Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on the 16th of October 1888, inside the Barrett House hotel located at Longacre Square in New York City. This location is now known as Times Square and houses offices and shops today. He died exactly sixty-five years later on the 27th of November 1953, inside a different hotel room at the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston. As he took his final breaths, he whispered to those around him that he knew it all along. He stated that being born in a hotel room meant he would also die in one. His father James O'Neill was an Irish immigrant actor who suffered from alcoholism while his mother Mary Ellen Quinlan struggled with morphine addiction prescribed after her difficult birth of Eugene. The family spent summers together at the Monte Cristo Cottage in New London, Connecticut during his childhood years.
O'Neill spent several years working at sea where he suffered from deep depression and despair alongside his drinking problems. Despite these struggles he developed a profound love for the ocean which became a central theme in many of his plays set aboard ships like those he worked on. In 1912 he attempted suicide within his room at Jimmy-the-Priest's boarding house and saloon in Manhattan. That same year he contracted tuberculosis and entered a sanatorium for recovery. He came to regard this period of illness as his rebirth into a new life. During his convalescence he declared to himself that he wanted to be an artist or nothing else. After recovering from the disease he decided to devote his full time to writing plays instead of continuing his previous work as a reporter for the New London Telegraph.
His first published play Beyond the Horizon opened on Broadway in 1920 to great acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Emperor Jones ran on Broadway later that same year and commented obliquely on the United States occupation of Haiti during the presidential election debate. O'Neill introduced speeches in American English vernacular to the stage while featuring characters living on the fringes of society who struggled to maintain their hopes before sliding into disillusionment. His early one-act play The Web written in 1913 explored darker themes including the brothel world and the lives of prostitutes which appeared in fourteen of his later plays. The Provincetown Players performed many of his early works in theaters located both in Provincetown and on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village starting in mid-1916.
O'Neill received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936 after being nominated by Henrik Schück a member of the Swedish Academy. He was profoundly influenced by the work of Swedish writer August Strindberg and dedicated much of his acceptance speech to acknowledging this debt publicly. Before sending the speech to Stockholm he read it aloud to his friend Sophus Keith Winther. During the reading he interrupted himself to say he wished immortality were a fact so he could meet Strindberg someday. He is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama with wins occurring in 1920, 1922, 1928, and 1957. His best known plays include Anna Christie which won the 1922 prize and Strange Interlude which won in 1928.
His elder brother Jamie drank himself to death at the age of forty-five while his parents died within three years of one another shortly after Eugene began making his mark in theater. O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943 when she married Charlie Chaplin who was fifty-four years old while she was only eighteen. He never saw her again nor did he meet any of their eight grandchildren through her. His son Shane became a heroin addict and committed suicide by jumping out of a window several years later. Eugene O'Neill Jr. suffered from alcoholism and committed suicide in 1950 at the age of forty. The marriage between O'Neill and Carlotta Monterey deteriorated over time as she became addicted to potassium bromide resulting in numerous separations though they never officially divorced.
O'Neill faced a severe Parkinson-like tremor in his hands during the last ten years of his life that made writing impossible despite his attempts to dictate his work. While living at Tao House he intended to write a collection called the Cycle chronicling American life spanning from 1755 to 1932 but lost inspiration for the project. Only two plays from the proposed eleven were completed before his health worsened significantly. Three largely autobiographical plays including Long Day's Journey into Night were finished in 1943 just before leaving Tao House. A group of manuscripts disappeared mysteriously during the day with no clue to their whereabouts according to publisher Saxe Commins who recorded snatches of dialogue about the loss. O'Neill died on the 27th of November 1953, whispering his final thoughts about hotel rooms before being interred in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.
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Common questions
When and where was Eugene O'Neill born?
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on the 16th of October 1888 inside the Barrett House hotel located at Longacre Square in New York City. This location is now known as Times Square.
How did Eugene O'Neill die and what were his final words?
Eugene O'Neill died on the 27th of November 1953 inside a room at the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston. He whispered to those around him that he knew it all along because being born in a hotel meant he would also die in one.
What major awards did Eugene O'Neill win during his career?
Eugene O'Neill received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936 after being nominated by Henrik Schück. He is the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama with wins occurring in 1920, 1922, 1928, and 1957.
Why did Eugene O'Neill stop writing plays before his death?
O'Neill faced a severe Parkinson-like tremor in his hands during the last ten years of his life that made writing impossible despite his attempts to dictate his work. Only two plays from the proposed eleven were completed before his health worsened significantly.
Who are the family members of Eugene O'Neill mentioned in the text?
His father James O'Neill was an Irish immigrant actor who suffered from alcoholism while his mother Mary Ellen Quinlan struggled with morphine addiction. His elder brother Jamie drank himself to death at the age of forty-five and his son Shane committed suicide by jumping out of a window several years later.
All sources
39 references cited across the entry
- 2newsO'Neill's Birthplace Is Marked By Plaque at Times Square SiteArthur Gelb — October 17, 1957
- 3newsAsk Playbill.com: A Question About Eugene O'Neill's Birthplace, in a Broadway HotelRobert Simonson — July 23, 2012
- 4webThe Tragic Roots of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the ElmsKathy Henderson — Broadway.com — April 21, 2009
- 5journalEugene O'neill: A Life in Four Acts by Robert M. Dowling, and: Eugene O'neill: The Contemporary Reviews ed. by Jackson R. Bryer and Robert M. Dowiling (review)Felicia Londré — 2016
- 6webEugene O'NeillAmerican Society of Authors and Writers
- 9bookThe Cambridge Companion to Eugene O'NeilCambridge University Press — 1998
- 10bookStudent Companion to Eugene O'NeilSteven F. Bloom — Greenwood Press — 2007
- 11bookMasterpieces of 20th-Century American DramaSusan C.W. Abbotson — Greenwood Press — 2005
- 12bookAh, Wilderness!Eugene O'Neill — Hirschgraben-Verlag — 1959
- 13webThe Sailor Who Became "America's Shakespeare"Patrick Murfin — Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout — October 16, 2012
- 14bookQueen of Bohemia: The Life of Louise BryantMary V. Dearborn — Houghton Mifflin Company — 1996
- 15bookThe Road to the TempleSusan Glaspell — Frederick A. Stokes — 1941
- 17bookTaking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. ImperialismMary Renda — University of North Carolina Press — 2001
- 18newsArts BriefingAugust 25, 2003
- 19webAPS Member History
- 20webNomination DatabaseNobelprize.org
- 21bookThe Emperor JonesEugene O'Neill — Courier Corporation — 2013-02-20
- 22webBanquet SpeechEugene O'Neill — The Nobel Foundation — 10 December 1936
- 23bookEugene O'Neill: A Playwright's TheatreEgil Törnqvist — McFarland — 2004-01-14
- 24bookMasks in Modern DramaSusan Harris Smith — University of California Press — 1984
- 26newsEugene O'Neill Wed to Miss MontereyJuly 24, 1929
- 28bookEugene O'Neill: Beyond Mourning and TragedyStephen A. Black — Yale University Press — 1999
- 29bookO'Neill: Son and ArtistLouis Sheaffer — Little, Brown & Co. — 1973
- 34webExorcismChronicle of Higher Education — October 19, 2011
- 35magazineExorcismOctober 10, 2011
- 36bookThe Seven ArtsEugene O'Neill — The Seven Arts Publishing Co. — 1917
- 37bookThe Last Will and Testament of an Extremely Distinguished DogEugene O'Neill et al. — Henry Holt and Co — 1999