Walter Wager

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Herman Wager (born September 4, 1924 in Bronx , New York City , † July 11, 2004 in New York City) was an American writer . He has published several novels under the pseudonyms Lee Davis Willoughby, John Tiger and Walter Herman .

Life

Walter Wager was the son of a doctor who previously immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire . He graduated from Columbia College, an institute of Columbia University , in 1944 . Three years later he graduated from Harvard Law School with a law degree . Wager himself never practiced as a lawyer. Instead, he completed a master's degree in aviation law at Northwestern University in Chicago . As a Fulbright scholarship holder , he spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris . He then spent a year in Israel , where he worked as a consultant for the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority and managed Israeli airspace from Ben Gurion Airport . Back in New York City, he found work at the United Nations and began producing small radio documentaries for CBS , NBC and the United States Information Agency . At the same time, he began working as a freelance writer for magazines such as Playbill and Show .

Using the pseudonym, Wager made his debut as a writer in 1954 with the novel Death Hits the Jackpot . Under this name he also published his seven volume I-Spy series, four of which were published in German by Pabel-Moewig Verlag in Munich in 1968 and 1969 . He published the first novel under his own name in 1970 with Sledgehammer . Three of these books, Viper Three (1972), Telefon (1975) and 58 Minutes (1987), appeared on the one hand in German and on the other hand were made into films. The first two were filmed as The Ultimatum in 1977, starring Charles Bronson as the Telephone . 58 Minutes served as the literary template for the action film Die Hard 2 , with Bruce Willis in the lead role.

Walter Wager died on July 11, 2004 at the age of 79 from complications of a brain tumor . He was married twice in his life. In 1951 he married a fellow student from the Sorbonne. From this marriage came a common daughter. After the divorce, he married a second time in 1975, the marriage remaining childless.

Works (selection)

as Walter Wager
as John Tiger
  • Death Hits the Jackpot (1954)
  • I Spy (1965; German: Tournament of Murderers , Pabel-Moewig Verlag , Munich 1968)
  • I Spy # 2: Masterstroke (1966; German: Der Meistercoup , Pabel-Moewig Verlag, Munich 1968)
  • I Spy # 3: Superkill (1967)
  • I Spy # 4: Wipeout (1967; German: Finale for two pistols , Pabel-Moewig Verlag, Munich 1969)
  • I Spy # 5: Countertrap (1967; German: Company Butterball: Agent Thriller , Pabel-Moewig Verlag, Munich 1968)
  • I Spy # 6: Doomdate (1967)
  • Mission: Impossible (1967)
  • I Spy # 7: Death-Twist (1968)
  • Mission: Impossible # 4: Code Name Little Ivan (1969)
as Lee Davis Willoughby
  • The Wildcatters (1981)
  • The Caribbeans (1983)
as Walter Herman
  • Operation Intrigue (1956)

Film adaptations

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wager, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tiger, John (pseudonym); Herman, Walter (pseudonym); Willoughby, Lee Davis (pen name); Wagner, Walter Herman (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 4, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 2004
Place of death New York City , United States