Morris Langlo West was born in Melbourne. He studied at St. Mary's College, St. Kilda, Victoria, and at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained his B.A. in 1936. During the Second World War, West served in the Australian Imperial Forces Corps of Signals, in the South Pacific, from 1939 to 1943. He was a secretary to William Morris Hughes, former Prime Minister of Australia in 1943. After his discharge from the Army, West was a publicity manager at Radio Station 3 DB in Melbourne for two years, and founder, later a managing director of Australian Radio Productions Pry Ltd from 1945 till 1954. During this period West wrote and produced soap operas. He suffered a breakdown, sold his share of the business, and settled near Sydney as a writer. In 1955, he moved to Sorrento, Italy. In 1953 West married Joyce Lawford; they had four children. After 1954 he was a film and dramatic writer for the Shell Company and the Australian Broadcasting Network. From the 1950s West lived abroad. Between the years 1956 and 1968 he lived in England, and later in Italy, Austria, and the United States. In Vatican he worked six months as the Vatican correspondent of the London Daily Mail. West returned to Australia in 1980. He also wrote under the pseudonym 'Michael East'.