book Bound |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1985/june/working-book-bound/ |work=D Magazine |date=June 1985 |language=en}}</ref> During his years in [[Houston]], he managed a book store called the Bookman. In 1969, he moved to the Washington, D.C., area. In 1970 with two partners, he started a bookshop in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], which he named Booked Up. In 1988, he opened another Booked Up in Archer City. It became one of the largest antiquarian bookstores in the United States, carrying between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after great public support.


Line 42: Line 48:


In April 2006, McMurtry was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]].<ref name="americanantiquarian">{{cite web|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistp|title=MemberListP|website=American Antiquarian Society|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref>
In April 2006, McMurtry was elected a member of the [[American Antiquarian Society]].<ref name="americanantiquarian">{{cite web|url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistp|title=MemberListP|website=American Antiquarian Society|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref>
[[File:Booked Up In Archer City.JPG|right|thumb|240px|One of McMurtry's bookstores in Archer City, Texas]]
[[File:Books! at Booked Up 29 Mar 2010.jpg|thumb|One of the aisles of books at Booked Up in Archer City]]
[[File:Cat, Booked-Up 2008.jpg|thumb|Bookstore cat, Booked Up (2008)]]


===Film and television===
===Film and television===
McMurtry became well known for the film adaptations of his work, which were seen by many viewers, especially ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'' (from the novel ''[[Horseman, Pass By]]''), starring [[Paul Newman]] and [[Patricia Neal]];<ref name=hud/> the [[Peter Bogdanovich]]–directed ''[[The Last Picture Show]]'';<ref name=lastpictureshow/> [[James L. Brooks]]'s ''[[Terms of Endearment]]'', which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture (1984);<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1984 |website=oscars.org |title=The 56th Academy Awards; 1984 |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501230634/http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1984 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref> and ''[[Lonesome Dove (miniseries)|Lonesome Dove]]'', which became a popular television miniseries starring [[Tommy Lee Jones]] and [[Robert Duvall]].<ref name=LonesomeDove1989/><ref name=LonesomeDove2010withcreds/>
McMurtry became well known for the film adaptations of his work, which were seen by many viewers, especially ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'' (from the novel ''[[Horseman, Pass By]]''), starring [[Paul Newman]] and [[Patricia Neal]];<ref name=hud /> the [[Peter Bogdanovich]]–directed ''[[The Last Picture Show]]'';<ref name=lastpictureshow /> [[James L. Brooks]]'s ''[[Terms of Endearment]]'', which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture (1984);<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1984 |website=oscars.org |title=The 56th Academy Awards; 1984 |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501230634/http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1984 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref> and ''[[Lonesome Dove (miniseries)|Lonesome Dove]]'', which became a popular television miniseries starring [[Tommy Lee Jones]] and [[Robert Duvall]].<ref name=LonesomeDove1989 /><ref name=LonesomeDove2010withcreds />
 
In 2006, he was co-winner (with [[Diana Ossana]]) of both the Best Screenplay [[Golden Globe]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Meghan |title=Brokeback Mountain: Interview with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana |url=http://cinemalogue.com/2006/02/14/brokeback-interview/ |work=Cinemalogue |date=February 14, 2006}}</ref> and the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Brokeback Mountain,'' adapted from a short story by [[E. Annie Proulx]]. He accepted his Oscar while wearing a dinner jacket over [[jeans]] and [[cowboy boots]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hudak |first1=Joseph |title=Larry McMurtry, 'Lonesome Dove' Novelist, Dead at 84 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/larry-mcmurtry-dead-lonesome-dove-book-1147577/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 26, 2021}}</ref>  In his speech, he promoted books, reminding the audience the movie was developed from a short story. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his Swiss-made [[Hermes 3000]] typewriter.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keller |first1=Julia |last2=Elder |first2=Robert K. |title=What's so special about a Hermes 3000? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-01-20-0601190365-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 20, 2006}}</ref>
 
==Personal life==
McMurtry married Jo Scott, who is an English professor and has authored five books.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hendricks |first1=Diana Finlay |title=Larry McMurtry: An Accidental Feminist? |url=http://www.dianahendricks.com/larry-mcmurtry-an-accidental-feminist.html |website=dianahendricks.com |access-date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Before divorcing, they had a son together, [[James McMurtry]]. Both he and his son (Larry's grandson) Curtis McMurtry are singer/songwriters and guitarists.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Granberry |first1=Michael |title=Texas literary giant Larry McMurtry dies at 84 |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/2021/03/26/texas-literary-giant-larry-mcmurtry-dies-at-84/ |work=The Dallas Morning News |date=March 26, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
 
In 1991 McMurtry underwent heart surgery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoinski |first1=Michael |title='Lonesome Dove' Legend Larry McMurtry on Fiction, Money, Womanizing, and Old Age |url=http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/larry-mcmurtry-lonesome-dove-new-book-interview/ |date=May 22, 2014 |website=Grantland |access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref> During his recovery, he suffered severe depression. He recovered at the home of his future writing partner Diana Ossana and wrote his novel ''[[Streets of Laredo (novel)|Streets of Laredo]]'' at her kitchen counter.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://abc11.com/larry-mcmurtry-death-writer-texas-obituary/10450245/| title = Larry McMurtry, one of Texas' greatest writers, dead at 84 - ABC11 Raleigh-Durham| date = March 26, 2021}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Horowitz |first1=Mark |title=Larry McMurtry's Dream Job |date=December 7, 1997 |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/article2.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 9, 2018}}</ref>
 
McMurtry married Norma Faye Kesey, the widow of writer [[Ken Kesey]], on April 29, 2011, in a civil ceremony in Archer City.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110505-author-larry-mcmurtry-marries-ken-keseys-widow.ece | last=Granberry | first=Michael | title=Author Larry McMurtry marries Ken Kesey's widow | work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] | date=May 5, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508042526/http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110505-author-larry-mcmurtry-marries-ken-keseys-widow.ece | archive-date=May 8, 2011 | access-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref>
 
McMurtry died on March 25, 2021, at his home in Archer City, Texas. He was 84 years old.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=March 26, 2021|title=Larry McMurtry, Novelist of the American West, Dies at 84|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/larry-mcmurtry-dead.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/books/larry-mcmurtry-dead.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|access-date=March 26, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
 
It was announced in early 2023 that McMurtry's personal property including his writing desk, typewriters and personal book collection would be sold at public auction by Vogt Auction in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], on May 29, 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marini |first=Richard A. |date=2023-02-07 |title=Larry McMurtry auction includes signed books, desk, typewriter, boots |url=https://www.expressnews.com/entertainment/article/larry-mcmurtry-auction-17762043.php |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=San Antonio Express-News |language=en-US}}</ref>
 
==Fiction==
=== Stand-alone novels ===
* 1982: ''Cadillac Jack''<ref>{{cite news |title=Cadillac Jack: A Novel |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/larry-mcmurtry/cadillac-jack/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=September 30, 2011 |language=en}}</ref>
* 1988: ''Anything For Billy'' (fictionalized biography of [[Billy the Kid]])<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gish |first1=Robert |title='Anything for Billy' by Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-bk-larry-mcmurtry-1988-10-30-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 14, 2008}}</ref>
* 1990: ''[[Buffalo Girls]]'' (fictionalized biography of [[Calamity Jane]])<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fromberg Schaeffer |first1=Susan |title=Lonesome Jane |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/mcmurtry-buffalo.html?scp=6&sq=Buffalo%2520Girls&st=cse |work=The New York Times |date=October 7, 1990}}</ref> – adapted for TV as ''[[Buffalo Girls (miniseries)|Buffalo Girls]]''<ref name=buffalogirls/>
* 1994: ''Pretty Boy Floyd'' (with [[Diana Ossana]]) (fictionalised biography of the [[Pretty Boy Floyd|titular gangster]])<ref>{{cite news |last1=Combs |first1=Casey |title=An Unlikely Team--Law Clerk and Novelist--Write 'Pretty Boy Floyd' : Books: Diana Ossana was an unknown, a woman who had done a lot of writing but never had anything published. Larry McMurtry is one of America's most successful writers. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-11-me-7535-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press |date=December 11, 1994}}</ref>
* 1997: ''Zeke and Ned'' (with Diana Ossana) (fictionalized biography of the last Cherokee warriors)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Dean |title=IIt's the Women Who Inspire in McMurtry's 'Zeke and Ned' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-03-25-9703250029-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=March 25, 1997}}</ref>
* 2000: ''Boone's Lick''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kingston Pierce |first1=J. |title=Saddle Sore: Review {{!}} Boone's Lick by Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.januarymagazine.com/fiction/booneslick.html |work=January Magazine |date=January 2001}}</ref>
* 2005: ''Loop Group''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shea |first1=Mike |title=Book Review: Loop Group |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/loop-group/ |work=Texas Monthly |date=December 2004 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2006: ''Telegraph Days''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cain |first1=Chelsea |title=Cowboys Are My Weakness |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/books/review/18cain.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2006}}</ref>
* 2014: ''The Last Kind Words Saloon''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cheuse |first1=Alan |title=McMurtry Takes Aim At A Legend In 'Last Kind Words Saloon' |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/05/27/314614737/mcmurtry-takes-aim-at-a-legend-in-last-kind-words-saloon |work=NPR |date=May 27, 2014 |language=en}}</ref>
 
===''Thalia: A Texas Trilogy''===
Larry McMurtry's first three novels, all set in the north Texas town of Thalia after World War II
* 1961: ''[[Horseman, Pass By]]''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Poore |first1=Charles |title=Books of The Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/mcmurtry-horseman.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 10, 1961}}</ref> – adapted for film as ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]''<ref name=hud>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/878940995 |via=worldcat.org |title=Hud |oclc=878940995 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1963: ''[[Leaving Cheyenne]]'' – adapted for film as ''[[Lovin' Molly]]''<ref>{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Larry L. |title=Leavin' McMurtry |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/leavin-mcmurtry/ |work=Texas Monthly |date=March 1974 |language=en}}</ref>
* 1966: ''The Last Picture Show'' – adapted for film as ''[[The Last Picture Show]]''<ref name="LATimesObit">{{cite news |last1=Curwen |first1=Thomas |title=Larry McMurtry, author of 'Lonesome Dove' and 'The Last Picture Show', dies |url=https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-03-26/larry-mcmurtry-author-of-lonesome-dove-and-the-last-picture-show-dies-at-84 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 26, 2021}}</ref>
 
=== ''Harmony and Pepper'' series ===
The books follow the story of mother/daughter characters Harmony and Pepper
* 1983: ''The Desert Rose''<ref>{{cite news |title=The Desert Rose: A Novel |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/larry-mcmurtry/desert-rose-2/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=September 1, 1983 |language=en}}</ref>
* 1995: ''The Late Child''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Klinkenborg |first1=Verlyn |title=Once More, With Harmony |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/01/10/specials/mcmurtry-late.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 21, 1995}}</ref>
 
=== ''Duane Moore'' series ===
The books follow the story of character Duane Moore
* 1966: ''The Last Picture Show'' – adapted for film as ''[[The Last Picture Show]]''<ref name="LATimesObit"/>
* 1987: ''Texasville'' – adapted for film as ''[[Texasville]]''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Prewitt |first1=Taylor |title=Texas Monthly Recommends: Larry McMurtry's 'Texasville' |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/texas-monthly-recommends-larry-mcmurtrys-texasville/ |work=Texas Monthly |date=July 24, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* 1999: ''Duane's Depressed''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harris |first1=Michael |title='Duane's Depressed' by Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-bk-larry-mcmurtry-1999-01-05-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 5, 1999}}</ref>
* 2007: ''When The Light Goes''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Leland |first1=John |title=Duane's Depraved |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/books/review/Leland.t.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 18, 2007}}</ref>
* 2009: ''Rhino Ranch: A Novel''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hendricks |first1=David |title=Rhino Ranch by Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.chron.com/life/books/article/Rhino-Ranch-by-Larry-McMurtry-1731838.php |work=Houston Chronicle |date=August 14, 2009}}</ref>


=== ''Houston'' series ===
In 2006, he was co-winner (with [[Diana Ossana]]) of both the Best Screenplay [[Golden Globe]]<ref name=Brokeback1 /> and the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Brokeback Mountain,'' adapted from a short story by [[E. Annie Proulx]]. He accepted his Oscar while wearing a dinner jacket over [[jeans]] and [[cowboy boots]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hudak |first1=Joseph |title=Larry McMurtry, 'Lonesome Dove' Novelist, Dead at 84 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/larry-mcmurtry-dead-lonesome-dove-book-1147577/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 26, 2021}}</ref> In his speech, he promoted books, reminding the audience the movie was developed from a short story. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his Swiss-made [[Hermes 3000]] typewriter.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keller |first1=Julia |last2=Elder |first2=Robert K. |title=What's so special about a Hermes 3000? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-01-20-0601190365-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 20, 2006}}</ref>
The books follow the stories of occasionally recurring characters living in the Houston, Texas, area
* 1970: ''Moving On'' (characters Patsy Carpenter/Danny Deck/Emma Horton/Joe Percy)<ref name="NYT2017"/>
* 1972: ''All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers'' (Danny Deck/Jill Peel/Emma Horton)<ref name="NYT2017"/>
* 1975: ''Terms of Endearment'' (Emma Horton/Aurora Greenway) – adapted for film as ''[[Terms of Endearment]]''<ref name="NYT2017"/>
* 1978: ''Somebody's Darling'' (Jill Peel/Joe Percy)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lehmann-Haupt |first1=Christopher |title=Books of The Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/07/home/mcmurtry-darling.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 1978}}</ref>
* 1989: ''Some Can Whistle'' (Danny Deck)<ref name="NYT2017"/>
* 1992: ''The Evening Star'' (Aurora Greenaway)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bradfield |first1=Scott |title=Book Review / New terms in Texas: The Evening Star - Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/book-review-new-terms-in-texas-the-evening-star-larry-mcmurtry-orion-pounds-14-99-1553192.html |work=The Independent |date=October 22, 2011 |language=en}}</ref> – adapted for film as ''[[The Evening Star]]''<ref name=eveningstar/>


=== [[Lonesome Dove series|''Lonesome Dove'' series]] ===
== Awards==
[[File:The Contrabando, a ghost town within Big Bend Ranch State Park, west of Lajitas, Texas, on Texas State Highway 170 LCCN2014630277.tif|thumb|The Contrabando, a ghost town and movie set within [[Big Bend Ranch State Park]], used for making the  "Dead Man's Walk" and "Streets of Laredo" parts of the [[Lonesome Dove (miniseries)|''Lonesome Dove'' miniseries]].]]
* 1985: ''[[Lonesome Dove]]'', 1986 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction|Pulitzer Prize]] winner<ref name="NYT2017">{{cite news |last1=Brinkley |first1=Douglas |title=After the Hurricane Winds Die Down, Larry McMurtry's Houston Trilogy Lives On |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/books/review/larry-mcmurtry-houston-trilogy-terms-of-endearment.html |work=The New York Times |date=September 14, 2017}}</ref>
* 1993: ''[[Streets of Laredo (novel)|Streets of Laredo]]''<ref>{{cite news |title=Fiction Book Review: Streets of Laredo |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-671-79281-7 |access-date=March 26, 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
* 1995: ''[[Dead Man's Walk]]''<ref>{{cite news |title=Fiction Book Review: Dead Man's Walk |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-684-80753-9 |access-date=March 26, 2021 |work=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>
* 1997: ''[[Comanche Moon]]''<ref>{{cite news |title=Book Review: Comanche Moon |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/larry-mcmurtry/comanche-moon/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=September 15, 1997 |language=en}}</ref>


=== ''[[The Berrybender Narratives]]'' ===
* AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 2001–2020
* 2002: ''[[Sin Killer]]''<ref name="Father Knows West">{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Don |title=Father Knows West |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/father-knows-west/ |work=Texas Monthly |date=December 2011 |language=en}}</ref>
* AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Screenwriter
* 2003: ''[[The Wandering Hill]]''<ref name="Father Knows West"/>
* Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
* 2003: ''[[By Sorrow's River]]''<ref name="Father Knows West"/>
* BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay
* 2004: ''[[Folly and Glory]]''<ref name="Father Knows West"/>
* BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 2000–2019
* Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
* Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
* GoldenGlobeBestScreenplayMotionPicture 2001–2020
* New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
* Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
* PulitzerPrize Fiction 1976–2000
* St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
* Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay


=== As editor ===
* 1999: ''Still Wild: A Collection of Western Stories''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=Dick |title=Two for the Road |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/books/2000-08-04/78081/ |work=Austin Chronicle |date=August 4, 2000}}</ref>
=== Other writings ===
* 1988: ''[[The Murder of Mary Phagan]]'' – TV movie<ref>{{cite news |last1=Unger |first1=Arthur |title=A thriller with extra dimensions. Controversial murder case makes exceptional video drama |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0122/lphag.html |work=Christian Science Monitor |date=January 22, 1988}}</ref>
* 1990: ''Montana'' – TV movie<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 1992: ''Memphis'' – TV movie<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 1992: ''[[Falling from Grace (film)|Falling from Grace]]''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/> – film starring [[John Mellencamp]]<ref name=fallingfromgrace/>
* 2002: ''[[Johnson County War]]'' – TV miniseries<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2005: ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' (with [[Diana Ossana]]) – Oscar-winning screenplay (adapted from the short story by [[E. Annie Proulx]])<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2020: ''[[Joe Bell (film)|Joe Bell]]'' (with Diana Ossana)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Debruge |first1=Peter |title='Good Joe Bell' Review: Mark Wahlberg Stars in a Bad Movie About Bullying |url=https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/good-joe-bell-review-mark-wahlberg-1234768863/ |work=Variety |date=September 15, 2020}}</ref>
==Nonfiction==
* 1968: ''In A Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas''<ref name="NYT2017"/>
* 1974: "It's Always We Rambled" (essay)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com">{{cite web|title=McMurtry, Larry 1936– |work=Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/mcmurtry-larry-1936}}</ref>
* 1987: ''Film Flam: Essays on Hollywood ''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 1999: ''Crazy Horse: A Life'' (biography)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 1999: ''Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections on Sixty and Beyond''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2000: ''Roads: Driving America's Great Highways''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2001: ''[[Sacagawea's Nickname]]''—essays on the American West<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2002: ''Paradise''—South-Pacific travelogue/memoir<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2005: ''The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley & the Beginnings of Superstardom in America''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2005: ''Oh What A Slaughter! : Massacres in the American West: 1846—1890''<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2008: ''Books: A Memoir''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=James |title=Shelf-Possessed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/review/Campbell-t.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 27, 2008}}</ref>
* 2009: ''Literary Life: A Second Memoir''<ref>{{cite news |title=McMurtry's 'Literary Life': Not Simple, But Practical |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121780230 |work=NPR |date=December 23, 2009 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2011: ''Hollywood: A Third Memoir''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Jeff |title=Nonfiction review: 'Hollywood: A Third Memoir' by Larry McMurtry |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2010/08/nonfiction_review_hollywood_a.html |work=The Oregonian |date=August 21, 2010 |language=en}}</ref>
* 2012: ''Custer''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pensky |first1=Nathan |title=Los Angeles Review of Books |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/little-big-legend-on-larry-mcmurtrys-custer/ |date=February 3, 2013}}</ref>
==Film==
[[File:Paul Newman and Melvyn Douglas Hud.jpg|thumb|[[Paul Newman]] (left) and [[Melvyn Douglas]] in  [[Hud (1963 film)|''Hud'' (1963)]]]]
* 1963: ''[[Hud (1963 film)|Hud]]'' (based on novel ''[[Horseman, Pass By]]'' from 1961)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 1971: ''[[The Last Picture Show]]'' (co-wrote screenplay, based on novel from 1966)<ref name=lastpictureshow>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79950037 |via=worldcat.org |title=The last picture show |oclc=79950037 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1974: ''[[Lovin' Molly]]'' (based on the novel ''[[Leaving Cheyenne]]'' from 1963)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423149680 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lovin' Molly |oclc=423149680 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1983: ''[[Terms of Endearment]]'' (based on novel from 1975)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/917295387 |via=worldcat.org |title=Terms of endearment : based on the novel by Larry McMurtry |oclc=917295387 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1990: ''[[Texasville]]'' (based on novel from 1987)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/633123542 |via=worldcat.org |title=Texasville |oclc=633123542 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1992: ''[[Falling from Grace (film)|Falling from Grace]]'' (wrote screenplay and story)<ref name=fallingfromgrace>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27150707 |via=worldcat.org |title=Falling from grace |oclc=27150707 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 1996: ''[[The Evening Star]]'' (based on novel from 1992)<ref name=eveningstar>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/422886574 |via=worldcat.org |title=The evening star |oclc=422886574 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
* 2005: ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' (co-wrote screenplay with [[Diana Ossana]] and adapted from the short story by [[E. Annie Proulx]])<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
* 2020: ''[[Joe Bell (film)|Joe Bell]]'' (co-wrote screenplay with Diana Ossana)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tiff.net/events/good-joe-bell |website=tiff.net |title=Good Joe Bell |first=Reinaldo Marcus |last=Green |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
==Television==
*1977: ''The American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Special'' (writer)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423447816 |via=worldcat.org |title=The American Film Institute's 10th anniversary special |oclc=423447816 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1988: ''[[The Murder of Mary Phagan]]'' (mini-series based on story)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/747040812 |via=worldcat.org |title=The murder of Mary Phagan |oclc=747040812 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423224348 |via=worldcat.org |title=The murder of Mary Phagan |oclc=423224348 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1989: ''[[Lonesome Dove (miniseries)|Lonesome Dove]]'' (mini-series based on 1985 novel)<ref name=LonesomeDove1989>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423140732 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove |oclc=423140732 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref><ref name=LonesomeDove2010withcreds>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/774391218 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove |oclc=774391218 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1990: ''Montana'' (original screenplay)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
*1992: ''Memphis'' (teleplay)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
*1993: ''[[Return to Lonesome Dove]]'' (based on the fictional universe of the 1985 novel)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29625796 |via=worldcat.org |title=Return to Lonesome Dove |oclc=29625796 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1994–1995: ''[[Lonesome Dove: The Series]]'' (based on the fictional universe of the 1985 novel)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423140736 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove--the series. [1994, unidentified episode, no. 1] |oclc=423140736 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1995: ''[[Buffalo Girls (miniseries)|Buffalo Girls]]'' (based on 1990 novel)<ref name=buffalogirls>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/422719821 |via=worldcat.org |title=Buffalo girls |oclc=422719821 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1995: ''[[Streets of Laredo (miniseries)|Streets of Laredo]]'' (wrote teleplay, based on 1993 novel)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
*1995–1996: ''Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years'' (based on the fictional world of the 1985 novel)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423140737 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove : the outlaw years. [1995, unidentified episode], the return |oclc=423140737 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
*1996: ''[[Dead Man's Walk (miniseries)|Dead Man's Walk]]'' (wrote teleplay, based on 1995 novel)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
*2002: ''Johnson County War'' (wrote teleplay)<ref name="Encyclopedia.com"/>
*2008: ''[[Comanche Moon (miniseries)|Comanche Moon]]'' (wrote teleplay, based on 1997 novel)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1145819768 |via=worldcat.org |title=Comanche moon |oclc=1145819768 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/909055472 |via=worldcat.org |title=Comanche moon |oclc=909055472 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Frank Q. Dobbs]]


== Provenance ==
== Provenance ==
Line 182: Line 78:


<ref name="Rawson">
<ref name="Rawson">
[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/2/2006_2_15.shtml Hugh Rawson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829172935/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/2/2006_2_15.shtml |date=August 29, 2008 }} "Screenings," ''American Heritage'', April/May 2006.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080829172935/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/2/2006_2_15.shtml Hugh Rawson], "Screenings," ''American Heritage'', April/May 2006.
</ref>  
</ref>  
<ref name="Encyclopedia.com">
{{cite web|title=McMurtry, Larry 1936– |work=Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/mcmurtry-larry-1936}}
</ref>


<ref name=NatHumMedal>
<ref name=NatHumMedal>
{{Cite web|title=Larry McMurtry|url=https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/larry-mcmurtry|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=The National Endowment for the Humanities|language=en}}</ref>
[https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals/larry-mcmurtry Larry McMurtry] National Humanities Medal 2014, at The National Endowment for the Humanities</ref>


<ref name=Daugherty>
<ref name=Daugherty>
''Larry McMurtry: A Life'' by Tracy Daugherty, St. Martin's Press, 2023, page 201. ISBN 978-1-250-28233-0.
''Larry McMurtry: A Life'' by [[Wikipedia:Tracy Daugherty|Tracy Daugherty]], New York: St. Martin's Press, 2023, page 201. ISBN 978-1-250-28233-0. (A note at the end of this biography indicates that the quote may have originally come from ''A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove'' by John Spong, Jeff Wilson, and Bill Wittliff, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012, p31).
<ref>
</ref>
 
<ref name=hud>
{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/878940995 |via=worldcat.org |title=Hud |oclc=878940995 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}
</ref>
 
<ref name=lastpictureshow>
{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79950037 |via=worldcat.org |title=The last picture show |oclc=79950037 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}
</ref>
 
<ref name=Brokeback1>
{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Meghan |title=Brokeback Mountain: Interview with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana |url=http://cinemalogue.com/2006/02/14/brokeback-interview/ |work=Cinemalogue |date=February 14, 2006}}
</ref>


</reference>
<ref name=LonesomeDove1989>
{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/423140732 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove |oclc=423140732 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}
</ref>


==Further reading==
<ref name=LonesomeDove2010withcreds>
* [[Tracy Daugherty|Daugherty, Tracy]]. ''Larry McMurtry: A Life''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2023.
{{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/774391218 |via=worldcat.org |title=Lonesome Dove |oclc=774391218 |access-date=March 28, 2021}}
</ref>


==External links==
<ref name="NYRB_OnTheRoad_2002-12-05">
{{commons}}
[https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2002/12/05/on-the-road/ On the Road] by Larry McMurtry in The New York Review (Magazine), Dec. 5, 2002.
{{Wikiquote}}
</ref>
* [https://discover.library.unt.edu/catalog/b5049779 Larry McMurtry Collection], from the Rare Book & Texana Collections, [[University of North Texas]] website
*McMurtry, Larry. "[http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/8844.html The Author Who Sold Books]", ''Washingtonian'', August 1, 2008.
* [https://archive.today/20121215052319/http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/archives/writers/mcmurtry.html Larry McMurtry Papers 1984–1991], from the [[Texas State University-San Marcos]] website
*{{IMDb name}}
*{{curlie|Arts/Literature/Authors/M/McMurtry,_Larry}}
*[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21720 The Treasure Hunter] [[Michael Dirda]] review of McMurtry's ''Books: A Memoir'' from ''[[The New York Review of Books]]''
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00270/tsw-00270.html Larry McMurtry screenplays, 1979–1988 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University]
*[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ricewrc/00133/rice-00133.html Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers, 1890–2004, in the Woodson Research Center at Rice University]
*[https://westernamericanliterature.com/larry-mcmurtry-2/ Articles in ''Western American Literature'']


{{James McMurtry|state=autocollapse}}
</references>
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Larry McMurtry
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 2001–2020}}
{{AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Screenwriter}}
{{Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 2000–2019}}
{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestScreenplayMotionPicture 2001–2020}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay}}
{{PulitzerPrize Fiction 1976–2000}}
{{St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay}}
{{Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay}}
}}

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Author photo on the 1966 book jacket of his novel The Last Picture Show.

Larry Jeff McMurtry (Jun. 3, 1936 - Mar. 25, 2021) was a prolific American novelist of books about the U.S. Old West, many of which were adapted to film or TV.[1] His novels Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975) were all adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry works won 13 Oscar Awards (and 34 nominations). His 1985, McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that won 7 Emmy Awards (and 18 nominations). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. In 2005, McMurtry co-wrote, with Diana Ossana, the screen play of the film Brokeback Mountain, adapted from a short story by E. Annie Proulx.[2] In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.[3]

See the list of his writings.

In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry's copious body of work:

"Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."[4]

Personal life

In 1936, McMurtry was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and he grew up on his parents' ranch outside Archer City, Texas. The city was the model for the town of Thalia, which is a setting for much of his fiction.[5] In his memoir, McMurtry said that during his first five or six years in his grandfather's ranch house, there were no books, but his extended family would sit on the front porch every night and tell stories. In 1942, McMurtry's cousin Robert Hilburn stopped by the ranch house on his way to enlist for World War II and left a box containing 19 boys' adventure books from the 1930s. The first book he read was Sergeant Silk: The Prairie Scout.[6]

McMurtry earned a BA from the University of North Texas in 1958 and an MA from Rice University in 1960.

In 1959, McMurtry married Jo Scott, an English professor who authored five books.[7] They separated in 1964 and divorced in 1966, but before divorcing, they had a son together, James McMurtry. Both James and his son (Larry's grandson, Curtis McMurtry) are singer/songwriters and guitarists.[8]

In 1991, McMurtry underwent heart surgery.[9] During his recovery, he suffered severe depression. He recovered at the home of his future writing partner Diana Ossana and wrote his novel Streets of Laredo at her kitchen counter.[10][11]

In 2011, McMurtry married Norma Faye Kesey, the widow of writer Ken Kesey, in a civil ceremony in Archer City, Texas.[12] McMurtry died in 2021 at his home in Archer City. He was 84 years old.[13]

In early 2023, it was announced that McMurtry's personal property, including his writing desk, typewriters, and personal book collection, would be sold at public auction by Vogt Auction in San Antonio, Texas, on May 29, 2023.[14]

Career

Writer

During the 1960–1961 academic year, McMurtry was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, where he studied the craft of fiction under Frank O'Connor and Malcolm Cowley,[15] alongside other aspiring writers, including Wendell Berry, Ken Kesey, Peter S. Beagle, and Gurney Norman. Wallace Stegner was on sabbatical in Europe during McMurtry's fellowship year.[16]

McMurtry and Kesey remained friends after McMurtry left California and returned to Texas to take a year-long composition instructorship at Texas Christian University.[17] In 1963, he returned to Rice University, where he served as a lecturer in English until 1969, and a visiting professor at George Mason College (1970) and American University (1970–71). [18] He entertained some of his early students with accounts of Hollywood and the filming of Hud, for which he was consulting. In 1964, Kesey and his Merry Pranksters conducted their noted cross-country trip, stopping at McMurtry's home in Houston. The adventure in the day-glo-painted school bus Furthur was chronicled by Tom Wolfe in his book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. That same year, McMurtry was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[19]

McMurtry won numerous awards from the Texas Institute of Letters: three times the Jesse H. Jones Award—in 1962, for Horseman, Pass By; in 1967, for The Last Picture Show, which he shared with Tom Pendleton's The Iron Orchard; and in 1986, for Lonesome Dove. He won the Amon G. Carter award for periodical prose in 1966 for Texas: Good Times Gone or Here Again?[20] and the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984.[21] In 1986, McMurtry received the annual Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award from the Tulsa Library Trust.[22] He reflected on his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove, in Literary Life: A Second Memoir (2009), writing that it was the "Gone With the Wind of the West … a pretty good book; it's not a towering masterpiece."[23]

McMurtry described his method for writing novels in Books: A Memoir. He said that from his first novel on, he would get up early and dash off five pages of narrative. When he published the memoir in 2008, he said this was still his method, although by then, he wrote 10 pages a day. He also wrote every day, ignoring holidays and weekends.[24] McMurtry was a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books.[25]

McMurtry was a vigorous defender of free speech and, while serving as president of PEN American Center (now PEN America) from 1989 to 1991, led the organization's efforts to support writer Salman Rushdie,[26] whose novel The Satanic Verses (1988) caused a major controversy among some Muslims, with the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issuing a fatwā calling for Rushdie's assassination, after which attempts were made on his life.[27]

In 1989, McMurtry testified on behalf of PEN America before the U.S. Congress in opposition to immigration rules in the 1952 McCarran–Walter Act that for decades permitted the visa denial and deportation of foreign writers for ideological reasons.[23] He recounted how before PEN America was to host the 1986 International PEN Congress, "there was a serious question as to whether such a meeting could in fact take place in this country... the McCarran–Walter Act could have effectively prevented such a gathering in the United States." He denounced the relevant rules as "an affront to all who cherish the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and association. To a writer whose living depends upon the uninhibited interchange of ideas and experiences, these provisions are especially appalling." Subsequently, some provisions that excluded certain classes of immigrants based on their political beliefs were revoked by the Immigration Act of 1990.[28]

Antiquarian bookstores

One of McMurtry's bookstores in Archer City, Texas.
One of the aisles of books at Booked Up in Archer City.
Bookstore cat, Booked Up (2008).

While at Stanford, McMurtry became a rare-book scout.[29] During his years in Houston, he managed a book store called the Bookman. In 1969, he moved to the Washington, D.C., area. In 1970 with two partners, he started a bookshop in Georgetown, which he named Booked Up. In 1988, he opened another Booked Up in Archer City. It became one of the largest antiquarian bookstores in the United States, carrying between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after great public support.

In early 2012, McMurtry decided to downsize and sell off the greater portion of his inventory. He felt the collection was a liability for his heirs.[30] The auction was conducted on August 10 and 11, 2012, and was overseen by Addison and Sarova Auctioneers of Macon, Georgia. This epic book auction sold books by the shelf, and was billed as "The Last Booksale", in keeping with the title of McMurtry's The Last Picture Show. Dealers, collectors, and gawkers came out en masse from all over the country to witness this historic auction. As stated by McMurtry on the weekend of the sale, "I've never seen that many people lined up in Archer City, and I'm sure I never will again."[31]

In April 2006, McMurtry was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.[32]

Film and television

McMurtry became well known for the film adaptations of his work, which were seen by many viewers, especially Hud (from the novel Horseman, Pass By), starring Paul Newman and Patricia Neal;[33] the Peter Bogdanovich–directed The Last Picture Show;[34] James L. Brooks's Terms of Endearment, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture (1984);[35] and Lonesome Dove, which became a popular television miniseries starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall.[36][37]

In 2006, he was co-winner (with Diana Ossana) of both the Best Screenplay Golden Globe[38] and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, adapted from a short story by E. Annie Proulx. He accepted his Oscar while wearing a dinner jacket over jeans and cowboy boots.[39] In his speech, he promoted books, reminding the audience the movie was developed from a short story. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his Swiss-made Hermes 3000 typewriter.[40]

Awards

  • AcademyAwardBestAdaptedScreenplay 2001–2020
  • AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Screenwriter
  • Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
  • BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay
  • BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay 2000–2019
  • Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
  • Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
  • GoldenGlobeBestScreenplayMotionPicture 2001–2020
  • New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay
  • Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
  • PulitzerPrize Fiction 1976–2000
  • St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay
  • Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay


Provenance

Some content on this page may previously have appeared on Wikipedia.

References

  1. Hugh Rawson, "Screenings," American Heritage, April/May 2006.
  2. McMurtry, Larry 1936–. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. Encyclopedia.com.
  3. Larry McMurtry National Humanities Medal 2014, at The National Endowment for the Humanities
  4. Larry McMurtry: A Life by Tracy Daugherty, New York: St. Martin's Press, 2023, page 201. ISBN 978-1-250-28233-0. (A note at the end of this biography indicates that the quote may have originally come from A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove by John Spong, Jeff Wilson, and Bill Wittliff, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012, p31).
  5. New Life After 'The Last Picture Show', The New York Times, April 4, 1982.
  6. McMurtry, Larry (2008). Books: A Memoir, 1–8. 
  7. Larry McMurtry: An Accidental Feminist? (en).
  8. Texas literary giant Larry McMurtry dies at 84, The Dallas Morning News, March 26, 2021. (in en)
  9. 'Lonesome Dove' Legend Larry McMurtry on Fiction, Money, Womanizing, and Old Age (May 22, 2014).
  10. Larry McMurtry, one of Texas' greatest writers, dead at 84 - ABC11 Raleigh-Durham (March 26, 2021).
  11. Larry McMurtry's Dream Job (December 7, 1997).
  12. Granberry, Michael. Author Larry McMurtry marries Ken Kesey's widow, The Dallas Morning News, May 5, 2011.
  13. Garner, Dwight. Larry McMurtry, Novelist of the American West, Dies at 84, The New York Times, March 26, 2021. (in en-US) Template:Cbignore
  14. Marini, Richard A. (2023-02-07). Larry McMurtry auction includes signed books, desk, typewriter, boots (en-US).
  15. Novelist Larry McMurtry's last kind words: "Lonesome Dove" author on closeted cowboys, pointless Pulitzers, and his latest Old West novel.. Mother Jones (May 2014).
  16. On the Road by Larry McMurtry in The New York Review (Magazine), Dec. 5, 2002.
  17. A Guide to the Larry McMurtry Papers, 1968, 1987–1991 (en). The Witcliff Collections.
  18. Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers, 1890–2008, bulk dates 1980-2008 MS 276 (en). Woodson Research Center.
  19. John Simon Guggenheim Foundation: Larry McMurtry. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
  20. Texas Institute of Letters: Awards. Texas Institute of Letters.
  21. Texas Institute of Letters: Literary Awards. Texas Institute of Letters.
  22. Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Tulsa Library Trust.
  23. 23.0 23.1 Flood, Alison (March 27, 2021). Lonesome Dove author and Brokeback Mountain screenwriter Larry McMurtry dies at 84. The Guardian.
  24. (2008) Books : a memoir, 1st Simon & Schuster hardcover. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781416583349. 
  25. {{Cite web |title=Larry McMurtry |work=[[The New York Review] |access-date=March 27, 2021 |url= https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/larry-mcmurtry/ }}
  26. Larry McMurtry: Biographical Sketch. Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
  27. Loyd, Anthony. Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie, The Times, June 8, 2005.
  28. PEN America Mourns Death of Novelist, Former PEN America President Larry McMurtry. PEN America (March 26, 2021).
  29. Working Book Bound, D Magazine, June 1985. (in en)
  30. Lindenberger, Michael. The Great Book Sale of Teas, August 15, 2012.
  31. Wanted, Dead or Alive: Used Books, The New York Times, August 12, 2012.
  32. MemberListP.
  33. Hud. OCLC 878940995. 
  34. The last picture show. OCLC 79950037. 
  35. The 56th Academy Awards; 1984.
  36. Lonesome Dove. OCLC 423140732. 
  37. Lonesome Dove. OCLC 774391218. 
  38. Brokeback Mountain: Interview with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana, Cinemalogue, February 14, 2006.
  39. Larry McMurtry, 'Lonesome Dove' Novelist, Dead at 84, March 26, 2021.
  40. What's so special about a Hermes 3000?, Chicago Tribune, January 20, 2006.