Eric Mowbray Knight was an English novelist and screenwriter, best recognized for his 1940 novel Lassie Come-Home, which introduced the famous fictional collie, Lassie. Born in Menston, Yorkshire, England, Knight had a varied career that included service in the Canadian Army during World War I, as well as work as an art student, newspaper reporter, and Hollywood screenwriter. His first novel was Song on Your Bugles (1936), which depicted the working-class life in Northern England. Writing under the pseudonym Richard Hallas, he authored the hardboiled genre novel You Play The Black and The Red Comes Up (1938). His work This Above All is considered a significant piece of literature from the Second World War era. In 1942, Knight became an American citizen shortly before his untimely death in 1943. He and his wife, Jere Knight, raised collies on their farm in Pleasant Valley, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.