Larry McMurtry

Date of Birth: June 3, 1936

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Date of Death: March 25, 2021

Biography

Larry McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter, known for his rich portrayal of the American West. Born in Archer City, Texas, McMurtry grew up on a cattle ranch, which greatly influenced his writing. He attended North Texas State University and later Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow. McMurtry’s first novel, “Horseman, Pass By” (1961), was adapted into the film “Hud” (1963). He achieved widespread acclaim with “Lonesome Dove” (1985), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and became a highly successful television miniseries. Over his career, McMurtry wrote more than 30 novels, numerous screenplays, and several non-fiction works. He also co-wrote the screenplay for “Brokeback Mountain,” which won an Academy Award. McMurtry was a book collector and owned several bookstores, most notably in Archer City, which he dubbed “Booked Up.”

5 Interesting Facts about Larry McMurtry

1. Larry McMurtry won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1986 for his novel “Lonesome Dove.”

2. He co-wrote the screenplay for “Brokeback Mountain,” which earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

3. McMurtry owned and operated several bookstores, with his most famous being “Booked Up” in Archer City, Texas.

4. He was known for his extensive personal library, which included over 30,000 books.

5. McMurtry was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, where he studied under Wallace Stegner.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from Larry McMurtry

1. “If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.”

2. “The lives of happy people are dense with their own doings—crowded, active, thick. But the lives of the miserable are thin; they are all exhalation and sighing, and pauses.”

3. “Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken-fried steak.”

4. “True maturity is only reached when a man realizes he has become a father figure to his girls’ boyfriends—and he accepts it.”

5. “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”