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#4474495 - 05/17/19 04:53 PM Herman Wouk was 103  
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I had no idea he was still alive!

‘Caine Mutiny,’ ‘Winds of War’ author Herman Wouk has died

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Herman Wouk, the versatile, Pulitzer Prize winning author of such million-selling novels as “The Caine Mutiny” and “The Winds of War” whose steady Jewish faith inspired his stories of religious values and secular success, died on Friday at 103.

Wouk was just 10 days shy of his 104th birthday and was working on a book until the end, said his literary agent Amy Rennert.

Rennert said Wouk died in his sleep at his home in Palm Springs, California, where he settled after spending many years in Washington, D.C.

Among the last of the major writers to emerge after World War II and first to bring Jewish stories to a general audience, he had a long, unpredictable career that included gag writing for radio star Fred Allen, historical fiction and a musical co-written with Jimmy Buffett. He won the Pulitzer in 1952 for “The Caine Mutiny,” the classic Navy drama that made the unstable Captain Queeg, with the metal balls he rolls in his hand and his talk of stolen strawberries, a symbol of authority gone mad. A film adaptation, starring Humphrey Bogart, came out in 1954 and Wouk turned the courtroom scene into the play “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.”

Other highlights included “Don’t Stop the Carnival,” which Wouk and Buffett adapted into a musical, and his two-part World War II epic, “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance,” both of which Wouk himself adapted for a 1983, Emmy Award-winning TV miniseries starring Robert Mitchum. “The Winds of War” received some of the highest ratings in TV history and Wouk’s involvement covered everything from the script to commercial sponsors.


From wikipedia: Wouk joined the U.S Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, an experience he later characterized as educational: "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk served as an officer aboard two destroyer minesweepers (DMS), the USS Zane and USS Southard, becoming executive officer of the latter. He participated in eight invasions and won a number of battle stars.


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#4474497 - 05/17/19 04:55 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: F4UDash4]  
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I watched "Winds of War" as a kid when it first came out on TV and I really liked it and I attribute it to helping spark my interest in history. I also had no idea Wouk was still alive and working.

RIP

Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 05/17/19 04:57 PM.

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#4474500 - 05/17/19 05:16 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: F4UDash4]  
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I wonder if he smoked, drank, and ate red meat. If you make it to almost 104, you are doing more than just something right.

#4474501 - 05/17/19 05:20 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: LB4LB]  
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Originally Posted by LB4LB
I wonder if he smoked, drank, and ate red meat. If you make it to almost 104, you are doing more than just something right.



Having really good genes goes a long way. smile


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4474510 - 05/17/19 06:33 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
I watched "Winds of War" as a kid when it first came out on TV and I really liked it and I attribute it to helping spark my interest in history. I also had no idea Wouk was still alive and working.

RIP


I did too. And now that I read this, the theme song is stuck in my head.

Did you watch the sequel? Great battleship battle in there.

v6,
boNes


"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
#4474511 - 05/17/19 06:37 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: bones]  
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Originally Posted by bones
[

Did you watch the sequel? Great battleship battle in there.

v6,
boNes


Yes I did and that battleship battle was pretty good. "War & Rememberance" got a little too "soapy" for me though.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4474513 - 05/17/19 06:44 PM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: F4UDash4]  
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I just loved how they were amidships and everyone was just potshotting at each other as they drifted past. Pretty brutal.

Fine performances from Robert MItchum though!

v6,
boNes


"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
#4474544 - 05/18/19 03:59 AM Re: Herman Wouk was 103 [Re: F4UDash4]  
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Hell, if you haven't read those two books, do it! Winds of War and War and Remembrance are two of my favorite books of all time. I had a hard time thinking of Mitchum as Pug. He wasn't the way I pictured the character at all. I didn't realize that Wouk had still been still alive. Great writer.

Last edited by Pooch; 05/18/19 04:00 AM.

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