Eugene O'Neill was born in a hotel on the corner of Broadway and 43rd St. in New York City, a fitting start for someone who was to become one of America's greatest playwrights. He was the son of James O'Neill, one of the most popular American actors of his day. For the first seven years of Eugene's life, the O'Neill family toured with James during his stint with the successful (though artistically unimpressive) Monte Cristo.
Eugene attended Catholic boarding school and then the Betts Academy in Stamford, Connecticut. He was accepted at Princeton, but he was suspended at the end of his freshman year and decided not to return. Between 1909-12 he worked in an odd assortment of jobs and...