Stuart Lake is best known for writing the bio Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal.
After it was published in 1931, Lake spent much of his life in Hollywood, consulting on Westerns like “My Darling Clementine” and the TV series “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (photo with star Hugh O’Brian).
Around 1950, he sued Universal Studios for $400,000. He alleged that they took a story

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows