McMurtry, Larry Jeff (1936– )

US writer. Many of his works were made into films, including The Last Picture Show (1966, filmed 1971) and Terms of Endearment (1975), the film of which won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Picture. His novel Lonesome Dove (1986), which debunks the romantic ideals typical of the western genre, was awarded the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, McMurtry mostly wrote about the Southwest, particularly his home state.

Among his many other titles are Horseman, Pass By (1961, filmed as Hud in 1963), Leaving Cheyenne (1963, filmed as Lovin' Molly in 1963), The Desert Rose (1983), Texasville (1987), Buffalo Girls (1990), the Berrybender Narratives – which includes Sin Killer (2002), The Wandering Hill (2003), By Sorrow's River (2003), and Folly and Glory: A Novel (2004) – and Loop Group (2004). Streets of Laredo (1993) was a sequel to Lonesome Dove.