Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry

Birth : 1936-06-03, Wichita Falls, Texas, USA

Death : 2021-03-25

History

Larry Jeff McMurtry (1936-2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas. He is known for his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove, a historical saga that follows ex-Texas Rangers as they drive their cattle from the Rio Grande to a new home in the frontier of Montana, and for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries, his novels Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975) were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins).

Profile

Larry McMurtry

Movies

Joe Bell
Executive Producer
The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.
Joe Bell
Writer
The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.
Brokeback Mountain
Executive Producer
Rodeo cowboy Jack and ranch hand Ennis are hired as sheepherders in 1963 Wyoming. One night on Brokeback Mountain, they spark a physical relationship. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart and Jack marries a fellow rodeo rider, they keep up their tortured, sporadic love affair for 20 years.
Brokeback Mountain
Screenplay
Rodeo cowboy Jack and ranch hand Ennis are hired as sheepherders in 1963 Wyoming. One night on Brokeback Mountain, they spark a physical relationship. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart and Jack marries a fellow rodeo rider, they keep up their tortured, sporadic love affair for 20 years.
Johnson County War
Teleplay
The three Hammett brothers, Cain, Harry and Dale are caught in a conflict that escalates rapidly and the old farmers facing against new farmers who have settled in the green grasslands.
The Evening Star
Author
Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line.
Buffalo Girls
Writer
The bold escapades of tough-talking Calamity Jane Canary and her illustrious cohorts. It's the waning days of the Wild West and Jane, the rough 'n' rugged cowgirl, is searching not only for her long-lost daughter, but the Wild West she once knew. Jane traverses plains, mountains and continents until she finally discovers the answer to her problems: Dora, the vivacious, gold-hearted madam who's been her one true friend all along.
Falling from Grace
Screenplay
Rock singer John Mellencamp makes his screen and directorial debut in this story by "Lonesome Dove" author, Larry McMurtry. The story, not too separated from Mellencamp's real life, finds him as a country music star whose meanderings and philandering has thrown his life into turmoil. Returning to his native Indiana to try to reestablish a normal life. Instead he takes up with an old lover (Lenz), ignoring his loving wife (Hemingway), and duplicating the lifestyle of his womanizing father (Akins).
Memphis
Teleplay
Two men and a woman in the deep south of the 1950s plot to kidnap a child from a wealthy black family, mistakenly believing that no one will try to stop them.
Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas
Self
A visceral deconstruction of Academy Award nominated Peter Bogdanovich and the nervous breakdown he nearly had while shooting THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
Texasville
Novel
Summer, 1984: 30 years after Duane captained the high school football team and Jacy was homecoming queen, this Texas town near Wichita Falls prepares for its centennial. Oil prices are down, banks are failing, and Duane's $12 million in debt. His wife Karla drinks too much, his children are always in trouble, and he tom-cats around with the wives of friends. Jacy's back in town, after a mildly successful acting career, life in Italy, and the death of her son. Folks assume Duane and Jacy will resume their high school romance. And Sonny is "tired in his mind," causing worries for his safety. Can these friends find equilibrium in middle age?
Montana
Writer
Hoyce and Bess Guthrie are long married Montana ranchers who come to a major crossroads in their lives. An oil company has offered to buy them out and Hoyce wants to sell while Bess hopes to keep the land in the family for future generations.
Terms of Endearment
Novel
Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.
Lovin' Molly
Novel
Spanning nearly 40 years from 1925 to 1964, two Texas farm boys; straight-arrow Gid and laid-back Johnny fight over the affections of the beautiful and headstrong Molly Taylor, who consistently refuses to marry either of them.
The Last Picture Show
Novel
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
The Last Picture Show
Screenplay
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
Hud
Novel
Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."
Terms of Endearment
Novel
A look at the complex relationship between a mother and her dying daughter. A remake of the 1983 film TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.