Lassie author's own life story is worthy of a Hollywood epic

HE is the creator of possibly the most famous dog in the world but perhaps the most amazing thing about Eric Knight is that his own life story was never made into a film.

As the man who wrote Lassie he will always have a place in Hollywood's history books - but the untold drama surrounding his own life has yet to be put on to celluloid. It's a story of epic proportions which goes from riches to rags and back again before ending with his death in a mysterious, unexplained plane crash.

During his relatively short but immensely eventful life Eric Knight went from working in a bottle factory to become the darling of Hollywood, and a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Considered to be an immense literary figure, he earned his place in history with a simple tearjerker.

Handsome, charismatic and brave, he fought in two world wars, before dying at the age of 46, in a plane crash which is still surrounded by conspiracy theories more than 60 years later.

The young Eric was born in 1897 and started life in fairly affluent circumstances in Menston. But when he was three the family were plunged into destitution when his father went to South Africa and never came back.

Even his father's desertion is shrouded in mystery, according to the writer, Greg Christie, who discovered Eric's links to Menston. He said: "Some people say he went to fight in the Boer War but I don't believe that."

Mr Knight senior had been involved in the jewellery trade, and Mr Christie believes he went to search for diamonds in South Africa.

Whatever the reason, his departure left the family poverty-stricken. Mrs Knight went on to marry an American and moved across the Atlantic - leaving her three sons behind in the care of relatives.

Mr Christie said: "His mother married an American called Mr Kahn and went to Boston in 1905. She left him in the car of his Aunt Nellie in Jack Lane, Leeds. It must have been terrible for him. He was just eight years old and by the time he was ten he was working in a bottle factory."

But young Eric dreamed of greater things, and when he was 15 he, too, set sail for America. He worked on ranches, sold newspapers, and panned for gold to pay for his education at the Boston Latin School.

With the outbreak of the First World War he headed back across the Atlantic as a volunteer in Princess Pat's Canadian Light Infantry. And even when both his brothers died in the conflict he continued to serve.

"His two brothers were killed in 1918 on June 29 and 30 respectively. He could have said I have had enough, because in a situation like that the last remaining brother was allowed to leave the service."

But Eric fought on before returning to find fame and fortune in The States.

He worked on several newspapers - beginning as a lowly copy boy - and eventually became a respected film critic. He wrote two widely acclaimed novels and became a Hollywood script writer. But, a down to earth Yorkshire man, he was never happy with the artificiality of the town.

"He hated Hollywood - which is odd, because it made him a very wealthy man," Mr Christie said.

But although he hated Tinseltown, Tinseltown loved him.

"In 1934 he was contracted for 12 months and that earned him $10,000," Mr Christie said. "It was more than some men were earning in a lifetime."

"People liked him because he had an accent and he was smart and dapper and down to earth. He was handsome and intelligent and he was an extremely enigmatic figure."

"He had friends in high places, and he played tennis with Eleanor Roosevelt."

Such was his prestige and success that the some of the greatest names of the time wanted to appear in his work. But his head was not easily turned and he earned the distinction of being one of the few people to turn Charlie Chaplin down.

The actor, who was at the height of his fame, loved Knight's book Sam Small, The Flying Yorkshireman, and wanted to put it on to the silver screen?

"Charlie Chaplin went to see Eric Knight and said I want to play Sam Small. And Eric said ' I am sorry Mr Chaplin, you can't - you are not a Yorkshireman.

"He could have made himself a millionaire overnight if he had agreed," Mr Christie said.

Sam Small never was made into a film - but the classic Lassie Come Home became a Hollywood blockbuster. The tale of a young boy and his loyal dog caught the public imagination, and it has entertained generations of children since it was made in 1943.

But sadly Knight never saw the film's runaway success. He had volunteered for action again at the start of the Second World War - enlisting with the US forces after he was rejected by the British army because of his age.

Poignantly in the same year as Lassie appeared on screen, Major Eric Knight was killed in action in a plane crash off Dutch Guiana. He was 46 years old.

Mystery and intrigue still surround the crash, which claimed 35 lives, and today his family are still fighting for an official explanation for the accident.

In a website dedicated to discovering the truth the author's granddaughter, Betsy Cowan, appeals for information from anyone who can shed light on what happened.

The plane was believed to be en route to Casablanca when it came down. According to his granddaughter there was evidence at the crash site to indicate that the doomed flight was a secret one.

Large sums of money and secret coded documents were found at the crash site, and two FBI agents were on the flight.

Despite the family's attempt to get to the truth they say they have never been given an explanation for what happened. Conspiracy theorists point to the fact that the plane was the subject of a bomb scare shortly before the crash.

Others believe the real target was the American president himself.

Mr Christie explained: "There is a theory that the American president was due to fly on a similar plane on a similar route, and that Eric's plane was shot down."

He said further intrigue was added by the British Government's insistence that the actor Leslie Howard had died in the same accident as Eric Knight - a fact which Mr Christie says he has disproved.

"There are those who still say that Leslie Howard was a double agent, and that his plane, which came down in June not January, was shot down," he said.

Conspiracy theorists read significance into the fact that the plane which Eric Knight was travelling on had been the subject of a bomb scare shortly before it crashed.

But Mr Christie, who has been trying to get to the truth along with the author's family, stressed: "It was wartime and bomb alerts were as common then as they are now. There were two other bomb alerts on the same day for the same airline."

There is a theory that the FBI agents were following the well-known author, but the Bureau's refusal to discuss the matter means the facts are still shrouded in mystery.

Mr Christie said: "We have drawn a blank because people won't talk to us about it. If the FBI would just come out and say our two men were on a mission to Cairo or whatever then that would be fine. We would know it was nothing to do with Eric."

But he said the authorities' reluctance to talk meant the author's family were still trying to find information.

But despite all the conspiracy theories he stressed: "It is all just pure speculation. But I am fairy convinced it was an accident."

l A documentary on Greg Christie's findings will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday at 3.30pm.