Gordon D. Shirreffs


Gordon Donald Shirreffs was an American author, known mostly for writing Western and juvenile novels. He also wrote a teleplay. Two of his novels, Judas Gun and Rio Bravo, were made into movies. One of his short stories became the movie The Lonesome Trail.

Biography

Gordon Shirreffs was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1914, soon after his mother emigrated from Scotland. When his National Guard unit was activated in 1940 Shirreffs served in World War II where he was stationed in Alaska's Aleutian Islands as part of the Pacific Theater. Following the war he attended Northwestern University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Shirreffs married Alice Johanna Gutwein on February 7, 1941 in El Paso, TX. They had two children, a daughter Carole and a son Brian, who died June 22, 2015, Long Beach, CA.
He lived in Granada Hills, San Fernando Valley, CA from 1952 until his death in 1996.
For a time in the 1950s, Shirreffs operated a hobby shop in Granada Hills. In keeping with his Scottish roots, he was a member of one or more bagpipe bands in Burbank and San Fernando, CA.

Novels