Henry Villard, veteran diplomat and former ambassador who retired to write books, including an account of his adventures with Ernest Hemingway driving ambulances in Italy during World War I, has died in Los Angeles. He was 95.
Villard, who had homes in Los Angeles, Gstaad and Nassau, died Sunday of pneumonia.
His last book, written with James Nagel in 1989, was "Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky" about Hemingway's romance with his nurse in Italy when Villard and he, both wounded, shared a hospital room. The nurse later became a model for a character in Hemingway's classic "A Farewell to Arms."
Villard's book is the basis for a soon-to-be-released film, "In Love and War" starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell and directed by Richard Attenborough.
With the State Department from 1928 to 1961, Villard held posts in Washington, Tehran, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Geneva and Oslo and served as ambassador to Libya, Senegal and Mauritania. He wrote a book on Libya in 1956.
Villard was frequently an advisor to U.S. representatives to the United Nations. Considered an expert on African affairs, he was also instrumental in planning the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II.
After his retirement, Villard served briefly as director of programs for the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. But he soon retired to Switzerland and began to write.
His first major book was "Affairs at State, A Career Diplomat's Candid Appraisal of the U.S. Foreign Service" published in 1965.
He next wrote "Contact: The Story of the Early Birds" in 1968 about pre-World War I aviation; "The Great Road Races 1894-1914" in 1972 and "Ribbon of the Air--The Gordon Bennett Races" in 1987.
A native of New York, Villard studied at Harvard University where he was editor of the Harvard Crimson and later did postgraduate work in theater at Oxford University.
He spent a short time in Hollywood as a bit-part actor in silent movies, and then taught English in Ojai. The grandson of New York Post publisher Henry Villard, he worked as a reporter for Hearst newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami before joining the State Department.
A widower, Villard is survived by a son, Dimitri, of Los Angeles, and a daughter, Alexandra de Borchgrave, of Washington.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the American Red Cross.
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times
Villard, who had homes in Los Angeles, Gstaad and Nassau, died Sunday of pneumonia.
His last book, written with James Nagel in 1989, was "Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky" about Hemingway's romance with his nurse in Italy when Villard and he, both wounded, shared a hospital room. The nurse later became a model for a character in Hemingway's classic "A Farewell to Arms."
Villard's book is the basis for a soon-to-be-released film, "In Love and War" starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell and directed by Richard Attenborough.
With the State Department from 1928 to 1961, Villard held posts in Washington, Tehran, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Geneva and Oslo and served as ambassador to Libya, Senegal and Mauritania. He wrote a book on Libya in 1956.
Villard was frequently an advisor to U.S. representatives to the United Nations. Considered an expert on African affairs, he was also instrumental in planning the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II.
After his retirement, Villard served briefly as director of programs for the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. But he soon retired to Switzerland and began to write.
His first major book was "Affairs at State, A Career Diplomat's Candid Appraisal of the U.S. Foreign Service" published in 1965.
He next wrote "Contact: The Story of the Early Birds" in 1968 about pre-World War I aviation; "The Great Road Races 1894-1914" in 1972 and "Ribbon of the Air--The Gordon Bennett Races" in 1987.
A native of New York, Villard studied at Harvard University where he was editor of the Harvard Crimson and later did postgraduate work in theater at Oxford University.
He spent a short time in Hollywood as a bit-part actor in silent movies, and then taught English in Ojai. The grandson of New York Post publisher Henry Villard, he worked as a reporter for Hearst newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami before joining the State Department.
A widower, Villard is survived by a son, Dimitri, of Los Angeles, and a daughter, Alexandra de Borchgrave, of Washington.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the American Red Cross.
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times
Henry Villard, veteran diplomat and former ambassador who retired to write books, including an account of his adventures with Ernest Hemingway driving ambulances in Italy during World War I, has died in Los Angeles. He was 95.
Villard, who had homes in Los Angeles, Gstaad and Nassau, died Sunday of pneumonia.
His last book, written with James Nagel in 1989, was "Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky" about Hemingway's romance with his nurse in Italy when Villard and he, both wounded, shared a hospital room. The nurse later became a model for a character in Hemingway's classic "A Farewell to Arms."
Villard's book is the basis for a soon-to-be-released film, "In Love and War" starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell and directed by Richard Attenborough.
With the State Department from 1928 to 1961, Villard held posts in Washington, Tehran, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Geneva and Oslo and served as ambassador to Libya, Senegal and Mauritania. He wrote a book on Libya in 1956.
Villard was frequently an advisor to U.S. representatives to the United Nations. Considered an expert on African affairs, he was also instrumental in planning the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II.
After his retirement, Villard served briefly as director of programs for the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. But he soon retired to Switzerland and began to write.
His first major book was "Affairs at State, A Career Diplomat's Candid Appraisal of the U.S. Foreign Service" published in 1965.
He next wrote "Contact: The Story of the Early Birds" in 1968 about pre-World War I aviation; "The Great Road Races 1894-1914" in 1972 and "Ribbon of the Air--The Gordon Bennett Races" in 1987.
A native of New York, Villard studied at Harvard University where he was editor of the Harvard Crimson and later did postgraduate work in theater at Oxford University.
He spent a short time in Hollywood as a bit-part actor in silent movies, and then taught English in Ojai. The grandson of New York Post publisher Henry Villard, he worked as a reporter for Hearst newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami before joining the State Department.
A widower, Villard is survived by a son, Dimitri, of Los Angeles, and a daughter, Alexandra de Borchgrave, of Washington.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the American Red Cross.
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times
Villard, who had homes in Los Angeles, Gstaad and Nassau, died Sunday of pneumonia.
His last book, written with James Nagel in 1989, was "Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky" about Hemingway's romance with his nurse in Italy when Villard and he, both wounded, shared a hospital room. The nurse later became a model for a character in Hemingway's classic "A Farewell to Arms."
Villard's book is the basis for a soon-to-be-released film, "In Love and War" starring Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell and directed by Richard Attenborough.
With the State Department from 1928 to 1961, Villard held posts in Washington, Tehran, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Geneva and Oslo and served as ambassador to Libya, Senegal and Mauritania. He wrote a book on Libya in 1956.
Villard was frequently an advisor to U.S. representatives to the United Nations. Considered an expert on African affairs, he was also instrumental in planning the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II.
After his retirement, Villard served briefly as director of programs for the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs. But he soon retired to Switzerland and began to write.
His first major book was "Affairs at State, A Career Diplomat's Candid Appraisal of the U.S. Foreign Service" published in 1965.
He next wrote "Contact: The Story of the Early Birds" in 1968 about pre-World War I aviation; "The Great Road Races 1894-1914" in 1972 and "Ribbon of the Air--The Gordon Bennett Races" in 1987.
A native of New York, Villard studied at Harvard University where he was editor of the Harvard Crimson and later did postgraduate work in theater at Oxford University.
He spent a short time in Hollywood as a bit-part actor in silent movies, and then taught English in Ojai. The grandson of New York Post publisher Henry Villard, he worked as a reporter for Hearst newspapers in Los Angeles and Miami before joining the State Department.
A widower, Villard is survived by a son, Dimitri, of Los Angeles, and a daughter, Alexandra de Borchgrave, of Washington.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to the American Red Cross.
Credit: TIMES STAFF WRITER
Los Angeles Times
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