Morris Langlo West (1916 - 1999)

Born 26 Apr 1916 in Saint Kilda, Victoria, Australia

Died 9 Oct 1999 at age 83 in Clareville, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Morris West is Notable.

Morris Langlo West AO was a successful Australian novelist and playwright, He was born in April 1916 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. He passed away at the age of 83 on 9 October 1999 in Clareville, New South Wales in Australia.

Morris West was a devout Catholic the son of Charles Langlo West and Florence Guilfoyle Hanlon, and was the eldest of 6 children.

He entered the Christian Brothers seminary at St Patricks in Strathfield, Sydney at the age of 14. He would go on to be a Christian Brother's teacher from 1934 to 1939 and had been posted to schools in New South Wales and Tasmania where he also studied at the University of Tasmania. He then chose to leave the Christian Brothers order in 1940, being unable to follow a celibate lifestyle. He worked as a salesman and a teacher before enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force in April 1941 at the height of the Second World War as a Cipher Officer with the Intelligence Division. And later for a short time working for former Australia Prime Minister William Morris Hughes.

Morris West was twice married and a father of 6. His first marriage being in 1941 to Elizabeth Harvey. Their first child a son Julian (1942) and then a daughter Elizabeth (1944). After a stint with Murdoch's newspaper chain as publicity manager he set up his own very successful radio production company ARP in 1945. But by the early 1950s his life started spiralling out of control and he suffered a nervous breakdown. By 1953 Morris West had defied social convention and his beloved Catholic Church, leaving his life and his family to start a new life in Sydney with Joy Lawford, who had worked for him at ARP. They went on to have at least 3 sons, Christopher, Paul and Michael and a daughter Melanie.

With Joy's support he was able to concentrate on his writing career and began published novels under his own name; after a few false starts with pseudonyms dating back to 1942. Morris West's first best-selling novel was The Devil's Advocate (1959) later a play and finally a movie of the same name was released in 1977. While the Shoes of the Fisherman (1963) was a huge success, selling over six million copies and being made into an equally successful movie in 1968.

Morris West was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours of 1985. And then upgraded to Officer of the Order in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1997.

Morris Langlo West is buried at the Mona Vale Cemetery, Mona Vale, New South Wales, Australia

Sources

• Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages: BIRTH: WEST, Morris Langlo - event: Birth - mother: Flor Guilfoyle HANLON - father: Chas Langlo - place of birth: ST KILDA - registration year: 1916 - registration no. 15988/1916. first accessed online on the 16th of November, 2021 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages: MARRIAGE: WEST, Morris Langlow - event: Marriage - spouse: HARVEY, Eliz Eva - registration year: 1941 - registration no. 17590/1941. first accessed online on the 16th of November, 2021 from the Victorian Family History Search searchable database at: https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history

• Morris West from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. first accessed online on the 15th of November, 2021 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_West

• Morris L. West 1916 - 1999 © 2020 by The Morris West Collection Pty. Ltd. first accessed online at the official website of bestselling Australian Author Morris West at: https://www.themorriswestcollection.com/biography retrieved 15 November, 2021.

• Find a Grave, database and images accessed 15 November 2021), memorial page for Morris Langlo West (26 Apr 1916–9 Oct 1999), Find a Grave Memorial ID Find A Grave: Memorial #217641453, citing Mona Vale Cemetery, Mona Vale, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia ; Maintained by Alana Johnson (contributor 50496243) . (note: no gravestone photograph)

• Grave site information of Morris L. West A.O. (26 Apr 1916 - 9 Oct 1999) at Mona Vale (Turimetta) Cemetery in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from Billion Graves. first accessed online on the 15th of November, 2021 at: https://billiongraves.com/grave/Morris-L-West/29252856

Further Reading

• Morris West, Popular Novelist Focusing on Faith, Dies at 83. By William H. Honan dated October 12, 1999. via the New York Times website. first accessed online on the 15th of November, 2021 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/12/books/morris-west-popular-novelist-focusing-on-faith-dies-at-83.html

• Morris West (Morris Langlo West) Australia (1916 - 1999) aka Michael East, Julian Morris. from the FANTASTIC FICTION website. first accessed online on the 15th of November, 2021 at: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/morris-west/

• The Australian Novelists: I. MORRIS WEST from The Bulletin. Vol. 82 No. 4223 (18 Jan 1961) . first accessed on TROVE on the 15th of November, 2021 at: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-684299458/view?sectionId=nla.obj-700049466&partId=nla.obj-684343287#page/n16/mode/1up

• Morris West (II) (1916–1999) Writer. from the IMDB database. first accessed online on the 16th of November, 2021 at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0922256/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1