Larry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, prominent book collector, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.
18 Facts About Larry McMurtry
2.
Larry McMurtry's novels included Horseman, Pass By, The Last Picture Show, and Terms of Endearment, which were adapted into films.
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Larry McMurtry was born in Archer City, Texas, 25 miles from Wichita Falls, the son of Hazel Ruth and William Jefferson Larry McMurtry.
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Larry McMurtry grew up on his parents' ranch outside Archer City.
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Larry McMurtry earned a BA from the University of North Texas in 1958 and an MA from Rice University in 1960.
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Larry McMurtry entertained some of his early students with accounts of Hollywood and the filming of Hud, for which he was consulting.
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In 1986, McMurtry received the annual Peggy V Helmerich Distinguished Author Award from the Tulsa Library Trust.
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Larry McMurtry described his method for writing novels in Books: A Memoir.
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Larry McMurtry said that from his first novel on, he would get up early and dash off five pages of narrative.
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Larry McMurtry was a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books.
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Larry McMurtry was a vigorous defender of free speech and, while serving as president of PEN American Center from 1989 to 1991, led the organization's efforts to support writer Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses caused a major controversy among some Muslims, with the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issuing a fatwa calling for Rushdie's assassination, after which attempts were made on his life.
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In early 2012, Larry McMurtry decided to downsize and sell off the greater portion of his inventory.
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Larry McMurtry felt the collection was a liability for his heirs.
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Larry McMurtry accepted his Oscar while wearing a dinner jacket over jeans and cowboy boots.
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Larry McMurtry married Jo Scott, who is an English professor and has authored five books.
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Larry McMurtry recovered at the home of his future writing partner Diana Ossana and wrote his novel Streets of Laredo at her kitchen counter.
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Larry McMurtry married Norma Faye Kesey, the widow of writer Ken Kesey, on April 29,2011, in a civil ceremony in Archer City.
18.
Larry McMurtry died on March 25,2021, at his home in Archer City, Texas.