Andre Deutsch; Publisher Made Mark With Mailer’s ‘The Naked and the Dead’

Andre Deutsch, 82, the British publisher who brought out Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead.” Born in Budapest in 1917, Deutsch immigrated to Britain in 1939. But two years later, when Hungary entered World War II on the side of the Nazis, he was interned as an enemy alien. It was during his internment that he met a Hungarian publisher who introduced him to the business. After the war, Deutsch went to work for Nicholson and Watson, but the firm’s reluctance to publish George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” encouraged Deutsch to venture out on his own, and he set up his own publishing house in 1945 under the name Allen Wingate. The firm experienced immediate success with the publication of “Operation Cicero,” a book about a butler who had acted as a German spy in the British Embassy in Turkey during the war. But it was the publication of “The Naked and the Dead” in 1949 that cemented Deutsch’s reputation. With the company’s success came new shareholders and directors, and soon Deutsch lost control of the business he had set up with less than $5,000, the Daily Telegraph said. In 1952, he started over, setting up a new company under his own name. His authors included John Updike, Philip Roth and Brian Moore. Deutsch sold 40% of his firm to Time Inc. in 1969 but, missing his independence, bought back the shares after a couple of years. In 1984, he once again sought a merger and sold a 50% stake to publisher Tom Rosenthal. After some disagreements, Deutsch resigned from the firm in 1991. Deutsch died on Monday in London, according to British press accounts. No cause of death was reported.