Will Levington Comfort (1878–1932) was an American novelist and essayist best known for his adventure fiction and Western stories. Active during the early twentieth century, Comfort achieved significant popularity with works like Apache and Somewhere south of Sonora. His storytelling captured the rugged landscapes of the American West, and three of his works were adapted into feature films. Notably, Somewhere south of Sonora served as the basis for the 1933 film Somewhere in Sonora, which starred John Wayne.
Beyond his adventure fiction, Comfort was deeply involved in spiritual and esoteric movements. His two-volume work, The Will Levington Comfort Letters (published between 1920 and 1921), explored theosophical subjects and exerted a notable influence on the prominent esotericist Alice Bailey. Comfort's interest in mysticism and the occult also connected him with various artists and thinkers of his era, bridging the gap between popular fiction and spiritual philosophy.
Comfort played a pivotal role in the lives of several cultural figures. He introduced the composer and astrologer Dane Rudhyar to Marc Edmund Jones, which initiated Rudhyar's influential study of astrology; Rudhyar subsequently married Comfort's secretary, Maria Contento. Additionally, Comfort's writings and philosophy served as an inspiration for modernist painters Mabel Alvarez and Agnes Pelton, cementing his legacy as a catalyst for creative and spiritual exploration in early twentieth-century America.
