Marc Connelly
Marc Connelly | |
|---|---|
 photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 | |
| Born | Marcus Cook Connelly December 13, 1890 McKeesport, Pennsylvania, US |
| Died | December 21, 1980 (aged 90) New York City |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1930) |
| Spouse | Madeline Hurlock (m.1930–div.1935) |
Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930.
Biography[]
Connelly was born to actor and hotelier Patrick Joseph Connelly and actress Mabel Louise Cook in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He began writing plays at the age of five, and would later become a journalist for the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph until he moved to New York City. In 1919 he joined the Algonquin Round Table.
Connelly had contributed to several Broadway musicals before teaming up with his most important collaborator, George S. Kaufman, in 1921. During their four-year partnership, they wrote five comedies – (1921), To the Ladies (1922), Merton of the Movies (1922), The Deep Tangled Wildwood (1923) and Beggar on Horseback (1924) – and also co-directed and contributed sketches to the 1922 revue The '49ers, collaborated on the book to the musical comedy Helen of Troy, New York (1923), and wrote both the book and lyrics for another musical comedy, Be Yourself (1924).
Connelly received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Green Pastures in 1930. The play, a re-telling of episodes from the Old Testament, was a landmark in American drama; boasting the first all-black Broadway cast. He contributed verse and articles to Life, Everybody's, and other magazines.
Connelly was one of the wittiest members of the Algonquin Round Table. He said, "I always knew children were anti-social. But the children of the West Side – they're savage."
Connelly was a drama teacher at Yale University from 1946 to 1950.[1] In 1968, Connelly published his memoirs, Voices Offstage. Over the years, Connelly appeared as an actor in 21 movies, including The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) with James Stewart.
A film about the Round Table members, The Ten-Year Lunch (1987), won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and featured Connelly, who was the last survivor. The 1994 film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, a fictional account of the group, featured actor Matt Malloy as Connelly.
Filmography[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | The Sleep of Cyma Roget | Minor Role | |
| 1957 | The Spirit of St. Louis | Father Hussman | |
| 1960 | Tall Story | Prof. Charles Osman |
References[]
- Dennis Rodgers, Jr. (2008). "Author Biographies: Marc Connelly". Pennsylvania Center for the Book. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
- Alden Whitman (December 22, 1980). "Marc Connelly, playwright, Dies". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
External links[]
- Works by or about Marc Connelly at Internet Archive
- Marc Connelly at the Internet Broadway Database
- Marc Connelly at IMDb
- Algonquin Round Table Walking Tours
- Algonquin Round Table page at the Algonquin Hotel's web site
- Algonquin Circle Links
- Stephen Wilde Official Website
| show Authority control  |
|---|
- 1890 births
- 1980 deaths
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania
- Writers from Pennsylvania
- Writers from New York City
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
- American male journalists
- American male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American male actors
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- The New Yorker people
- Journalists from Pennsylvania
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American journalists
- Algonquin Round Table