Albert William Du Aime, thus uses the pen name William
Wharton, was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on November
7th, 1925 to a working class
family. He attended parochial elementary school and a
public high school.
In 1943 he enlisted in the US army and was sent to the
University of Florida’s army specialist training program.
He was then assigned to the 87th Infantry division and sent to
England in May 1944 for the invasion. He fought at Metz,
the Maginot line, the battle of the bulge and the Saur. He
was wounded twice. At the war’s end he enrolled as an art
student at the University of California, Los Angeles.
After graduation he taught art in the Los Angeles City
School, got married, bought a home and had a girl and boy.
In 1956-57 he took a 15 month sabbatical in Europe. His
second daughter was born and then he retired from teaching
in 1960. The family moved to Europe where he began working
as a painter. They spent Spring and Fall in Paris, summered
in Bavaria and wintered in Spain. He painted in all these
places, writing in the winters. As the children began to
need more stable schooling they settled down in Paris and
his second son was born.
He had finished several novels but had not had any success
getting them published, until a friend suggested using her
own agent and Birdy was published in 1978. It won the best
first novel award, had a large paperback edition and was
made into a film directed by Alan Parker starring Mathew
Modine and Nicholas Cage. The film won the Prix de Jury at
the Cannes Film Festival.
Dad and Midnight Clear were also made into films. He
published six additional novels in the US and they have
been translated into 20 languages. The writer now supports
the painter who continues writing and painting and lives on
a houseboat on the Seine.