Author Larry McMurtry dies at 84
» Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lonesome Dove” and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a motherdaughter relationship in “Terms of Endearment,” has died. He was 84.
McMurtry died Thursday night of heart failure, according to a family statement issued through a publicist on Friday. The statement did not say where he died but noted that he’ll be buried “in his cherished home state of Texas.”
McMurtry, who had in his later years split his time between his small Texas hometown of Archer City and Tucson, Ariz., wrote dozens of books, including novels, biographies and essay collections. He simultaneously worked as a bookseller and screenwriter, cowriting the Oscar-winning script for the movie “Brokeback Mountain.”
Several of McMurtry’s books became feature films, including the Oscarwinners “The Last Picture Show” and “Terms of Endearment.” His epic 1986 Pulitzer winner “Lonesome Dove,” about a cattle drive from Texas across the Great Plains during the 1870s, was made into a popular television miniseries.
“‘Lonesome Dove’ was an effort to kind of demythologize the myth of the Old West,” McMurtry told The Associated Press in a 2014 interview. But, he added, “They’re going to twist it into something romantic no matter what you do.”
The “Lonesome Dove” television miniseries starred Robert Duvall, who has often cited the project as a personal favorite and likened his role as retired Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae to acting in “Hamlet.”