Norman F. Maclean, author of "A River Runs Through It," the acclaimed book about fishing and his childhood in Montana, died at home Thursday after a year of deteriorating health. He was 87.
Maclean began "A River Runs Through It," when he was 70 years old, after a career as an English professor at the University of Chicago. He was born in Clarinda, Iowa, and grew up in Missoula, Mont.The book was praised by critics and cited by the Pulitzer Prize jury as the best work of 1976, although the advisory board gave no award for fiction that year.
The University of Chicago said Robert Redford has bought movie rights to the book and plans to direct the film version next summer, according to Maclean's son-in-law Joel Snyder.