By Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Many readers of Westerns know the name Will Henry without knowing the man behind it. Henry Wilson Allen wrote more than 50 novels under two pen names, Will Henry and Clay Fisher, while holding a day job in the Hollywood film industry. Critics and fellow writers consider him one of the most serious and historically careful writers the genre produced.
Life
Allen was born on September 29, 1912, in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved to California and went to work at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he spent much of his career in the studio’s short-subjects and cartoon departments. He wrote fiction at night and on weekends. He died on October 26, 1991.
Two names, two styles
The Will Henry books tend to be the more ambitious ones: historical novels built around real events and real people, often told from unexpected points of view, including those of Native Americans. The Clay Fisher books were, in general, more traditional action Westerns. Both names sold well, and several books became films.
Notable books
- No Survivors (1950), a novel of the Little Bighorn era.
- Who Rides with Wyatt (1955), about the Earp brothers.
- From Where the Sun Now Stands (1960), about the Nez Perce flight of 1877, told by a young Nez Perce narrator.
- Mackenna’s Gold (1963), filmed in 1969 with Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif.
- Chiricahua (1972) and I, Tom Horn (1975), later works that show his interest in the hard edges of frontier history.
The Western Writers of America honored his work with several Spur Awards, the organization’s top prize.
Why read him now
Allen’s best novels hold up because he took history seriously and gave his characters, including the ones on the losing side, real inner lives. Readers who like Louis L’Amour’s adventure but want more of the history should try From Where the Sun Now Stands. For other writers, see our list of Western novels worth reading and our profile of Louis L’Amour.
Sources
- Western Writers of America, Spur Award records.
- Publisher catalog records for the Will Henry and Clay Fisher titles.
- Obituaries published in October 1991.
