Thomas McGuane - 1939
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I. Biography Thomas McGuane spent most of his rough childhood alone. He was born on December 11, 1939, and was raised in Grosse Ile., Michigan. His house was full of books,
which he loved to read because he loved words. His Irish Catholic father developed a passion in young Tom for the outdoors. He always had to put on a face to hide suffering
from his alcoholic parents. His father would drink and get very angry. The alcoholism damaged the whole family. At age ten, he got in to a fistfight about a description of the
sunset. At age fifteen, he ran away from home to his girlfriend's father's ranch in Wyoming. There he decided he wanted to be a cowboy. As time past, he ended up going to Cranbrook School, a boarding school outside of
Detroit, to continue his education. There he decided he should go back to his original dream of being a writer. He flunked out of the University of Michigan because he didn't try
his hardest. He ended up studying play writing at the Yale Drama School. Then he moved to Stanford where he won the Stegner Fellowship Award for fiction.
He decided he would prepare himself for a writing career because he had nothing else he could do. He wrote the Sporting Club in 1969 and received rave reviews for his work. Two years later, he wrote
The Bushwhacked Piano, a story about a scheme to sell two bat-infested towers to the public. After two more years, he wrote Ninety-Two in the Saddle.
This book really got him recognized in the literary world. He began writing scripts and he gained more fame. In exchange for writing the film The Missouri Breaks he got to direct the screen version of
Ninety-Two in the Saddle. With all the money Tom was bringing in he bought a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana. He lived there with his wife Betty Crockett. Problems arose in the marriage and they got a
divorce. After this came a nine-month marriage to Margot Kidder. His third marriage was to Lauria Buffet at the Montana Court House. The couple decided to let their kids pick the
spot of their wedding dinner location and they chose the A&W Root Beer stand. A few years later he decided he didn't want to be an alcoholic so he gave up the liquor.
Later he moved out of Paradise Valley to his current location near Mcleod. McGuane now spends his time trying to be a cowboy; "I want to ride with the cowboys, go to brandings,
doctor cattle and train my horses…" He has been living in Montana for the last thirty-two years. He spends a lot of his time tending his ranch, fishing, and working with his cutting horses.
He enjoys writing and reading for many reasons. He loves words and owns a vision of a life of freedom. He says the actual act of writing is a great pleasure. The lives around him
and his belief that things are never as they appear are what inspires Tom the most in his writing. He likes to read modern novels, and books about history, fishing and travel. II. Literary Works Books Films This essay was submitted by a student of Steve Gardiner, a teacher at Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana.
The Sporting Club
The Bushwhacked Piano
Ninety Two in the Saddle
Panama
Something to be Desired
Nobody's Angel
Keep The Change
To Skin A Cat
Nothing But Blue Skies
Rancho Deluxe
The Missouri Breaks
Tom Aron