Who was Zane Grey?

Key Takeaways

• Grey was a dentist in early adulthood and an avid outdoorsman
• More than 100 films have been adapted from Grey’s books
• Grey is said to have become one of the first millionaire authors

Zane Grey was a famous American Western novelist and one of the most influential writers of frontier and adventure fiction in the early 20th century.

Born Pearl Zane Grey on Jan. 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio, he was a dentist in early adulthood and always an avid outdoorsman, which led to him discovering his love for writing about Westerns, adventure, hunting, and fishing.

Grey’s 1912 novel “Riders of the Purple Sage” is considered one of the most important Western novels ever written. It was turned into a made-for-television movie in 1996, and it stars Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Henry Thomas.

More than 100 films and television episodes have been adapted from Grey’s books and his work helped shape the image of the American frontier that is said to have influenced generations of storytellers like Louis L’Amour, John Ford and even mid-century Hollywood Westerns.

A main theme in Grey’s work was usually around rugged frontier landscapes, clear moral conflicts, romance intertwined with survival and about heroic loners versus corrupt town or outlaws.

Grey became one of the first millionaire authors. Aside from Westerns, he also wrote six children’s books, three baseball books and eight fishing books, many of which were also bestsellers. It’s estimated that he wrote more than nine million words in his career and he was inside the top-10 bestseller list nine different times from 1917 to 1926. He was President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s favorite author.

Zane Grey died of heart failure in his California home on Oct. 23, 1939, at age 67.