Michael Lennox Blake (July 5, 1945 – May 2, 2015) was an American author, best known for the film adaptation of his novel Dances with Wolves.

Biography

Early in his life, Blake's family lived in Texas, before moving to Southern California, where they moved frequently. He began writing when he was stationed at Walker Air Force Base, when he wrote for the base newspaper. He studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, and later studied at a film school, in Berkeley, California. He also attended Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. In the late 1970s he moved to Los Angeles; during the eighties only one of his screenplays was produced, called Stacey’s Knights. The movie starred Kevin Costner, who later convinced him to write Dances with Wolves, and then a screenplay for the film based on the novel. He has since gone on to do humanitarian work, and continued to write.

Michael Blake has three brothers, one of whom is Dan Webb, former principal of Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, NM.

He died on May 2, 2015, after a long illness in Tucson, Arizona.

Works

Screenplays

• Stacey’s Knights (1983)
• Dances with Wolves (1990)
• Winding Stair (1998) also directed
• The One (In development)
• The Holy Road (In development)
• Winnetou (In development)

Novels

• Dances With Wolves (1988) Fawcett Gold Medal ISBN 0-449-13448-2
• Airman Mortensen (1991) Seven Wolves Publishing ISBN 0-9627387-7-8
• Marching to Valhalla (1996) Villard Books ISBN 0-679-44864-0
• The Holy Road (2001) Villard Books ISBN 0-679-44866-7
• Dances With Wolves, 20th Anniversary (2011 eBook) ZOVA Books
• The Holy Road (2011) ZOVA Books ISBN 978-0-615-51057-6
• Into The Stars (2011) ZOVA Books ISBN 978-0-615-51053-8

Non-fiction

• Like A Running Dog (2002) Autobiography
• Indian Yell (2006)
• Twelve the King (2009)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
• Spur Award for Best Motion Picture
• Cancervive Victory Award
• Eleanor Roosevelt Award for work with minorities and the environment
• Animal Protection Institute’s Humanitarian of the Year
• Air Force Sergeants Association’s Americanism Award (1992)
• Amanda Blake Award
• American Library Association’s Library Hero Award
• Environmental Media Award
• Golden Quill