Final 'Red Ryder' strip from 27 December 1964, as published in a Canadian newspaper
Robert MacLeod was an American writer and landscape painter, specialized in western themes. He spent his childhood in Montana and Washington, and began his career as a draftsman in New York City. He picked up landscape painting after marrying Laurie Andrews around 1940. When the couple settled in Santa Barbara, California, in the 1950s, Bob MacLeod started working with Fred Harman on the cowboy comic 'Red Ryder and Little Beaver' for Newspaper Enterprise Association. He continued the feature as a credited author, and aided by his wife, during its final year, from April 1963 until December 1964.
By then, MacLeod had already published his first young adult-themed books, such as 'The Medicine Bull' and 'Tosco the Stubborn One'. From 1963, MacLeod published ten western novels through Gold Medal and Pocket Book, including 'The Appaloosa', 'The Muleskinner', 'Apache Tears' and 'Feather in the Wind'. Both '100 Rifles' and 'The Appaloosa' were turned into movies, the latter starring Marlon Brando in 1966. By 1971, Bob and Laurie MacLeod settled in Black Canyon City, Arizona, where Bob retired in 1978.