years old—did not attend. Savage died in Virginia Beach on July 25, 2003, at age 88. Writing career Savage published his first story, "The Bronc Stomper," in 1937 in Coronet under the name Tom Brenner. Annie Proulx has noted that the story was "unremarkable except for its unusual subject matter", breaking a horse. However, the seventy-five dollar payment he received encouraged him to attempt writing a novel. In his first two novels, he introduced the theme of a dysfunctional ranch dynasty that appears throughout Savage's western novels. The Pass (1944) was dedicated to his mother and set in the Lemhi Valley, Idaho. Doubleday's advance payment of $750 for the manuscript confirmed his belief in his career as a writer, a view confirmed when a long section of the novel was included in an anthology of Montana fiction in 1946. His second novel, Lona Hanson (1948), continued the story and proved a financial success unequalled by any of his later Western novels. Columbia Pictures paid him $50,000 for the movie rights. The film slated to star Rita Hayworth and William Holden was never made, but the payment made Savage financially secure. In 1967, Savage's The Power of the Dog was released. The plot focuses on two brothers, simple but honest George Burbank and cold yet malicious Phil Burbank. Phil works to destroy his sister-in-law, goading her with insults to alcoholism in the hope that George will divorce her. He hopes to make an ally of his nephew Peter in this, but Peter proved loyal to his mother. Critics considered the novel Savage's best. The book received favorable reviews. In the New York Times Marshall Sprague wrote that Savage had "a magic hand" with characters that have "a classic inevitability," adding, "The prose is austere and economical. Mr. Savage is not one to waste a whole word if no word at all will do." Sales of the book remained modest. In 2001 a new edition was published with an afterword by Annie Proulx. In 2021, a film version was adapted by Jane Campion, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film was a critical success, earning several accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Director for Campion. Savage published I Heard My Sister Speak my Name in 1977 (reprinted in 2001 as The Sheep Queen). He was inspired by a phone call he received as an adult informing