- Born in a hotel room on Broadway in 1888 (Now an historic marker on a Times Square Starbucks)
- Parents, Ella Quinlan and James O’Neill were actors in a touring theatre company
- Father was once a well-known Shakespearean actor who took a lesser role for the financial security
- Attended a Catholic boarding school for 7 years, followed by 7 years at a private, secular boarding school in Connecticut
- Already well-acquainted with alcohol and prostitutes before attending college, dropped out in first year at Princeton
- In 1910, married first wife, Kathleen Jenkins. Spent much of the marriage at sea, where he contracted Malaria (some biographies say tuberculosis).
- They had one child, Eugene O’Neill, Jr
- She filed for divorce in 1912, and Eugene returned to living with his parents. By this time, his father was an alcoholic, and his mother a morphine addict.
- While recovering, O’Neill began writing plays.
- Said that Ibsen and Strindberg “first gave [him] the vision of what modern drama could be”
- First play produced in 1914, Bound East for Cardiff
- In 1918, married second wife, Agnes Boulton, a writer.
- They had two children, Shane O’Niell and Oona O’Neill.
- In 1920, first full-length production premiered, Beyond the Horizon. It won a Pulitzer.
- From 1920 to 1923, his father, mother, and older brother died.
- In 1928, left second wife, Agnes, to go to Europe with Carlotta Monterey, who would become his third wife.
- Wrote prolifically for a period of 23 years, completing 20 full-length plays.
- In 1936, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the only American dramatist to do so.
- In 1943, disowned daughter for marrying Charlie Chaplin
- In 1948, younger son Shane arrested for heroin possession
- In 1950, eldest son Eugene, Jr committed suicide
- Died in 1953 in a hotel room in Boston
- Had won 4 Pulitzer prizes in his life, and one Nobel.
- Tennessee Williams said that O’Neill "gave birth to the American theater, and died for it."
More reading:
American Masters Episode: Eugene O’Neill (and yes, I’m geek enough to want this under the Christmas tree)
See you all on Wednesday!
Sarah
I actually got to see the little plaque of his birthplace a few years ago. It was very surprising, amongst all of the crazy manhatten energy, you run into a little plaque saying "The birthplace of Eugene O'Neill." very strange.
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