Horace
McCoy did most of his work as a non-noir scriptwriter after 1931 when he worked in
Hollywood as a scripwriter. However, McCoy's best known novel is the noir-styled They
Shoot Horses, Don't They?, which was adapted to screen in 1969 and directed by Sydney
Pollack. McCoy was born in Pegram, Tennessee. He was educated in schools in Nashville. In
the late 1920's he started to get his short stories published in such magazines as
Detective-Dragnet, Detective Action Stories, and Black Mask. After
1931 he worked in Hollywood, writing westerns, crime melodramas, and other films.
He died on December 15, 1955. For further reading:
Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, ed. by John M. Reilly
(1985)
Horace McCoy (1897-1955)
