Achmed Abdullah's biography prior to coming to the US is based on his own writings and interviews, and his reminiscences in The Cat had Nine Lives, and is not verified by independent sources. As was frequent among new immigrants to the US in 1910–20s, Achmed Abdullah claimed descent from the Russian imperial family. He famously stated he was born Alexander Nicholayevitch Romanoff in 1881 in Yalta, Russia, to Grand Duke Nicholas Romanoff, a cousin of Czar Nicholas Romanoff and Princess Nourmahal Durani, a daughter of an Amir of Afghanistan. After his mother's attempts to poison her husband due to his multiple affairs, they divorced, leaving their son and two other children to their maternal grandparents. At the age of 12, he was sent to Eton and then to Oxford University to be educated. He claimed that although he was born Russian Orthodox, he was raised as a Muslim by his uncle who adopted him. Abdullah claimed that he himself was a devout Catholic. Upon his graduation, he said he joined the British Army and rose to rank of acting colonel during his 17-year military career. He claimed to have served in Afghanistan, Tibet in 1903-04 with the Younghusband Expedition. He was also deployed in Africa, China, and also with the British-Indian army in India. In addition, he was also a colonel in a cavalry regiment for one year in the Turkish army as a British spy. He claimed to have mostly spent the time in the military as a spy because of his wide knowledge of Oriental and Middle Eastern customs and religions. It is said that he traveled widely in Russia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and China and spoke many languages and dialects. He claimed he was made a British citizen by an Act of Parliament and convicted by the Germans during the First World War for being a spy.
USA
In the 1910s he emigrated to the United States and eventually became a writer and playwright, and later on, a Hollywood screenwriter. Abdullah's work appeared in several US magazines, including Argosy, All-Story Magazine, Munsey's Magazine and Blue Book. Abdullah's short story collectionWings contains several fantasy stories, which critic Mike Ashley describes as containing "some of his most effective writing". He got a doctorate from the College of El-Azar, Cairo in Koranic Studies. Achmed Abdullah married at least three times: to Irene Bainbridge, Jean Wick, and Rosemary A. Dolan. He was the father of two daughters with Irene Bainbridge: Phyllis Abdullah and Pamelia Susan Abdullah Brower. In January 1945, he was admitted to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and a few months later, on May 12, his birthday, he died of a heart attack.
