Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born in a hotel room in New York on 16th October, 1888, the third son of James O'Neill and Ella Quinlan, both of Irish immigrant stock. Versions of their experience recur throughout their son's dramatic writing, culminating in the intimately autobiographical, Long Day's Journey into Night (1939). James O'Neill, an actor who early in his career had played classical roles, including Shakespeare with Edwin Booth, succumbed to popular and financial success on the melodramatic stage. Among other roles, he played Christ in Salmi Morse's The Passion, but it was as Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, that he became a matinee idol, a role which he was acting for the 1400th<…
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Citation: Chothia, Jean. "Eugene O'Neill". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 November 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3384, accessed 23 November 2024.]