Charles Portis was born in Oklahoma to a farming family. He attended Oklahoma State University for two years, then transferred to the University of Tulsa, where he graduated with a degree in journalism. He began writing short stories and articles for local newspapers while living in Tulsa, and sold his first story ("My Mother's Piano") to a magazine when he was twenty-one. He later moved to New York City, where he wrote screenplays for Warner Brothers and Universal Studios
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In 1950, Portis published his first novel, True Grit, which became a bestseller and was made into a movie starring John Wayne. In 1952 Portis published the novel The Violent Men, which was made into a major motion picture starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Other books include The Rascal King (1960), Barney's Version (1962), The Dog of the South (1965), A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), The Charterhouse of Parma (1985), and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1986).