Eugene (Gladstone) O'Neill

Later Life and Plays

Near the end of his life O'Neill renounced his daughter Oona when, at 18, she married the actor Charlie Chaplin, a man her father's age; O'Neill himself contracted a crippling disease that made him unable to write. At his death O'Neill left several important plays in manuscript, including the autobiographical masterpiece, Long Day's Journey into Night (produced 1956; Pulitzer Prize), and two parts of an unfinished cycle of plays using American history as a background— A Touch of the Poet (first U.S. production, 1958) and More Stately Mansions (first U.S. production, 1967).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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