Biography
Novelist Lloyd C. Douglas was born Doya Cassell Douglas in Columbia City, Indiana, in 1877. His father was a Lutheran minister. Lloyd attended Wittenberg Seminary in Springfield, Ohio, where he trained for the ministry. After graduating, he served as a pastor in a church in Manchester, Indiana. By 1905, married with two children, he relocated to Lancaster, Ohio, and then to Washington, D.C., in 1908. From 1911 to 1915, he was chaplain and director of religious work at the University of Illinois. Over the next two decades, he ministered at various churches across the United States. In 1933, he retired from the ministry to focus entirely on writing.
Many of his religious-themed books were adapted into successful films, the most notable being "The Robe," published in 1942, which sold six million copies. It was adapted into the acclaimed 1953 film "The Robe," which won two Academy Awards. Another well-known work is "Magnificent Obsession," written in 1929 and successfully adapted into the 1954 film of the same name.
His final novel, "The Big Fisherman" (1948), centered on Jesus, Peter, and a young couple named Esther and Voldi in Palestine. He began writing his autobiography, "Time to Remember," but passed away before completing it. His daughters Virginia and Betty finished the work, publishing it under the title "The Shape of Sunday."
Lloyd C. Douglas died in Los Angeles, California, in 1951.
