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Alan Brown Le May (June 3, 1899 – April 27, 1964) was an American novelist and screenplay writer.

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Alan Le May
Born	(1899-06-03)June 3, 1899 Indianapolis, Indiana
Died	April 27, 1964(1964-04-27) (aged 64)
Occupation	Writer (novelist)
Nationality	American
Period	20th century
Genre	Western fiction

He is most remembered for two classic Western novels, The Searchers (1954) and The Unforgiven (1957).[1] They were adapted into the motion pictures The Searchers (1956; starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter, and directed by John Ford) and The Unforgiven (1960; starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn, and directed by John Huston).

He also wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for North West Mounted Police (1940; directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard), Reap the Wild Wind (1942; directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Ray Milland, John Wayne and Paulette Goddard), and Blackbeard the Pirate (1952; directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Robert Newton and Linda Darnell). He wrote the original source novel for Along Came Jones (1945; starring Gary Cooper and Loretta Young), as well as a score of other screenplays and an assortment of other novels and short stories. Le May wrote and directed High Lonesome (1950) starring John Drew Barrymore and Chill Wills and featuring Jack Elam. Le May also wrote and produced (but did not direct) Quebec (1951), also starring John Drew Barrymore.

Biography

He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to John and Maude Brown Le May. His father was a public school teacher and his maternal grandfather (Daniel L. Brown, Sr.) and uncle (Daniel L. Brown, Jr.) were both lawyers. He first lived with his parents and uncle at his grandparents home at 3229 North Illinois Street in Indianapolis. He moved with his family, including his sister Elizabeth, to Aurora, Illinois as a teenager in the 1910s.

He attended Stetson University in DeLand, Florida in 1916. In 1918 he registered for the World War I draft in Aurora, and then enlisted and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While attending the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1922 with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree, he joined the Illinois National Guard. He was promoted to First Lieutenant Field Artillery for the Illinois National Guard in 1923.

He published his first novel, Painted Ponies, in 1927 (about the Cheyenne and the U. S. Cavalry horse soldiers).

Works

Novels

• Painted Ponies (1927)
• Old Father of Waters (1928)
• Pelican Coast (1929)
• One Of Us Is A Murderer (1930)
• Gunsight Trail (1931)
• Bug Eye (1931)
• Winter Range (1932)
• Cattle Kingdom (1933)
• Thunder in the Dust (1934) - Adapted in The Sundowners, AKA Thunder in the Dust (1950), directed by George Templeton
• The Smoky Years (1935)
• Wild Justice (1935)
• Empire for a Lady (1937)
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1943)
• Useless Cowboy (1944) - Adapted in Along Came Jones (1945), directed by Stuart Heisler
• Winter Range (1948)
• The Searchers (1954) - Adapted in The Searchers (1956), directed by John Ford
• The Unforgiven, AKA Kiowa Moon (1957) - Adapted in The Unforgiven (1960), directed by John Huston
• By Dim and Flaring Lamps (1962)

Short story collections

Short stories

Uncollected short stories.

Screenplays

• North West Mounted Police (1940), directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• Reap the Wild Wind (1942), directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944), directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), directed by Irving Rapper
• Trailin' West (1944), directed by George Templeton
• Story of G.I. Joe (1945), directed by William Wellman. Uncredited
• San Antonio (1945), directed by David Butler and, uncredited, Robert Florey and Raoul Walsh
• Cheyenne (1947), directed by Raoul Walsh
• Gunfighters (1947), directed by George Waggner
• Tap Roots (1948), directed by George Marshall
• The Walking Hills (1949), directed by John Sturges
• The Sundowners, a.k.a. Thunder in the Dust (1950), directed by George Templeton
• High Lonesome (1950), directed by Alan Le May
• Rocky Mountain (1950), directed by William Keighley
• Quebec (1951), directed by George Templeton
• I Dream of Jeanie, a.k.a. I Dream of Jeanie (with the Light Brown Hair) (1952), directed by Allan Dwan
• Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), directed by Raoul Walsh
• Flight Nurse, a.k.a. Angels Take Over, a.k.a. Angels over Korea (1953), directed by Allan Dwan
• The Vanishing American (1955), directed by Joseph Kane

References

External links

• Alan Le May at IMDb
• Works by Alan Le May at Faded Page (Canada)
• Alan Le May on The FictionMags Index
• Filmography on The New York Times

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