Larry McMurtry, Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Lonesome Dove’ author, dead at 84

The Oscar-winning "Brokeback Mountain" screenwriter died of heart failure, according to a family statement issued through a publicist on Friday.

McMurtry, who had in his later years split his time between his small Texas hometown of Archer City and Tucson, Arizona, wrote dozens of books, including novels, biographies and essay collections. He simultaneously worked as a bookseller and screenwriter, co-writing the Oscar-winning script for the movie "Brokeback Mountain." Several of McMurtry’s books became feature films, including the Oscar-winners "The Last Picture Show" and "Terms of Endearment." His epic 1986 Pulitzer winner "Lonesome Dove," about a cattle drive from Texas across the Great Plains during the 1870s, was made into a popular television miniseries that starred Robert Duvall, who has often cited the project as a personal favorite and likened his role as retired Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae to acting in "Hamlet."