Tom Tryon (January 14, 1926 – September 4, 1991) was an American film and television actor famous as the Walt Disney television character Texas John Slaughter (1958-1961), as well as author of several science fiction, horror, and mystery novels. He was born Thomas Tryon in Hartford, Connecticut. He is usually credited and listed as an author under his birth name.
Tom Tryon is often erroneously identified as the son of silent screen actor Glenn Tryon -- his actual father was Arthur Lane Tryon,[1] a clothier whose lineage in Connecticut predates the Salem witch trials. He was a student at Yale University.

Acting career
Disillusioned with acting, Tryon retired from the profession in 1969 and began writing horror and mystery novels. He was successful, overcoming skepticism about a classically handsome movie star suddenly turning novelist. His most well-known work is The Other (1971), about a boy whose evil twin brother may or may not be responsible for a series of deaths in a small rural community in the 1930s. The novel was adapted as a film the following year, starring Diana Muldaur, Uta Hagen, and John Ritter. Harvest Home, about the dark pagan rituals being practiced in a small New England town, was adapted as The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, a television mini-series starring Bette Davis, in 1978. An extensive critical analysis of Tryon's horror novels can be found in S. T. Joshi's book The Modern Weird Tale (2001).
His other novels include Crowned Heads, a collection of novellas inspired by the legends of Hollywood. The first of these novellas, Fedora, about a reclusive former film actress whose relationship with her plastic surgeon is similar to that between a drug addict and her pusher, was later filmed by Billy Wilder. Though the film was only moderately successful, it is considered by many to be a minor classic of the thriller and horror genres. Another novella in the collection was based on the murder of former silent screen star Ramon Novarro. Lady, written in 1975, concerns the friendship between an eight-year-old boy and a charming widow in 1930s New England and the secret he discovers about her. Many consider this to be Tryon's best work. His 1989 novel Night of the Moonbow tells the story of a boy driven to violent means by the constant harassment he receives at a summer boys camp. Night Magic, written in 1991 and posthumously published in 1995, is currently slated for a screen adaptation.

Writing career
During the 1970s, Tryon was in a romantic relationship with Clive Clerk, one of the original cast members of A Chorus Line and an interior designer who decorated Tryon's Central Park West apartment, which was featured in Architectural Digest.
Tryon continued writing through the 1980s and 1990s, before dying at age 65 on September 4, 1991 from a metastasized stomach cancer which had originated in his spine.

Relationships

Selected works

The Other (1971)
Harvest Home (1973)
Lady (1974)
The Night of the Moonbow (1989)
The Wings of the Morning (1990)
In the Fire of Spring (1991)
The Adventures of Opal and Cupid (1992)
Night Magic (1995) Short Stories and Novellas
Plus numerous guest appearances on the television series Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre, Playhouse 90, Zane Grey Theater, Wagon Train, The Millionaire, The Virginian, Dr. Kildare, and Night Gallery, among others.

The Horsemen (1971)
Persecución hasta Valencia (aka The Narco Men, 1970)
Color Me Dead (1969)
Winchester '73 (1967) (TV)
The Glory Guys (1965)
In Harm's Way (1965)
The Cardinal (1963)
Something's Got to Give (1962)
The Longest Day (1962)
Moon Pilot (1962)
Marines, Let's Go (1961)
The Story of Ruth (1960)
Gundown at Sandoval (1959)
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
Texas John Slaughter (television series, 1958)
The Unholy Wife (aka The Lady and the Prowler, 1957)
Three Violent People (1957)
The Scarlet Hour (1956)
Screaming Eagles (1956)