Norman A. Fox

Norman Fox
Born Norman Arnold Fox
(1911-05-26)May 26, 1911
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Died March 24, 1960(1960-03-24) (aged 48)
Great Falls, Montana
Occupation novelist
Nationality American
Genre Western fiction

Norman Arnold Fox (May 26, 1911 – March 24, 1960) was an American author best known for Western stories and novels.[1][2] His stories were often set around actual events in Montana history and contained authentic detail for the period. Norman's works were adapted into radio programs, live television and motion pictures.

Biography

Norman Arnold Fox was born May 26, 1911, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Alfred and Florence Pearl Fox. The family moved to Montana in 1916 to homestead but eventually settled in Great Falls. Norman developed a love of the Old West and began dabbling with writing while in high school. He sold his first story in 1933 and turned to writing full-time in late 1937 when he lost his job due to the Great Depression. While initially writing short stories for pulp magazines such as Western Story Magazine, Norman succeeded in having his first novel published in 1940.

For the rest of his life Norman continued writing short stories while publishing one to two novels per year. His popularity was greatest in the mid–1950s when his stories were regularly filmed, "making the author a brief star of sorts to the film community" (Herzberg 2005).[3] The films made from his novels featured such stars as: Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy, Tony Curtis, and James Stewart.

Norman was in the prime of his career when his life was cut short by cancer. He died on March 24, 1960 and is buried in Great Falls, Montana.

Works

Books

Year Title Genre Publisher
1940 The Gunsight Kid Western Phoenix Press
1941 Gun Handy Western Phoenix Press
1942 The Six Gun Syndicate Western Phoenix Press
1942 The Stampede Kid Western Phoenix Press
1943 Lord Six Gun Western Phoenix Press
1944 The Thundering Trail Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1944 Dead End Trail Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1945 Thorson of Thunder Gulch Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1945 Silent in the Saddle Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1946 The Valley of the Vanishing Riders Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1947 Cactus Cavalier Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1948 The Rider from Yonder Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1948 The Devil's Saddle Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1948 The Feathered Sombrero Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1949 The Thirsty Land Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1949 Shadow on the Range Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1950 Stormy in the West Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1950 The Phantom Spur Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1951 Roughshod Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1951 Tall Man Riding Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1952 Ghostly Hoofbeats Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1953 Long Lightning Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1953 The Rawhide Years Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1954 Broken Wagon Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1956 Night Passage Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1956 Stranger from Arizona originally as "Winchester Cut" by Mark Sabin (1951) Fawcett Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1957 The Badlands Beyond Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1957 The Valiant Ones Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1958 Rope the Wind Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1959 Reckoning at Rimbow Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1960 The Hard Pursued Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1960 The Trembling Hills Western Dodd, Mead & Co.
1968 They Rode the Shining Hills Western Dodd, Mead & Co.

Films

  • Gunsmoke (1953) from the novel "Roughshod" (1951)
  • Tall Man Riding (1955) from the novel "Tall Man Riding" (1951)
  • The Rawhide Years (1955) from the novel "The Rawhide Years" (1953)
  • Night Passage (1957) from the novel "Night Passage" (1956)

References

  1. ↑ Norman Fox (1911-1960)
  2. ↑ Henryk Hoffmann "A" Western filmmakers: a biographical dictionary of writers, ... 2000- Page 24 "Norman A. FOX (1911-1960) Norman Arnold Fox was born in 1911, ... Fox's novels attracted Hollywood's attention in the mid-1950s, when four of his novels were made into four western films,
  3. ↑ Bob Herzberg Shooting Scripts: From Pulp Western To Film 2005 -- Page 84 "Norman A Fox and the Clichés of the West.- At first glance, there seems to be nothing special about the works of Norman A. Fox. He had written ... Yet as far as Hollywood was concerned, in the mid–1950s Norman A. Fox's novels were regularly filmed, making the author a brief star of sorts to the film community. The films made from his works starred western giants Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy...

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, August 06, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.