Lonesome Dove Facts You May Not Know

This post is credited to W.F. Strong.

I have always been a huge fan of westerns but none more so than Lonesome Dove. I ran across some not so well known facts over the weekend and thought I'd share.

Lonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning (1986) western novel written by Larry McMurtry about two retired Texas Rangers, Augustus "Gus" McCrae and W.F. "Woodrow" Call. However, it began in 1972 for a movie that was to be called The Streets of Laredo. The plan was for John Wayne to play the role of Call, James Stewart as McCrae and Henry Fonda as Jake Spoon. John Wayne backed, Stewart soon followed and the project was buried.

It was about 15 years later that McMurty saw an old bus with the phrase "Lonesome Dove Baptist Church" on it so he revised the book into a novel and changed the name.

Here are some other fun facts:

• The original movie rights were bought by Motown
• Robert Duvall actually turned down the role of Woodrow Call so he could play Gus McCrae
• Charles Bronson was going to play the role of Blue Duck but had to back out
• Knowing they were filming a classic, Robert Duvall said they were making the "Godfather of all Westerns"
• Lonesome Dove never won the Emmy in 1989, 'War and Remembrance' did which not many even remember
• Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall were made honorary members of the Texas Rangers
• Lonesome Dove has sold more DVD's than any other Western in cinema history
• McMurty wrote Lonesome Dove to show the real hardships of living a cattleman's life vs. the romantic life many think they lived
• The story was actually based on the real lives of Charles Goodnight's and Oliver Loving's cattle drive from Texas to Montana

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