Wayne D. Overholser (September 4, 1906, in Pomeroy, Washington – August 27, 1996, in Boulder, Colorado), was an American Western writer. Overholser won the 1953 First Spur Award for Best Western Novel for Law Man using the pseudonym Lee Leighton. Law Man was made into the motion picture Star in the Dust, starring John Agar and Richard Boone (and Clint Eastwood in his first - uncredited - Western role), in 1956.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049793/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm retrieved 11/17/17 In 1955 he won the 1954 (second) Spur Award for The Violent Land. He won the Spur Award for a third time in 1969 for his juvenile novel about the Meeker Massacre, with Lewis Patten. Three additional pseudonyms were John S. Daniels, Dan J. Stevens and Joseph Wayne; combinations of his three sons' names.

Early life Overholser grew up on two different farms in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. He graduated from Pleasant Hill High School in 1924. He first attended Albany College, then the Oregon Normal School. He taught school in Tillamook and Bend.

Overholser attended summer school from 1927-1934, taking botany classes and studying under writing professor W. F. G. Thacher (who also mentored Ernest Haycox, whom Overholser cited as an influence) at the University of Oregon, graduating in 1934 with a bachelor of science degree. He married Evaleth Miller in 1934, and the couple traveled to Missoula, Montana in 1935 where Wayne studied with E. Douglas Branch and Robert Penn Warren.

He sold his first story to Popular Western, a pulp magazine, in 1936.

In popular culture Overholser was referenced in Stephen King's novel Wolves of the Calla, part of King's Dark Tower, in which he was both mentioned explicitly, and is the namesake of a character in the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis.

Work

+ credits title year publisher comment Wayne D. Overholser Buckaroo's Code 1947 Wayne D. Overholser West of the Rimrock 1949 Wayne D. Overholser Draw or Drag 1950 Joseph Wayne The Snake Stomper 1951 Lee Leighton Law Man 1953 Dan J. Stevens Wild Horse Range 1953 Ace Wayne D. Overholser Steel to the South 1953 Wayne D. Overholser Fabulous Gunman 1954 John S. Daniels The Nester 1954 Lee Leighton Beyond the Pass 1956 Wayne D. Overholser Cast a Long Shadow 1957 Wayne D. Overholser The Lone Deputy 1960 Wayne D. Overholser The Killer Marshal 1961 Wayne D. Overholser Standoff at the River 1961 Wayne D. Overholser War in Sandoval County 1961 Wayne D. Overholser The Bitter Night 1962 Wayne D. Overholser The Judas Gun 1962 Wayne D. Overholser The Trial of Billy Peale 1963 Wayne D. Overholser A Gun for Johnny Deere 1964 Wayne D. Overholser To the Far Mountains 1964 Wayne D. Overholser Day of Judgement 1965 Wayne D. Overholser Colorado Incident - reissue of Day of Judgement Lee Leighton Big Ugly 1966 Wayne D. Overholser Ride Into Danger 1967 Wayne D. Overholser Summer of the Sioux 1967 Lee Leighton Hanging at Pulpit Rock 1967 Wayne D. Overholser North to Deadwood 1968 Wayne D. Overholser Dakota Jones 1969 German translation of North to Deadwood Wayne D. Overholser The Meeker Massacre 1969 with Lewis B Patten Lee Leighton You'll never hang me 1971 Wayne D. Overholser The Noose 1972 Wayne D. Overholser The Long Trail North 1973 Wayne D. Overholser Brand 99 1974 Wayne D. Overholser Diablo Ghost 1978 Wayne D. Overholser The Trouble Kid 1978 Wayne D. Overholser The Cattle Queen Feud 1979 Lee Leighton Cassidy 1980 Wayne D. Overholser Sun on the Wall 1981 Wayne D. Overholser Mason County War 1981 Wayne D. Overholser Dangerous Patrol 1982 Wayne D. Overholser The Long Wind 1986 Wayne D. Overholser Bunch Grass 1986 Wayne D. Overholser Gunplay Valley: The Sweet And Bitter Land 1987 Wayne D. Overholser Return of the Kid 1987 Wayne D. Overholser By Gun and Spur 1987 Wayne D. Overholser Red Snow 1988 Wayne D. Overholser The Dry Gulcher 1988 Wayne D. Overholser Gunlock 1988 Wayne D. Overholser Red Is the Valley 1988 Wayne D. Overholser Land of Promises 1989 Wayne D. Overholser Proud Journey 1989 Wayne D. Overholser Valley of Guns 1991 Wayne D. Overholser Cast a Long Shadow 1991 Wayne D. Overholser Desperate Man 1992 Wayne D. Overholser The Violent Land 1992 Wayne D. Overholser Hearn's Valley 1992 Wayne D. Overholser Tough Hand 1992 Wayne D. Overholser The Hunted 1994 Wayne D. Overholser The Patriarch of Gunsight Flat 1996 Wayne D. Overholser They Hanged Wild Bill Murphy 1996 Wayne D. Overholser Nightmare in Broken Bow 1997 Wayne D. Overholser Nugget City 1997 John S. Daniels War Party 1997 Wayne D. Overholser The Violent Men 1997 Wayne D. Overholser Riders of the Sundowns 1997 Wayne D. Overholser Buckskin Man 1998 Wayne D. Overholser The Petticoat Brigade 1998 Wayne D. Overholser Oregon Trunk 1998 Wayne D. Overholser Chumley's Gold 1999 Wayne D. Overholser Ride the Red Trail 2000 Wayne D. Overholser Tales of the West 2000 Wayne D. Overholser Gunflame 2000 Wayne D. Overholser The Outlaws 2000 Wayne D. Overholser Gateway House 2001 Wayne D. Overholser Revenge in Crow City 2001 Wayne D. Overholser Rainbow Rider 2001 Wayne D. Overholser The Day the Killers Came 2002 Wayne D. Overholser The Three Sons of Adam Jones 2003 Wayne D. Overholser The Bad Man 2003 Wayne D. Overholser Wild Horse River 2003 Wayne D. Overholser The Law at Miles City 2004 Wayne D. Overholser Bitter Wind 2006 Lee Leighton Fight for the Valley 2007 Lee Leighton Tomahawk 2009 Wayne D. Overholser Pass Creek Valley 2009 Wayne D. Overholser Shadow on the Land 2009 Wayne D. Overholser Law at Angel's Landing 2010 Wayne D. Overholser The Man from Yesterday 2010 Wayne D. Overholser Death of a Cattle King 2011 Wayne D. Overholser Ten Mile Valley 2012 Wayne D. Overholser The Waiting Gun 2013 Wayne D. Overholser Swampland Empire 2013

Collections The Best Western Stories of Wayne D. Overholser (1984) aka The Best Western Stories

References