Eugene O'Neill

About

Irish American playwright who received both the Nobel Prize in Literature (1936) and four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (1920, 1922, 1928, 1957). His most famous dramatic works include Anna Christie, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, and Long Day's Journey into Night.

Before Fame

He dropped out of Princeton University and subsequently spent time both at sea and in a sanatorium (where he was treated for tuberculosis). After involving himself with the Provincetown Players theatre troupe in 1916, he won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for his debut play, Beyond the Horizon, which premiered on Broadway in 1920.

Trivia

He became known for only one comic play (Ah, Wilderness!); his career as a playwright was marked by dark, highly pessimistic dramas that often painted a grim picture of family dysfunction.

Family Life

He had two brief marriages-- to Kathleen Jenkins and Agnes Boulton-- before marrying his third wife, Carlotta Monterey, in 1929. His eighteen-year-old daughter, Oona, married the much-older Charlie Chaplin in 1943.

Associated With

O'Neill and T.S. Eliot both earned the Nobel Prize for Literature.