Horace McCoy (April 14, 1897 ? December 15, 1955) was an American writer whose hardboiled novels took place during the Great Depression. His best-known novel is They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1935), which was made into a movie of the same name in 1969, fourteen years after McCoy's death.The film was directed by Sydney Pollack and starred Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin and Gig Young.