The Deer Stalker

Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 - October 23, 1939) was an American dentist and author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts.

Born and raised in Zanesville, Ohio, Grey was intrigued by history from an early age. His first three novels recounted the heroism of ancestors who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was also an avid reader of adventure stories such as Robinson Crusoe and the Leatherstocking Tales, as well as dime novels featuring Buffalo Bill and “Deadwood Dick”.

Grey attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship and studied dentistry. He went on to play minor league baseball with several teams, including the Newark, New Jersey Colts in 1898 and also with the Orange Athletic Club for several years. He played a single major league game in 1903 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After graduating, Grey established his practice in New York City and began to write in the evening.

He is the author of Riders of the Purple Sage (1912), which has been widely regarded as the most popular Western novel of all time. In addition to the commercial success of his printed works, his novels and short stories have been adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater.

Zane Grey died in Altadena, California in 1939 aged 67.