Louis de Wohl
author of "the living wood"
Louis De Wohl (1903-1961) was a best-selling author and screenwriter who sold over one million copies across 60+books and was translated into 12languages. More than 15 of his works became movies, including the film “Francis of Assisi”(1961). He also served England with MI5 during World War II. When “THE LIVING WOOD” was published in 1947, J. Arthur Rank (founder of the famous Pinewood Studios) acquired the screen rights to the novel, although it never came to fruition.
The Obituary by New York Times
Louis de Wohl, a writer and astrologer, who during World War II guessed for the Allies what Adolf Hitler might read in the stars, died Friday in Lucerne, Switzerland. He was 58 years old and had been suffering from a heart ailment for some time. A German-Hungarian who became a British subject, Mr. de Wohl wrote more than sixty books, mostly historical novels and fictionalized biographies, many of which became best-sellers. Almost twenty of his works were adapted as stage plays or motion pictures. A climax in his adventurous life came in World War II when the British Army authorized him to create his own personal "Psychological Research Bureau" in the Division of Psycho-logical Warfare. His job consisted in trying to figure what Hitler, who was notoriously superstitious and a believer in his "star," was being told by his astrologers. Wartime colleagues of Mr. de Wohl's were quoted in London yesterday as recalling that he frequently supplied tips about Hitler's future moves that the British War Office found useful. He told his version of the astrological warfare against Nazi Germany in a book, "The Stars of War and Peace," published in 1952.
Recently Lectured in U. S.
Mr. de Wohl's death came shortly after a lecture tour of the United States, during which he had suffered a heart attack. When he visited here for the first time in 1941, he was presented by his press agent as a "Hungarian Astro-philosopher" whose clients included “three kings, prime ministers and cabinet ministers, high church dignitaries, and leading men in finance and industry.' Mr. de Wohl was born in Berlin. Germany's inflation after World War I brought poverty to his family, and he worked as bank clerk, dress designer and as a publicity man for UFA, then the largest German film company. After writing several short stories, Mr. de Wohl, whose given name was Ludwig, published his first novel, "The Big Fight," at the age of 22. Other books followed in quick sequence, and brought wealth to the young author. He traveled extensively, especially in the Middle East and India. Mr. de Wohl emigrated to England in 1935. Although still not naturalized, he was allowed to join the British Army, and attained the rank of a captain. According to one report, he was the first alien to be commissioned as a British officer. He was made a British subject later.
Wrote Novels on Saints
After World War II, Mr. de Wohl became a convert to Ro-man Catholicism. In the United States he was best known as the author of a series of his-torical novels on saints. One, "The Quiet Light," a fictional-ized life story of St. Thomas Aquinas, was reportedly sug-gested by Pope Pius XII, with whom Mr. de Wohl had an au-dience in 1950. Other books on saints were "The Restless Flame" (St. Augustine), "The Golden Thread” (St. Ignatius of Loyola), "Set All Afire" (St. Francis Xavier), "The Glorious Folly" (St. Paul), "The Joyful Beggar" (St. Francis of Assisi), "Citadel of God" (St. Benedict) and "Lay Siege to Heaven" (St. Catherine of Siena). All books were pub-lished by J. B. Lippincott & Co. Mr. de Wohl also tried his hand at science fiction, but critics found him weak on as-trophysics. A posthumous book on King David will be published in Switzerland. Mr. de Wohl became a resident of Lucerne in 1958. Lotte Jacobi