He write fine novels Terms of Endearment, Last Picture Show , Hud ,
I spent time with him during a conference shortly after Lonesome Dove lit up the literary and (later) mini-series worlds.
Tall fellow, astonishingly smart, yet down to earth. But hardly a tough guy. A friend of mine who knew him well said that "Larry was the kind of guy that when you were kids on the playground you wanted to push him down."
Not a sissy but much more suited to books than broncs.
We sat at the airport waiting for other guests to arrive and Larry talked books...he was quick and sharp in his opinions and, even when I wanted to disagree, I had to acknowledge his keen ear.
He was the only writer I ever knew who spoke generously about his experiences with Hollywood. Every single writer I heard talk about LA-LA Land sneered and sniffed and bitched.
Larry said, "Oh no, they've been wonderful to me. Look at my movies...they've made me rich and famous and and able to do anything I please."
Even in the 80s he said his happiest moment as a writer came when he drifted into his small hometown where filming of Hud had already started; he was looking here and there, not seeing the vehicles or crews, and as he craned about he suddenly saw the tall small town water tower, and realized that Archer, the actual town name, had been painted over and replaced by the name Thalia, which was the name he used in the book.
Women liked him. He was brilliant and kind and loved trade talk, and he addressed them as equals. I thought it was great in one of his non-fiction books (I can't put my hand on it now) he said that with Lonesome Dove he had (perhaps unintentionally) set about writing a "Gone With The Wind for the West'. "But," he said, I guess that's what I did, and I think it worked."