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:
  1. "Bug Eye Nearly Starves" (1927)
  2. "Bug Eye Loses Hisself" (1927)
  3. "Bug Eye Gets Hisself in Jale" (1928)
  4. "Bug Eye Among the Soo" (1928)
  5. "Hank Joins the Vijiluntys" (1928)
  6. "Hank's Other Pardner" (1928)
  7. "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

1. ^ Alan LeMay | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved February 25, 2019 (American English). 
2. ↑ Alan LeMay at Find A Grave
3. ^ 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]).