Larry Jeff McMurtry (born June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas.^[1] He is known for his 1975 novel Terms of Endearment, 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 and both the films of Terms of Endearment and Brokeback Mountain won Academy Awards. He also awarded Brian Allen Carr the inaugural Texas Observer Story Prize.

Early life[link]

McMurtry was born in Archer City, 25 miles from Wichita Falls, Texas, the son of Hazel Ruth (née McIver) and William Jefferson McMurtry, who was a rancher.^[2] He grew up on a ranch outside Archer City, Texas, which is the model for the town of Thalia that appears in much of his fiction. He earned degrees from University of North Texas (B.A. 1958) and Rice University (M.A. 1960).

Career[link]

McMurtry has won the Jesse H. Jones Award from the Texas Institute of Letters on three occasions; in 1962, for Horseman, Pass By; in 1967, for The Last Picture Show, which he shared with Tom Pendleton's The Iron Orchard; and in 1986, for Lonesome Dove. He has also won the Amon G. Carter award for periodical prose in 1966, for Texas: Good Times Gone or Here Again?.^[3][4] In 1964 he was awarded a Guggenheim grant. In 1960, McMurtry was also a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, where he studied the craft of fiction under novelist Wallace Stegner and alongside a number of other writers, including Ken Kesey, Peter S. Beagle, Robert Stone, and Gordon Lish. McMurtry and Kesey remained friends after McMurtry left California and returned to Texas, and Kesey's famous cross-country trip with his Merry Pranksters in a day-glo painted schoolbus 'Further' included a stop at McMurtry's home in Houston, described in Tom Wolfe's New-Journalistic book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At the time (1964), McMurtry was also a Lecturer in English at Rice University. His students were entertained with stories of Hollywood and the filming of Hud for which he was consulting.

While at Stanford he became a rare-book scout, and during his years in Houston managed a book store there called the Bookman. In 1969 he moved to the Washington, D.C. area, and in 1970 with two partners started a bookshop in Georgetown which he named Booked Up. In 1988 he opened another Booked Up in Archer City, which is one of the largest single used bookstores in the United States, carrying somewhere between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after an outpouring of public support.

McMurtry has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books^[5] and is a past president of PEN.^[6][7][8] He is perhaps best known for the film adaptations of his work, especially Hud (from the novel Horseman, Pass By), starring Paul Newman and Patricia Neal; the Peter Bogdanovich–directed The Last Picture Show; James L. Brooks's Terms of Endearment, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture (1984); and Lonesome Dove, which became a popular television mini-series starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall.

In 1986, McMurtry received the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. The Helmerich Award is presented annually by the Tulsa Library Trust.

In 2006, he was co-winner (with Diana Ossana) of both the Best Screenplay Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. He accepted his Oscar wearing jeans and cowboy boots along with his dinner jacket and used his speech to promote books by reminding his audience that "Brokeback Mountain" was a short story by E. Annie Proulx before it was a movie. In his Golden Globe acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his Swiss-made Hermes 3000 typewriter.

Personal life[link]

His son, James McMurtry, is a singer/songwriter and guitarist. His former wife Jo Scott McMurtry, an English professor, is also the author of five books. On May 5, 2011, the Dallas Morning News reported that McMurtry married Norma Faye Kesey, the widow of writer Ken Kesey, on April 29 in a civil ceremony in Archer City.^[9]

Books, novels and films[link]

• 1961: Horseman, Pass By—adapted for film as Hud
• 1963: Leaving Cheyenne—adapted for film as Lovin' Molly
• 1966: The Last Picture Show—adapted into a film of the same name
• 1968: In A Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas
• 1970: Moving On—This 1970 book was given high reviews by several women's organizations for its unflinching depiction of the main character Patsy Carpenter (who later appears in All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers, Terms of Endearment, and The Evening Star)
• 1972: All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers—a continuation of characters from Moving On
• 1974: It's Always We Rambled (essay)
• 1975: Terms of Endearment—a continuation of characters from Moving On and All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers—adapted into a film of the same name
• 1978: Somebody's Darling—a continuation of the character Jill Peel from All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers
• 1982: Cadillac Jack
• 1983: Desert Rose
• 1985: Lonesome Dove, 1986 Pulitzer Prize winner, and first of what became a series
• 1987: Texasville—adapted into a film of the same name, and a continuation of the story begun in The Last Picture Show
• 1987: Film Flam: Essays on Hollywood
• 1988: Anything For Billy
• 1988: The Murder of Mary Phagan—TV story
• 1989: Some Can Whistle—a continuation of the story begun in All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers.
• 1990: Buffalo Girls—adapted into a TV movie
• 1990: Montana—TV movie
• 1992: The Evening Star—adapted for film as The Evening Star and a continuation of the story begun in Terms of Endearment and Moving On and All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers
• 1992: Memphis—TV movie
• 1992: Falling from Grace
• 1993: Streets of Laredo, another in the Lonesome Dove series
• 1994: Pretty Boy Floyd (with Diana Ossana)
• 1995: Dead Man's Walk, another in the Lonesome Dove series
• 1995: The Late Child—a continuation of the story begun in Desert Rose
• 1997: Comanche Moon, the last as of 2007^[update] of the Lonesome Dove series
• 1997: Zeke and Ned (with Diana Ossana)
• 1999: Crazy Horse: A Life (biography)
• 1999: Duane's Depressed—A continuation of The Last Picture Show and Texasville story
• 1999: Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections on Sixty and Beyond
• 1999: Still Wild: A Collection of Western Stories
• 2000: Roads: Driving America's Great Highways
• 2000: Boone's Lick
• 2001: Sacagawea's Nickname—essays on the American West
• 2002: Sin Killer—The Berrybender Narratives, Book 1
• 2002: Paradise
• 2002: Johnson County War—TV mini-series
• 2003: The Wandering Hill—The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2
• 2003: By Sorrow's River—The Berrybender Narratives, Book 3
• 2004: Folly and Glory: A Novel—The Berrybender Narratives, Book 4
• 2005: Brokeback Mountain (with Diana Ossana)—Oscar-winning screenplay (adapted from the short story by E. Annie Proulx)
• 2005: The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley & the Beginnings of Superstardom in America (May)
• 2005: Oh What A Slaughter! : Massacres in the American West: 1846--1890
• 2005: Loop Group
• 2006: Telegraph Days: A Novel
• 2007: When The Light Goes—A continuation of The Last Picture Show, Texasville, and Duane's Depressed story
• 2008: Books: A Memoir
• 2009: Rhino Ranch: A Novel (Aug)—Last book of the The Last Picture Show, Texasville, Duane's Depressed, and When The Light Goes story
• 2009: Literary Life: A Second Memoir
• 2010: Boone's Lick—McMurtry will be^{[citation needed]} co-writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of his 2000 novel
• 2011: Hollywood: A Third Memoir

See also[link]

• Frank Q. Dobbs

References[link]

External links[link]

• Larry McMurtry Collection, from the Rare Book & Texana Collections, University of North Texas website
• McMurtry, Larry. "The Author Who Sold Books", Washingtonian, August 1, 2008.
• Larry McMurtry Papers 1984-1991, from the Texas State University-San Marcos website
• Larry McMurtry at the Internet Movie Database
• Larry McMurtry at the Open Directory Project
• The Treasure Hunter Michael Dirda review of McMurtry's Books: A Memoir from The New York Review of Books
• Larry McMurtry screenplays, 1979-1988 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University
• Guide to the Larry McMurtry and Diana Osanna Papers, 1890-2004, in the Woodson Research Center at Rice University

James McMurtry
American singer/songwriter James McMurtry wields his capoed cobbled-together butterscotch Fender Telecaster during a late-night performance with his backing band, The Heartless Bastards, in 2005 at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, Texas.
Background information
Born	(1962-03-18) March 18, 1962 (age 50)
Origin	Leesburg, Virginia
Genres	Americana, Folk Rock, Rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, guitarist & bandleader
Years active	1989–present
Website	www.jamesmcmurtry.com

James McMurtry (born March 18, 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas^[1]) is a Texas rock/Texas Country singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader and occasional actor (Daisy Miller, Lonesome Dove). He performs with veteran bandmates and rhythm section The Heartless Bastards (Darren Hess and Ronnie Johnson - not to be confused with the Cincinnati, OH, band of nearly the same name, Heartless Bastards.

His father, novelist Larry McMurtry, gave him his first guitar at age seven. His mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it: "My mother taught me three chords and the rest I just stole as I went along. I learned everything by ear or by watching people."

Biography[link]

McMurtry spent the first seven years of his boyhood in Ft. Worth^[2] but was raised mostly in Leesburg, Virginia. He attended the Woodberry Forest School, Orange, Virginia. He began performing in his teens, writing bits and pieces. He started performing his own songs at a downtown beer garden while studying English and Spanish at the University of Arizona in Tucson. After traveling to Alaska and playing a few gigs, he returned to Texas and his father's "little bitty ranch house crammed with 10,000 books". After a time, he left for San Antonio, where he worked as a house painter, actor, bartender, and sometimes singer, performing at writer's nights and open mics.

In 1987 McMutry's career entered an upswing. A friend in San Antonio suggested McMurtry enter the New Folk songwriter contest; he became one of six winners that year. Also around this time John Mellencamp was starring in a film based on a script by McMurtry's father, which gave McMurtry the opportunity to get a demo tape to Mellencamp. Mellencamp subsequently served as co-producer on McMurtry's 1989 debut album, Too Long in the Wasteland. McMurtry also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Falling from Grace, working with Mellencamp, John Prine, Joe Ely, and Dwight Yoakam in a "supergroup" called Buzzin' Cousins.

McMurtry released follow-up albums in Candyland (1992) and Where'd You Hide the Body (1995). Walk Between the Raindrops followed in 1998 and 2002 brought St. Mary of the Woods. In April 2004, McMurtry released a tour album called Live In Aught-Three.

In 2005, McMurtry released his first studio album in three years. Childish Things again received high critical praise, winning the song and album of the year at the 5th Annual Americana Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. The album was perhaps McMurtry at his most political, as his working-class anthem "We Can't Make It Here" included direct criticism of George W. Bush, the Iraq War, and Wal-Mart. The music critic Robert Christgau ranked "We Can't Make It Here" as the best song of the 2000s.^[3]

McMurtry released his follow-up album to Childish Things in April 2008. Just Us Kids continued with the previous album's political themes and included the song Cheney's Toy, McMurtry's most direct criticism of George W. Bush so far. Like We Can't Make It Here from the previous album, Cheney's Toy was made available as a free Internet download.

McMurtry currently resides in Austin, Texas. When in Austin, McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards play a midnight set at The Continental Club on Wednesday nights. He is usually preceded by another Austin roots rock legend, Jon Dee Graham.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Guest singles[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• One on One with James McMurtry
• Interview and Live Performance on Chicago TV show "Corporate Country Sucks"
• BBC News: Rocker Young wins Americana award
• Ron Rosenbaum, in Slate, on why McMurtry's "Choctaw Bingo" should be the new national anthem

Media[link]

• Video of James McMurtry
• Video of James Mcmurtry. "Poor Lost Soul" from Too Long in the Wasteland

References[link]

Frank Muller (May 5, 1951 – June 4, 2008) was a stage and television actor, but was most famous as an audiobook narrator.

Early life[link]

Muller was born in The Netherlands, the eldest of five children. His family emigrated to the United States when he was five.

Career[link]

Muller was a classically trained actor who began his career working on stage and doing commercials. He spent many years on the New York stage, where he became a company member of the Riverside Shakespeare Company, for which he played the title role in King Henry V, Edmund the Bastard in The History of King Lear, and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as performing with the Roundabout Theater Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival among others. He also played supporting roles on television in shows like Law And Order, Life Goes On, Harry and the Hendersons, and All My Children.^[1]

It is as an audiobook narrator, however, that he was most famous. In 1979, Henry Trentman founded Recorded Books and hired Muller as a narrator.^[2] The company began by publishing audiobook recordings of public domain works such as Call of the Wild and A Tale of Two Cities but later expanded into copyrighted works as audiobooks began to grow in popularity. Muller soon became the narrator of choice for such authors as Stephen King, John le Carré, John Grisham, Elmore Leonard and many others. Muller won the 2003 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator for his reading of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues.

Motorcycle accident[link]

On November 5, 2001, while riding his motorcycle in Los Angeles, Muller sideswiped a center concrete construction divider. He was thrown from the bike and landed on his head and chest. Although he was wearing a helmet, he suffered severe head trauma and was later diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury.

Muller was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster, California, where he went into cardiac arrest three times.

Muller had seven surgeries and was in a coma for over a month. From the time of the accident until his death, he was unable to work.

In 2002, Stephen King, who had also experienced a life-threatening auto accident, organized a benefit for Muller with Pat Conroy, John Grisham, and Peter Straub. King went on to help found the Wavedancer Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping disabled performers, writers, and members of the production community.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Muller was married to Erika Muller and had two children, Diana and Morgan. In 2003, the Mullers moved to a house outside Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, that was modified specifically for Frank's therapeutic and rehabilitative needs.

He died on June 4, 2008 at Duke University Medical Center.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview
• Official Homepage
• Fansite with complete recorded title listing
• USA Today "Stephen King scares up support for fallen friend"
• Left Behind Web Site "Update on Frank Muller — June 16, 2005"
• Frank Muller at the Internet Movie Database