Alan Le May
Alan Brown Le May (born January 3, 1899 in Indianapolis , Indiana , † April 27, 1964 in Hollywood , California ) was an American writer , screenwriter , film producer and film director .
life and career
Alan Le May was born in Indianapolis, the son of a teacher, and later moved his family to Aurora , Illinois . After graduating from school, he attended the private Stetson University in DeLand , Florida from 1916 . However, his studies were interrupted by a deployment in the United States Army in World War I, in which he reached the rank of Second Lieutenant. He graduated from the University of Chicago in philosophy in 1922 . After spending some time with the Illinois National Guard, he eventually became a newspaper writer. He published his first novel Painted Ponies in 1927 on the Cheyenne .
Le May wrote a double-digit number of novels and an even greater number of short stories. Probably his best-known novels today are The Searchers (1954) and The Unforgiven (1957) - also thanks to their famous film adaptations The Black Falcon (1956) with John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter , directed by John Ford and Which are not forgiven (1960) with Audrey Hepburn and Burt Lancaster . Ford's Black Falcon , which is often considered to be one of the best (western) films of all time, takes a few liberties compared to the original, but generally sticks to these to some extent. In his novels, Le May usually conjured up the theme of the loner surrounded by danger; Indians also play a larger role in his work.
Le May was also involved in the film business as a screenwriter from the 1940s. He wrote mostly for the Paramount Pictures studio on westerns and adventure films . He worked on the script for several productions by star director Cecil B. DeMille . Le May also acted as a producer on three films. He not only wrote the script but also directed the 1950 B-Western In the Heat of the South starring John Drew Barrymore and Chill Wills . Also in 1950, his novel Thunder in the Dust was filmed as a duel at sunset with Robert Preston , for which he also wrote the screenplay. From the 1950s onwards, Le May also worked as a writer for some US television series.
After his death in 1964 at the age of 65, Alan Le May was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego . His son Dan Le May published the biography Alan LeMay: A Biography of the Author of The Searchers at McFarland & Company in 2012 .
Filmography (selection)
- 1940: The Scarlet Horsemen (North West Mounted Police) - screenplay
- 1942: Pirates in the Caribbean Sea (Reap the Wild Wind) - screenplay
- 1944: Trailin 'West (short film) production
- 1944: Dr. Wassell's Escape from Java (The Story of Dr. Wassell) - screenplay
- 1944: The Adventures of Mark Twain (The Adventures of Mark Twain) - Screenplay
- 1945: A Man of Action (San Antonio) - screenplay
- 1945: The Vagabond of Texas (Along Came Jones) - Original
- 1947: Dirty Dollars (Cheyenne) - screenplay
- 1947: Gunfighters - Screenplay
- 1948: The Valley of Passions (Tap Roots) - screenplay
- 1950: The Sundowners - Production, Screenplay
- 1950: In the Heat of the South (High Lonesome) - director, screenplay
- 1950: Lord of the Rough Mountains (Rocky Mountain) - original, screenplay
- 1951: Quebec - production, screenplay
- 1952: Blackbeard, the Pirate - screenplay
- 1953: Company Panthersprung (Flight Nurse) - screenplay
- 1955: The Vanishing American - screenplay
- 1956: The Black Hawk (The Searchers) - template
- 1960: Those who are not forgiven (The Unvorgiven) - template
Bibliography (selection)
Novels
- Pelican Coast (1929)
- One Of Us Is A Murderer (1930)
- Winter Range (1932)
- Cattle Kingdom (1933)
- Thunder in the Dust (1934)
- The Smoky Years (1935)
- Empire for a Lady (1937)
- Useless Cowboy (1944)
- The Searchers (1954)
- The Unforgiven , also known as Kiowa Moon (1957)
- By Dim and Flaring Lamps (1962)
Short story collections
- Spanish Crossing (1998). Contains 14 short stories:
- "The Wolf Hunter" (1929)
- "Just a Horse of Mine" (1930)
- "Hell on wheels" (1934)
- "Kindly Kick Out Bearer" (1930)
- "The Biscuit Shooter" (1931)
- "Guns Flame in Peaceful Valley"
- "And Him Long Gone" (1932)
- "Saddle Bum" (1931)
- "Delayed Action" (1931)
- "Bronc Fighter's Girl" (1932)
- "The Young Rush In" (1929)
- "A Shot in the Dark"
- "Lost Dutchman O'Riley's Luck"
- "Spanish Crossing" (1933)
- The Bells of San Juan (2001). Contains 12 short stories:
- "The Little Kid" (1938)
- "Lawman's debt" (1934)
- "Gray rider"
- "Trail Driver's Luck" (1930)
- "The Loan of a Gun" (1929)
- "Eyes of doom" (1932)
- "Tombstone's daughter"
- "Star on his heart" (1944)
- "The Battle of Gunsmoke Lode" (1930)
- "The Braver Thing" (1931)
- "Sundown corral" (1938)
- "The Bells of San Juan" (1927)
- West of Nowhere (2002). Contains 13 short stories:
- "Death rides the Trionte" (1937)
- "Mules" (1931)
- "The Killer in the Chute" (1932)
- "Sentenced to Swing" (1929)
- "The Fourth Man" (1926)
- "The Fiddle in the Storm" (1933)
- "Terlegraphy and the Bronc '"
- "Gun Fight at Burnt Corral" (1934)
- "A Horse for Sale" (1931)
- "Pardon Me, Lady" (1932)
- "Six-Gun graduate" (1931)
- "Range Bred" (1933)
- "West of Nowhere" (1939)
- Painted Rock (2004). Contains 11 short stories:
- "Whack-Ear's Pup"
- "Strange Fellow"
- "Gunnies from Gehenna"
- "Hard-boiled"
- "Next door to hell"
- "Feud Fight" (1940)
- "Thanks to a Girl in Love" (1932)
- "Man with a Future" (1937)
- "Old Thunder Pumper" (1930)
- "The Nester's Girl" (1933)
- "Fight at Painted Rock" (1939)
- Tonopah Range: Western Stories (2006). Contains 6 short stories:
- "Tonopah Range"
- "One charge of powder" (1930)
- "Blood moon"
- "Empty guns"
- "A Girl is Like a Colt" (1932)
- "Dead Man's Ambush" (1944)
Uncollected short stories
- "Circles in the Sky" (1919)
- "Out of the Swamp" (1920)
- "Ghost Lanterns" (1922)
- "Hullabaloo" (1922)
- "The Brass Dolphin" (1922)
- "Needin 'Help Bad" (1924)
- "His Better Idea" (1925)
- "Mustang Breed" (1925)
- "The Contest Man" (1925)
- "The Legacy Mule" (1925)
- "Baldy at the Brink" (1926)
- "Long Bob from 'Rapahoe" (1926)
- "Facts an 'Figgers on Cayuses" (1927)
- "Old Father of Waters" (1927)
- "Painted Ponies" (1927)
- "The Deadwood Coach Brakes Down" (1927)
- Bug Eye Series:
- "Bug Eye Nearly Starves" (1927)
- "Bug Eye Loses Hisself" (1927)
- "Bug Eye Gets Hisself in Jale" (1928)
- "Bug Eye Among the Soo" (1928)
- "Hank Joins the Vijiluntys" (1928)
- "Hank's Other Pardner" (1928)
- "Hank Arrives Back Ware He Cum Frum" (1929)
- "Are You There, Bug Eye?" (1928)
- "Bug Eye's Wandering Partner" (1928)
- "The Cross Eyed Bull" (1928)
- "Help, Bug Eye — I Own the Town" (1929)
- "Cowboys Will Be Cowboys" (1930)
- "Gambler's Suicide" (1930)
- "Horse Laugh" (1930)
- "One of Us Is a Murderer" (1930)
- "The Creeping Cloud" (1930)
- "The Jungle Terror" (1930)
- "The Short Short Story" (1930)
- "To Save a Girl" (1930)
- "Under Fire" (1930)
- "A Neat, Quick Case" (1931)
- "Gunsight Trail" (1931)
- "The Jungle of the Gods" (1931)
- "A romance of the rodeos" (1932)
- "A Short Short Story" (1932, with Lyman Bryson)
- "Bronc-Fighter's Secret" (1932)
- "Eyes of Doom" (1932, with Lyman Bryson)
- "Have One on Me" (1932)
- "A Passage to Rangoon" (1933)
- "Cold Trails" (1933)
- "Fated Trails" (1933)
- "They Sometimes Come Back" (1933)
- "After the Hounds" (1934)
- "Out of the Whirlpool" (1934)
- "Death on the Rimrock" (1935)
- "Deepwater Island" (1935)
- "Fight Back or Die" (1935)
- "Horses" (1935)
- "Needin 'Some Help" (1935)
- "Pardners" (1935)
- "The Blessed Mule" (1935)
- "A Cowboy in San Juan" (1936)
- "Dark Tropic Sea" (1936)
- "Death Rides the Border" (1936)
- "From an Old Timer in the Black Hills" (1936)
- "Iron Paws" (1936)
- "Outlaw Cavalcade" (1936)
- "The Man from Arapahoe" (1936)
- "Ghost at His Shoulder" (1937)
- "Night by a Wagon Trail" (1937)
- "A Short Short Story" (1938)
- "Impersonation" (1938)
- "Pinto York" (1938)
- "Uncertain Wings" (1938)
- "Aces Is His Hair" (1939)
- "Interrupted Take-Off" (1939)
- "Hell For Breakfast" (1947)
- "Wild Justice" (1948)
- "The Avenging Texans" (1954)
- "Missing in Action" (1956)
Web links
- Alan Le May in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Alan LeMay | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved February 25, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ Alan LeMay at Find A Grave
- ^ Dan LeMay: Alan LeMay: A Biography of the Author of The Searchers . McFarland, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8981-7 ( google.de [accessed February 25, 2019]).
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Le May, Alan |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Le May, Alan Brown (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American author |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 3, 1899 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Indianapolis , Indiana |
DATE OF DEATH | April 27, 1964 |
Place of death | Hollywood , California |