McGuane, Thomas

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1939-12-11

Nationality: Americans,

Language: English,

Biographical notes:

Thomas McGuane, novelist and screenwriter.

From the description of Rancho deluxe : screenplay, n.d. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 82086373

Thomas McGuane, American writer.

Thomas Francis McGuane III was born 11 December 1939 in Wyandotte, Michigan. He graduated in 1958 from the boarding school Cranbrook Kingswood School. He also grew up working on a ranch in Wyoming and fished and hunted. From a young age McGuane knew that he wanted to be a writer and by age 16 had started his writings. He received his BA in English from Michigan State University in 1962. He received his Master’s in Fine Arts from Yale University in 1965 and then was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University from 1966-1967, during which time he wrote his first novel, The Sporting Club .

Montana became the home for McGuane and his wife, Rebecca Portia Crockett, after he completed the fellowship. There he wrote his second novel, The Bushwhacked Piano, which won him the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His third novel, Ninety-Two in the Shade, was published in 1973. Shortly after this he began writing for the screen and wrote works such as, Captain Berserko, Rancho Deluxe, and The Missouri Breaks, which starred Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. McGuane was then quickly integrated into the "Hollywood" lifestyle as he had an affair with actress Elizabeth Ashley, divorced his first wife, married actress Margot Kidder, had a daughter, and then divorced his second wife, all within one year. He eventually found a wife to keep in Laurie Buffet.

The year 1978 brought a new twist to McGuane’s career. In 1978 he published another novel, Panama . This novel did not go over well with the critics and McGuane struggled through trying to get back into his writing. McGuane’s novels carried a more serious tone from then on. McGuane struggled the next few years as he tried to battle not only through the criticism of his last novel, but also the deaths of his mother, father, and sister within two and half years. But despite his struggles he continued to write novels, short stories, and essays including Nobody’s Angel, 1981, Nothing but Blue Skies, 1992, and The Cadence of Grass, 2002, and even a nonfiction book entitled Best American Sports Writing, 1992.

From the guide to the Thomas McGuane papers, 1989-1991, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)