Bio

• Born in Jamestown, North Dakota. Married Katherine Elizabeth Adams February 19, 1956. They had a son and a daughter. Served as an officer on a tank destroyer during WW II. At one time employed as an elephant handler, fruit picker, longshoreman, lumberjack, miner and rancher.

  Author of 101 books, most with western themes. Hondo and Heller in Pink Tights were made into movies. He wrote several Hopalong Cassidy adventures under the pseudonym Tex Burns. He died at home in Los Angeles.

  In 1983 he became the first novelist to receive a Congressional gold medal. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984. The Congressional medal had an obverse by Matthew Peloso and reverse by Edgar Steever. Bronze copies (USM 676) were sold to the public.

  bio: CBY 1980; ConAut 1R, 3NR, 125; WWWA-9 obit: NYT 6/13/88

Date of birth

• 1908-03-22

Place of birth

• Jamestown, North Dakota

Date of death

• 1988-06-10

Relationships