The Cowboy and the Cossack

Clair Huffaker was a legendary western screenwriter and author. His screenplays include The Comancheros, Hellfighters, and War Wagon starring John Wayne, along with Flaming Star, Seven Ways from Sundown, Rio Conchos, and Posse from Hell. Huffaker also wrote for TV western series such as Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Virginian, and Rawhide, including eighteen episodes of Lawman. Many of his movies were based on his bestselling books. Huffaker was a cowboy, a champion boxer, a part-time smuggler, and a writer for Time, Inc. in New York. He served in the Navy in World War II, studied in Europe, and eventually returned to the US where he began his career as a freelance writer. He wrote short stories, screenplays, and novels at his home in Los Angeles, which was a gathering place for actors, stuntmen, directors, and writers who could regularly be found there shooting pool, playing poker, and exchanging tall tales.