Larry McMurtry, author of ‘Lonesome Dove’ and other novels, dies at age 84

Larry McMurtry, a prolific novelist and screenwriter who demythologized the American West with his unromantic depictions of life on the 19th-century frontier and in contemporary small-town Texas,died on March 25 of heart failure at 84 years old surrounded by his loved ones who he lived with including long time writing partner Diana Ossana, his wife Norma Faye and their 3 dogs,” according to a statement from Lundberg. 

Over more than five decades,Mr. McMurtry wrote more than 30 novels and many books of essays, memoir and history, He also wrote more than 30 screenplays, including the one for “Brokeback Mountain” (written with Ms. Ossana, based on a short story by Annie Proulx), for which he won an Academy Award in 2006. But he found his greatest commercial and critical success with “Lonesome Dove,” a sweeping 843-page novel about two retired Texas Rangers who drive a herd of stolen cattle from the Rio Grande to Montana in the 1870s. The book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and was made into a popular television mini series. 

McMurtry was born in 1936 in Archer City, Texas. After a stint at Rice University, he graduated from North Texas State Teachers College and then received a master’s degree from Rice. He also was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, where he studied with Irish short story writer Frank O’Connor. His first novel, “Horseman, Pass By,” was published in 1961, and was turned into the 1963 film “Hud,” starring Paul Newman. That was the first of many film or television adaptations of McMurtry’s works.” The Last Picture Show,” his 1967 coming-of-age story set in a small town similar to Archer City, was made into a 1971 film by Peter Bogdanovich.