Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of
Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote historical fiction (''
The Walking Drum''), science fiction (''
Haunted Mesa''), non-fiction (''Frontier''), as well as poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death almost all of his 105 existing works (89 novels, 14 short-story collections, and two full-length works of nonfiction) were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".
Life and career
Early life
![Ronald Reagan presenting Congressional Gold medal to Louis L'Amour C17215-24](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Ronald_Reagan_presenting_Congressional_Gold_medal_to_Louis_L%27Amour_C17215-24.jpg)
Louis Dearborn LaMoore was born in
Jamestown, North Dakota, on March 22, 1908, the seventh child of Emily Dearborn and veterinarian, local politician, and farm equipment broker Louis Charles LaMoore (who had changed the French spelling of the name L'Amour). His mother had Irish ancestry, while his father was of French-Canadian descent. His father had arrived in Dakota Territory in 1882. Although the area around Jamestown was mostly farm land, cowboys and livestock often traveled through Jamestown on their way to or from ranches in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and the markets to the east. Louis played "
Cowboys and Indians" in the family barn, which served as his father's veterinary hospital, and spent much of his free time at the local library, the
Alfred E. Dickey Free Library, particularly reading the works of 19th-century British historical boys' author
G. A. Henty. L'Amour once said, "
enty's worksenabled me to go into school with a great deal of knowledge that even my teachers didn't have about wars and politics."
After a series of bank failures devastated the economy of the upper Midwest, Dr. LaMoore and Emily took to the road. Removing Louis and his adopted brother John from school, they headed south in the winter of 1923. Over the next seven or eight years, they skinned cattle in west Texas, baled hay in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico, worked in the mines of Arizona, California and Nevada, and in the sawmills and
lumber camps of the Pacific Northwest. It was in colorful places like these that Louis met a wide variety of people, upon whom he later modeled the characters in his novels, many of them actual
Old West personalities who had survived into the 1920s and 1930s.
Making his way as a mine assessment worker, professional boxer and merchant seaman, Louis traveled the country and the world, sometimes with his family, sometimes not. He visited all of the western states plus England, Japan, China, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, Arabia, Egypt, and Panama, finally moving with his parents to
Choctaw, Oklahoma
Choctaw is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the oldest chartered town in Oklahoma Territory. The city is located approximately 10 miles (16.1 km) east of Oklahoma City and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan ...
in the early 1930s. There, he changed his name to the original French spelling "L'Amour" and settled down to try to make something of himself as a writer.
Early works
He had success with poetry, articles on boxing and writing and editing sections of the
WPA Guide Book to Oklahoma, but the dozens of short stories he was churning out met with little acceptance. Finally, L'Amour placed a story, ''Death Westbound'', in "10 Story Book", a magazine that featured what was supposed to be quality writing (
Jack Woodford
Jack Woodford (1894–1971) was an American novelist and non-fiction writer, author of successful pulp novels and non-fiction of the 1930s and 1940s. He wrote unique books on writing and getting published. Most famously, Woodford authored ...
, author of several books on writing, is published in the same edition as L'Amour) alongside scantily attired, or completely naked young women. Several years later, L'Amour placed his first story for pay, ''Anything for a Pal'', published in ''True Gang Life''. Two lean disappointing years passed after that, and then, in 1938, his stories began appearing in pulp magazines fairly regularly.
Along with other adventure and crime stories, L'Amour created the character of mercenary sea captain Jim Mayo. Starting with ''East of Gorontalo'', the series ran through nine episodes from 1940 until 1943. L'Amour wrote only one story in the western genre prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, 1940's ''The Town No Guns Could Tame''.
World War II service and post-war
L'Amour continued as an itinerant worker, traveling the world as a
merchant seaman until the start of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. During World War II, he served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
as a lieutenant with the 362nd Quartermaster Truck Company. In the two years before L'Amour was shipped off to Europe, L'Amour wrote stories for ''Standard Magazine''. After World War II, L'Amour continued to write stories for magazines; his first after being discharged in 1946 was ''Law of the Desert Born'' in ''Dime Western Magazine'' (April 1946). L'Amour's contact with
Leo Margulies led to L'Amour agreeing to write many stories for the Western pulp magazines published by Standard Magazines, a substantial portion of which appeared under the name "Jim Mayo". The suggestion of L'Amour writing
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...
novels also was made by Margulies who planned on launching ''Hopalong Cassidy's Western Magazine'' at a time when the
William Boyd William, Willie, Will or Bill Boyd may refer to:
Academics
* William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (1842–1928), Australian journalist and schoolmaster
* William Boyd (educator) (1874–1962), Scottish educator
* William Boyd (pathologist) (1885–1979), ...
films and new television series were becoming popular with a new generation. L'Amour read the original Hopalong Cassidy novels, written by
Clarence E. Mulford, and wrote his novels based on the original character under the name "Tex Burns". Only two issues of the ''Hopalong Cassidy Western Magazine'' were published, and the novels as written by L'Amour were extensively edited to meet
Doubleday's thoughts of how the character should be portrayed in print. Strongly disagreeing—L'Amour preferred Mulford's original, much rougher characterization of Cassidy—for the rest of his life he denied authoring the novels.
In the 1950s, L'Amour began to sell novels. L'Amour's first novel, published under his own name, was ''Westward The Tide'', published by World's Work in 1951. The short story, ''The Gift of Cochise'' was printed in Colliers (5 July 1952) and seen by
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
and
Robert Fellows
Robert Fellows or Robert M. Fellows (August 23, 1903 in Los Angeles – May 11, 1969 in Los Angeles) was an American film producer who was once a production partner with John Wayne and later with Mickey Spillane.
Biography
Fellows entered Ho ...
, who purchased the screen rights from L'Amour for $4,000.
James Edward Grant was hired to write a screenplay based on this story changing the main character's name from Ches Lane to Hondo Lane. L'Amour retained the right to
novelize the screenplay and did so, even though the screenplay differed substantially from the original story. This was published as ''Hondo'' in 1953 and released on the same day the film opened with a blurb from John Wayne stating that "''Hondo'' was the finest Western Wayne had ever read". During the remainder of the decade L'Amour produced a great number of novels, both under his own name as well as others (e. g. Jim Mayo). Also during this time he rewrote and expanded many of his earlier short story and pulp fiction stories to book length for various publishers.
Bantam Books
Many publishers in the 1950s and '60s refused to publish more than one or two books a year by the same author. Louis's editor at Gold Medal supported his writing up to three or four but the heads of the company vetoed that idea even though Louis was publishing books with other houses. Louis had sold over a dozen novels and several million copies before
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
editor-in-chief
Saul David
Professor Julian Saul David (born 1966) is a British academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries o ...
was finally able to convince his company to offer Louis a short term exclusive contract that would accept three books a year. It was only after 1960, however, that Louis's sales at Bantam would begin to surpass his sales at Gold Medal.
L'Amour's career flourished throughout the 1960s and he began work on a series of novels about the fictional Sackett family. ''The Daybreakers'', published in 1960 and the first, was actually not in the chronological order of the series of novels. Initially he wrote five books about William Tell Sackett and his close relatives; however, in later years the series spread to include other families and four centuries of North American history. It was an ambitious project and several stories intended to close the gaps in the family's time line were left untold at the time of L'Amour's death. L'Amour also branched out into historical fiction with ''The Walking Drum'', set in the 11th century, a contemporary thriller, ''Last of the Breed'', and science fiction with ''The Haunted Mesa''.
L'Amour eventually wrote 100 novels, over 250 short stories, and (as of 2010) sold more than 320 million copies of his work. By the 1970s his writings were translated into over 10
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. Every one of his works is still in print.
[
L'Amour appears under the name of "Lew" as a minor character in the 2006 novel '' The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril'' by Paul Malmont. The novel describes friendship and rivalry among pulp writers of the 1930s.
]
Audio book publishing
Many of the L'Amour titles have been produced in the "single voice" style. In the early days, however, when the fledgling Bantam Audio Publishing (now Random House Audio) came to L'Amour about converting some of his old short stories into audio, he insisted that they do something to offer the audience more value than just having an actor read a bunch of old pulp stories. Together he and Bantam executive Jenny Frost created the concept of a series of "Radio Drama" style productions that would combine a large cast of actors, sound effects and music to produce a modern audio drama of each story.
The team of David Rapkin (Producer) and Charles Potter (Director) was employed to produce a prototype show and L'Amour's son Beau came into the program as Supervising Producer. Between 1986 and 2004 the team had completed over sixty-five dramatized audio productions. Several different styles of show were produced over the years. The first several shows were "transcriptions", literal breakdowns of the exact L'Amour short story into lines for the different characters and narrator. Later productions used more liberally interpreted adaptations written by screenwriters, playwrights and a few film and theater students, who were taught the process by Beau L'Amour and the more prolific writers from earlier adaptations.
The majority of productions were done in New York City. In the early years the pace of production was six shows a year but in the mid-1990s it slowed to four. At this time the running time for all the programs was roughly sixty minutes. The cast members were veterans of the New York stage, film and advertising worlds and came together for a rehearsal and then a day of recording the show. Sound effects were created by effects man Arthur Miller in the studio as the lines were being recorded and narration was done.
Although many of the programs were written and produced in a modified "Old Time Radio" style, attempts were also made to modernize the approach. Whenever the story material supported it a more contemporary style was used in the writing and more and more high tech solutions to the effects and mix found their way into the productions. While hiring and supervising the writers, mostly out of Los Angeles, Beau L'Amour created a few programs on his own. The techniques used by him and producer/editor Paul O'Dell were more in line with motion picture production, simply taping the voices of the actors in the studio and then recording the majority of sound effects in the field. This called for a great deal more editing, both in cutting the actor's performances and the sound effects, but it allowed for a great deal more control.
In the mid-1990s a series of the L'Amour Audio Dramas was recut for radio. Louis L'Amour Theater played on over two hundred stations for a number of years. Several of the scripts from the L'Amour series have been produced as live theater pieces, including ''The One for the Mojave Kid'' and ''Merrano of the Dry Country''.
The L'Amour program of Audio Dramas is still ongoing but the pace of production has slowed considerably. Beau L'Amour and Paul O'Dell released ''Son of a Wanted Man'', the first L'Amour Drama in half a decade in 2004. ''Son of a Wanted Man'' is also the first Louis L'Amour novel to be turned into a drama. Considerably more complex than earlier shows it had a cast of over twenty mid-level Hollywood actors, a music score was created by John Philip Shenale
John Philip Shenale (often mentioned as Phil Shenale) is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles.
Background
Shenale was born in Canada in 1951. His family relocated to the United States in the late-1950s ...
and recorded specifically for the production and sound effects completely recorded in the field in many locations across the west. Produced as sort of a "profitable hobby" Beau L'Amour and Paul O'Dell created the production while working around their day-to-day jobs. Since this allowed them no more than nine or ten weeks a year, the show took four years to complete.
Shalako
During the 1960s, L'Amour intended to build a working town typical of those of the 19th century Western frontier, with buildings with false fronts situated in rows on either side of an unpaved main street and flanked by wide boardwalks before which, at various intervals, were watering troughs and hitching posts. The town, to be named Shalako after the protagonist of L'Amour's novel of the same name, was to have featured shops and other businesses that were typical of such towns: a barber shop, a hotel, a dry goods store, one or more saloons, a church, a one-room schoolhouse, etc. It would have offered itself as a filming location for Hollywood motion pictures concerning the Wild West. However, funding for the project fell through, and Shalako was never built.
Literary assessment
When interviewed not long before his death, he was asked which among his books he liked best. His reply:
I like them all. There's bits and pieces of books that I think are good. I never rework a book. I'd rather use what I've learned on the next one, and make it a little bit better. The worst of it is that I'm no longer a kid and I'm just now getting to be a good writer. Just now.
The critic Jon Tuska, surveying Western literature, writes:
I have no argument that L'Amour's total sales have probably surpassed every other author of Western fiction in the history of the genre. Indeed, at the time of his death his sales had topped 200,000,000. What I would question is the degree and extent of his effect "upon the American Imagination". His Western fiction is strictly formulary and frequently, although not always, features the ranch romance plot where the hero and the heroine are to marry at the end once the villains have been defeated. Not only is there nothing really new in the basic structure of his stories, even L'Amour's social Darwinism
Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...
, which came to characterize his later fiction, was scarcely original and was never dramatized in other media the way it was in works based on Zane Grey's fiction.
But Tuska also notes "At his best, L'Amour was a master of spectacular action and stories with a vivid, propulsive forward motion."[Jon Tuska, Foreword to L'Amour's story collection The Sixth Shotgun, Leisure Books, 2005 ]
Awards
In May 1972 he was awarded an Honorary PhD by Jamestown College, as a testament to his literary and social contributions.
In 1979, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
.
''Bendigo Shafter'' (1979) won the U.S. National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
in the one-year category Western.["National Book Awards – 1980"]
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 8 March 2012. (With essay by John Gallaher from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
In 1982 he received the Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
, and in 1984 President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
awarded L'Amour the Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
. L'Amour is also a recipient of North Dakota's Roughrider Award The Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award is an award presented by the governor of the state of North Dakota. It is bestowed upon prominent North Dakotans.
Recipients
''Note: date in parentheses indicates date of award''
*Lawrence Welk, entertaine ...
and the MPTF Golden Boot Award
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
*Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...
.
Death
L'Amour died from lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
on June 10, 1988, and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...
.[ His autobiography detailing his years as an itinerant worker in the west, ''Education of a Wandering Man'', was published posthumously in 1989. He was survived by his wife Kathy, their son Beau, and their daughter Angelique.
]
Bibliography
Novels
(including series novels)
* ''Westward the Tide'' (London, 1950; first US publication 1976)
* ''The Riders of High Rock'' (1951)
* ''The Rustlers of West Fork'' (1951)
* ''The Trail to Seven Pines'' (1951)
* ''Trouble Shooter'' (1952)
* ''Hondo'' (1953)
* ''Showdown at Yellow Butte'' (1953)
* ''Crossfire Trail'' (1954)
* ''Kilkenny'' (1954)
* ''Utah Blaine'' (1954)
* ''Heller with a Gun'' (1955)
* ''Guns of the Timberlands'' (1955)
* ''To Tame a Land'' (1955)
* ''The Burning Hills'' (1956)
* '' Silver Canyon'' (1956)
* ''Last Stand at Papago Wells'' (1957)
* ''Sitka'' (1957)
* '' The Tall Stranger'' (1957)
* ''Radigan'' (1958)
* ''The First Fast Draw'' (1959)
* ''Taggart'' (1959)
* '' The Daybreakers'' (1960)
* ''Flint'' (1960)
* ''Sackett'' (1961)
* ''High Lonesome'' (1962)
* ''Killoe'' (1962)
* ''Lando'' (1962)
* ''Shalako
Shalako is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Native American Zuni people for the Zuni people at the winter solstice, typically following the harvest. The Shalako ceremony and feast has been closed to non-native peoples since 1990 ...
'' (1962)
* ''Catlow'' (1963)
* ''Dark Canyon'' (1963)
* ''Fallon'' (1963)
* ''How the West Was Won'' (1963)
* ''Hanging Woman Creek'' (1964)
* ''Mojave Crossing'' (1964)
* ''Kiowa Trail'' (1964)
* ''The High Graders'' (1965)
* ''The Key-Lock Man'' (1965)
* ''The Sackett Brand'' (1965)
* ''The Broken Gun'' (1966)
* ''Kid Rodelo'' (1966)
* ''Kilrone'' (1966)
* ''Mustang Man'' (1966)
* ''Matagorda'' (1967)
* ''The Sky-Liners'' (1967)
* ''Brionne'' (1968)
* ''Chancy'' (1968)
* ''Down the Long Hills'' (1968) (winner of the Golden Spur Award
Spur Awards are literary prizes awarded annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...
)
* ''Conagher'' (1969)
* ''The Empty Land'' (1969)
* ''The Lonely Men'' (1969)
* ''Galloway'' (1970)
* ''The Man Called Noon'' (1970)
* ''Reilly's Luck'' (1970)
* ''The Ferguson Rifle
''The Ferguson Rifle'' (1973) is a novel set in early 19th-century America, written by Louis L'Amour.
Plot summary
The main character, Ronan Chantry, who is of Irish ancestry, is going into the West away from his troubles. Chantry's wife and son ...
'' (1973)
* ''North to the Rails'' (1971)
* ''Tucker'' (1971)
* ''Under the Sweetwater Rim'' (1971)
* ''Callaghen'' (1972)
* ''Ride the Dark Trail'' (1972)
* ''The Man from Skibbereen'' (1973)
* ''The Quick and the Dead'' (1973)
* ''Treasure Mountain'' (1973)
* ''The Californios'' (1974)
* ''Sackett's Land'' (1974)
* ''The Man From the Broken Hills'' (1975)
* ''Over on the Dry Side'' (1975)
* ''Rivers West'' (1975)
* ''The Rider of Lost Creek'' (1976)
* ''To the Far Blue Mountains'' (1976)
* ''Where the Long Grass Blows'' (1976)
* ''Borden Chantry'' (1977)
* ''Fair Blows the Wind'' (1978)
* ''The Mountain Valley War'' (1978)
* ''Bendigo Shafter'' (1979) (winner of the National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
)
* ''The Iron Marshal'' (1979)
* ''The Proving Trail'' (1979)
* ''Lonely on the Mountain'' (1980)
* ''The Warrior's Path'' (1980)
* ''Comstock Lode'' (1981)
* ''Milo Talon'' (1981)
* ''The Cherokee Trail'' (1982)
* ''The Shadow Riders'' (1982)
* ''The Lonesome Gods'' (1983)
* ''Ride the River'' (1983)
* ''Son of a Wanted Man'' (1984)
* '' The Walking Drum'' (1984)
* ''Jubal Sackett'' (1985)
* ''Passin' Through'' (1985)
* '' Last of the Breed'' (1986)
* ''West of Pilot Range'' (1986)
* ''A Trail to the West'' Audio (1986)
* '' Haunted Mesa'' (1987)
Collections of short stories
* ''War Party'' (1975, featuring ''The Gift of Cochise'' and '' Trap of Gold'')
* ''The Strong Shall Live'' (1980)
* '' Yondering'' (1980; revised edition 1989)
* ''Buckskin Run'' (1981)
* ''Bowdrie'' (1983)
* ''The Hills of Homicide'' (1983)
* ''Law of the Desert Born'' (1983)
* ''Bowdrie's Law'' (1984)
* ''Night Over the Solomons'' (1986)
* ''The Rider of the Ruby Hills'' (1986)
* ''Riding for the Brand (1986)''
* ''The Trail to Crazy Man'' (1986)
* ''Dutchman's Flat'' (1986)
* ''Lonigan'' (1988)
* ''Long Ride Home'' (1989)
* ''The Outlaws of Mesquite'' (1990)
* ''West from Singapore'' (1991)
* ''Valley of the Sun'' (1995)
* ''West of Dodge'' (1996)
* ''End of the Drive'' (1997)
* ''Monument Rock'' (1998)
* ''Beyond the Great Snow Mountains'' (1999)
* ''Off the Mangrove Coast'' (2000)
* ''May There Be a Road'' (2001)
* ''With These Hands'' (2002)
* ''From the Listening Hills'' (2003)
* ''The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour:''
** ''The Frontier Stories – Volume 1'' (2003)
** ''The Frontier Stories – Volume 2'' (2004)
** ''The Frontier Stories – Volume 3'' (2005)
** ''The Adventure Stories – Volume 4'' (2005)
** ''The Frontier Stories – Volume 5'' (2007)
** ''The Crime Stories – Volume 6'' (2008)
** ''The Frontier Stories – Volume 7'' (2009)
Non-fiction
* ''Education of a Wandering Man'' (1989)
* ''Frontier''
* ''The Sackett Companion''
* ''A Trail of Memories: The Quotations of Louis L'Amour'' (compiled by Angelique L'Amour)
Poetry
* ''Smoke From This Altar'' (1939)
Compilations with other authors
* ''The Golden West''
* ''Stagecoach''
Recurring Characters
L'Amour often wrote series of novels and short stories featuring previously introduced characters, the most notable being the Sackett clan.
Sackett series
''In fictional story order (not the order written).''
# ''Sackett's Land'' – Barnabas Sackett
# ''To the Far Blue Mountains'' – Barnabas Sackett
# ''The Warrior's Path'' – Kin Ring Sackett
# ''Jubal Sackett'' – Jubal Sackett, Itchakomi Ishai
# ''Ride the River'' – Echo Sackett (Aunt to Orrin, Tyrel, and William Tell Sackett; also involves Chantrys and numerous other Sacketts including three Clinch Mountain Sacketts Trulove, Macon, and Mordecai. Also includes her uncle Regal. And, mentions her brother Ethan who could be the Ethan Sackett in 'Bendigo Shafter')
# ''The Daybreakers'' – Orrin and Tyrel Sackett, Cap Rountree, Tom Sunday
# ''Lando'' – Orlando Sackett, the Tinker
# ''Booty for a Badman" - William Tell Sackett (Short story)
# ''The Courting of Griselda'' William Tell Sackett (Short story)
# ''Sackett'' – William Tell Sackett, Cap Rountree, Angie
# ''Mustang Man'' – Nolan Sackett
# ''Mojave Crossing'' – William Tell Sackett
# ''The Sackett Brand'' – William Tell Sackett, and the whole passel of Sacketts!
# ''The Sky-liners'' – Flagan and Galloway Sackett
# ''Galloway'' – Flagan and Galloway Sackett
# ''The Lonely Men'' – William Tell Sackett
# ''Ride the Dark Trail'' – Logan Sackett, Em Talon (born a Sackett)
# ''Treasure Mountain'' – William Tell and Orrin Sackett, the Tinker
# ''Lonely on the Mountain'' – William Tell, Orrin and Tyrel Sackett (They go on a mission to help Logan Sackett)
There are also two Sackett-related short stories:
* ''The Courting of Griselda'' – William Tell Sackett (available in ''End of the Drive'')
* ''Booty for a Badman'' – William Tell Sackett (originally published in the Saturday Evening Post 30 July 1960; available in ''War Party'')
Sacketts are also involved in the plot of 10 other novels:
* ''Bendigo Shafter'' – Ethan Sackett
* ''Dark Canyon'' – William Tell Sackett
* ''Borden Chantry'' – Joe Sackett (killed in ambush) and Tyrel Sackett
* ''Passin' Through'' – Parmalee Sackett is mentioned as defending a main character in the book. Also, a main character is a Higgins.
* ''Son of a Wanted Man'' – Tyrel Sackett
* ''Catlow'' – Ben Cowan marries a cousin of Tyrel Sackett's wife
* ''Man from the Broken Hills'' – Em Talon is a main character in this book and was, in fact, born a Sackett. Mentions William Tell Sackett.
* ''Chancy'' – The main character, Otis Tom Chancy, reveals that he is a distant relative of the Sacketts. In addition, the Gates cow outfit claims they are headed west because a Sackett told them of a wonderful, green valley to be had there.
* ''The Iron Marshal'' – In Chapter 6, the Rig Barrett papers state that Henry Drako had trouble with a man named Sackett over a stolen horse in Tennessee and was run out of the state.
* ''Milo Talon'' – In the final gun battle with John Topp, Milo tells him that he, Milo, is a Sackett as his mother was a Sackett.
Talon series
(Note: The Talon and Chantry series are often combined into one list for a total of eight)
* ''Rivers West''
* ''The Man from the Broken Hills'' (Em Talon was born a Sackett. She is the main character's mother.)
* ''Milo Talon'' (is a cousin to the Sacketts through his mother, Em Talon)
Chantry series
* ''Fair Blows the Wind'' (the first Chantry)
* ''The Ferguson Rifle'' – Ronan Chantry
* ''Over on the Dry Side''
* ''Borden Chantry''
* ''North to the Rails'' – Tom Chantry (Borden Chantry's son)
["Over on the Dry Side" Chapter 3 – paragraph 39, Doby tells the reader that the year is 1866 which is well before the time of "Borden Chantry" and "North to the Rails"]
Kilkenny series
* ''The Rider of Lost Creek'' (1976), expanded from the short novel published in the April 1947 issue of ''West magazine'', under the "Jim Mayo" pseudonym.[Jon Tuska, "Louis L'Amour's Western Fiction", A Variable Harvest, McFarland & Co. 1990 ]
* ''The Mountain Valley War'' (1978), expanded from the novella ''A Man Called Trent'', originally published in the December 1947 issue of ''West magazine'', also under the "Jim Mayo" pseudonym. ''A Man Called Trent'' is included in the collection ''The Rider of the Ruby Hills'' (1986).
* ''Kilkenny'' (1954)
* ''A Gun for Kilkenny'' is a short story featuring Kilkenny as a minor character, from the collection ''Dutchman's Flat'' (1986).
* ''West of Dodge'' is a short story from the collection of the same name.
* ''Monument Rock'' is a novella, from the collection ''Monument Rock'' (1998).
Hopalong Cassidy series
Originally published under the pseudonym "Tex Burns". Louis L'Amour was commissioned to write four Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...
books in the spring and summer of 1950 by Doubleday's Double D Western imprint. They were the first novels he ever had published and he denied writing them until the day he died, refusing to sign any of them that fans would occasionally bring to his autograph sessions. The reason given to his young son for doing this was, "I wrote some books. I just did it for the money, and my name didn't go on them. So now, when people ask me if they were mine, I say 'no.'" When his son asked if this would be a lie, he said, "I just wrote them for hire. They weren't my books."
* ''The Rustlers of West Fork''
* ''The Trail to Seven Pines''
* ''The Riders of High Rock''
* ''Trouble Shooter''
Tumbling K series
* ''West of the Pilot Range'' (1947, short story)
* ''McQueen of the Tumbling K'' (1947, short story)
* ''Bad Place to Die'' (1955, short story)
* ''West of the Tularosa'' (1951, short story)
* ''Roundup in Texas'' (1949, short story)
* ''Grub Line Rider'' (1951, short story)
Chick Bowdrie series
* ''McNelly Knows a Ranger'' (1947, short story)
* ''A Job for a Ranger'' (1946, short story)
* ''Bowdrie Rides a Coyote Trail'' (1947, short story)
* ''A Trail to the West'' (1947, short story)
* ''The Outlaws of Poplar Creek'' (1947, short story)
* ''Bowdrie Follows a Cold Trail'' (1947, short story)
* ''More Brains Than Bullets'' (1948, short story)
* ''The Road to Casa Piedras'' (1948, short story)
* ''Bowdrie Passes Through'' (1948, short story)
* ''Where Buzzards Fly'' (1948, short story)
* ''South of Deadwood'' (1948, short story)
* ''Too Tough to Brand'' (1949, short story)
* ''Case Closed – No Prisoners'' (1949, short story)
* ''The Killer from the Pecos'' (1950, short story)
* ''A Ranger Rides to Town'' (1950, short story)
* ''Rain on the Mountain Fork'' (1951, short story)
* ''Down Sonora Way'' (1951, short story)
* ''Strange Pursuit'' (1952, short story)
* ''Strawhouse Trail'' (short story, first known publication 1998 collection ''Monument Rock'')
Cactus Kid series
* ''No Trouble for the Cactus Kid'' (1947, short story)
* ''Medicine Ground'' (1948, short story)
* ''Love and the Cactus Kid'' (1950, short story)
* ''The Cactus Kid Pays a Debt'' (1952, short story)
* ''Battle at Burnt Camp'' (short story, first known publication 1998 collection ''Monument Rock'')
* ''The Cactus Kid'' (1953, short story)
Film adaptations
* '' Crossfire Trail'', 2001. (TV) (novel) a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's Crossfire Trail'' (US). Starring Tom Selleck
Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...
, Virginia Madsen, and Wilford Brimley. Directed by Simon Wincer.
* '' The Diamond of Jeru'' (2001) (TV) (short story) a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's The Diamond of Jeru'' (US: complete title)
* '' Shaughnessy'' (1996) (TV) (novel ''The Iron Marshal'') a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's Shaughnessy'' (Australia), and, ''Louis L'Amour's Shaughnessy the Iron Marshal'' (US: DVD box title)
* '' Conagher'' (1991) (TV) (novel) a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's Conagher'', Starring Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross
Katharine Juliet Ross (born January 29, 1940) is an American film, stage, and television actress. Her accolades include one Academy Award nomination, one BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. A native of Los Angeles, Ross spent most of her ...
. Directed by Reynaldo Villalobos.
* '' The Quick and the Dead'' (1987) ( HBO TV) (novel), Starring Sam Elliott and Kate Capshaw. Directed by Robert Day.
* ''Louis L'Amour's Down the Long Hills'' (1986) (TV) (novel) a.k.a. ''Down the Long Hills''
* '' Five Mile Creek ''(39 episodes, 1983–1985) (TV Series based on novel ''The Cherokee Trail'')
** ''Walk Like a Man'' (1984) TV Episode (inspiration ''The Cherokee Trail'')
** ''When the Kookaburra Cries'' (1984) TV Episode (inspiration ''The Cherokee Trail'')
* '' The Shadow Riders'' (1982) (TV) (novel) a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's The Shadow Riders''
* ''The Cherokee Trail'' (1981) (TV) (story) a.k.a. ''Louis L'Amour's The Cherokee Trail'' (US)
* ''The Sacketts
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' (1979) (TV) (novels ''The Daybreakers'' and ''Sackett'') a.k.a. ''The Daybreakers'' (US: cut version)
* ''Hombre llamado Noon'', Un (1973) (novel) a.k.a. ''The Man Called Noon
''The Man Called Noon'' is a 1973 film directed by Peter Collinson. It stars Richard Crenna and Stephen Boyd. It is based on a 1970 Louis L'Amour novel of the same name.
Cast
* Richard Crenna as Noon, a gunman who develops amnesia after an at ...
'' (Philippines: English title) (UK) (US) & ''Lo chiamavano Mezzogiorno'' (Italy)
* '' Cancel My Reservation'' (1972) (novel ''The Broken Gun'')
* ''Catlow
''Catlow'' is a 1971 American Western film, based on a 1963 novel of the same name by Louis L'Amour. It stars Yul Brynner as a renegade outlaw determined to pull off a Confederate gold heist. It co-stars Richard Crenna and Leonard Nimoy. Nimo ...
'' (1971) (novel)
* ''Shalako
Shalako is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Native American Zuni people for the Zuni people at the winter solstice, typically following the harvest. The Shalako ceremony and feast has been closed to non-native peoples since 1 ...
'' (1968) (novel) ... a.k.a. ''Man nennt mich Shalako'' (West Germany)
* ''Hondo
Hondo may refer to:
Places
* Rio Hondo (disambiguation), the name of several locations, derived from the Spanish word for "deep"
Canada
* Hondo, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
* Hondo, New Mexico, an unincorporated co ...
'' (17 episodes, 1967)
** ''Hondo and the Rebel Hat'' (1967) TV Episode (character)
** ''Hondo and the Apache Trail'' (1967) TV Episode (character)
** ''Hondo and the Gladiators'' (1967) TV Episode (character)
** ''Hondo and the Hanging Town'' (1967) TV Episode (character)
** ''Hondo and the Death Drive'' (1967) TV Episode (character)
* ''Hondo and the Apaches'' (1967) (TV) (story ''The Gift of Cochise'')
* '' Kid Rodelo'' (1966) (novel)
* ''Taggart
''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...
'' (1964) (novel)
* '' Guns of the Timberland'' (1960) (novel)
* ''Heller in Pink Tights
''Heller In Pink Tights'' is a 1960 American Technicolor Western film adapted from Louis L'Amour's 1955 novel ''Heller with a Gun''. It stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn and was directed by George Cukor.
The movie is noted for its lavishly ...
'', 1960 (film) (novel) Starring Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...
and Sophia Loren
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...
. Directed by George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of ...
. Adapted from ''Heller With a Gun''.
* ''Stagecoach West
Stagecoach West is the trading name of Cheltenham & Gloucester Omnibus Company Limited, a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England. ...
'' (1960) TV Episode (story)
* '' Apache Territory'' (1958) (novel ''Last Stand at Papago Wells'')
* ''The Tall Stranger'' (1957) (novel ''Showdown Trail''), ''The Rifle'' (US) and ''Walk Tall'' (US: alternative title)
* ''Maverick
Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to:
History
* Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick
Aviation
* AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design
* General Aviation Design Burea ...
'' (1 episode, October 27, 1957, Season 01 Episode 06) ''Stage West'' Adapted from a magazine article.
* ''Sugarfoot
''Sugarfoot'' is an American Western television series that aired for 69 episodes on ABC from 1957-1961 on Tuesday nights on a "shared" slot basis – rotating with ''Cheyenne'' (first season); ''Cheyenne'' and ''Bronco'' (second season); and ...
'' (1 episode, 1957) ... a.k.a. Tenderfoot (UK)
* ''The Strange Land'' (1957) TV Episode (story)
* ''Utah Blaine
''Utah Blaine'' is a 1957 American Western film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Rory Calhoun. It was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour.
Plot
After saving a rancher from hanging, cowboy Mike "Utah" Blaine learns that his enemy Rink Witte ...
'' (1957) (novel)
* ''The Burning Hills
''The Burning Hills'' is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, based on a 1956 novel by Louis L'Amour.
Plot
When Trace Jordan's brother is murdered and several of their horse ...
'' (1956) (novel)
* ''Flowers for Jenny'' (1956) TV Episode (story)
* ''Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado
''Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado'' is a 1956 American western film directed by Earl Bellamy and starring Howard Duff and Victor Jory. It was based on the novel Kilkenny by Louis L'Amour.
Plot
When a friend in New Mexico is about to be shot, Tom ...
'' (1956) (novel ''Kilkenny'')
* ''City Detective'' (1 episode, 1955)
* ''Man Down, Woman Screaming'' (1955) TV Episode (story)
* ''Stranger on Horseback
''Stranger on Horseback'' is a 1955 American Anscocolor Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Joel McCrea. The screenplay is based on a story by Louis L'Amour. It was filmed in and around Sedona, Arizona.
Plot
Rick Thorne, a ci ...
'' (1955) (story)
* ''Climax!
''Climax!'' (later known as ''Climax Mystery Theater'') is an American television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS progra ...
'' (1 episode, 1955) ... a.k.a. Climax Mystery Theater (US)
* ''The Mojave Kid'' (1955) TV Episode (story)
* ''Treasure of Ruby Hills
''Treasure of Ruby Hills'' is a 1955 American black-and-white Western (genre), Western film directed by Frank McDonald (director), Frank McDonald and starring Zachary Scott, Carole Mathews, Barton MacLane, Dick Foran, and Lola Albright. The fil ...
'' (1955) (story)
* '' Four Guns to the Border'' (1954) (story) ... a.k.a. ''Shadow Valley'' (US)
* ''Hondo
Hondo may refer to:
Places
* Rio Hondo (disambiguation), the name of several locations, derived from the Spanish word for "deep"
Canada
* Hondo, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
* Hondo, New Mexico, an unincorporated co ...
'' (1953) (story ''The Gift of Cochise'') Starring John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
and Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acade ...
.
* ''East of Sumatra
''East of Sumatra'' is a 1953 American south seas adventure film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Jeff Chandler, Marilyn Maxwell, Anthony Quinn and Suzan Ball.
Plot
Duke Mullane (Jeff Chandler), manager of a Malayan tin mine, goes to a ...
'' (1953) (story)
See also
* Sackett Family
* Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...
* Louis Masterson
Kjell Hallbing (5 November 1934, in Bærum – 6 May 2004, in Tønsberg) was a Norwegian author of Western books.
Under the pseudonym Louis Masterson, he wrote a series of books about the fictitious Texas Ranger (and later U.S. Marshal) '' ...
Notes
References
* ''Grub Line Rider'' foreword by Jon Tuska, Dorchester Publishing Co. New York. 2008
* Jon Tuska, ''Louis L'Amour's Western Fiction'', A Variable Harvest, McFarland & Co. 1990
* Jean Henry Mead, ''Maverick Writers'', Caxton Press, Caldwell, ID. 1989
External links
Louis L'Amour official website
*
*
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091203141240/http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/Louis%20L'Amour%20Interview.htm Excerpt from ''Maverick Writers'' 1987 interview with Louis L'Amour by Jean Henry Mead*
* Th
Louis L'Amour manuscript
at th
American Heritage Center
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