Richard Connell

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For other people named Richard Connell, see Richard Connell (disambiguation).
Richard Connell
Richard Connell.jpg
Born
Richard Edward Connell Jr.

(1893-10-17)October 17, 1893
Poughkeepsie, New York
DiedNovember 22, 1949(1949-11-22) (aged 56)
Beverly Hills, California
Alma materHarvard University[1]
OccupationAuthor, journalist

Richard Edward Connell Jr. (October 17, 1893 – November 22, 1949) was an American author and journalist. He is best remembered for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924). Connell was one of the most popular American short story writers of his time, and his stories were published in The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's magazines. He had equal success as a journalist and screenwriter, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1942 (Best Original Story) for the movie Meet John Doe (1941), directed by Frank Capra and based on his 1922 short story "A Reputation". His screenplay for the 1944 film Two Girls and a Sailor was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Connell's improbable tale of a wax museum watchman who runs afoul of the law, "A Friend of Napoleon," (from The Saturday Evening Post), appears in Great American Short Stories: O. Henry Prize Winning Stories 1919-1934.[2] The story is marked as one of the Prize Stories of 1923. A short biography states, "Richard Connell started his career at the age of thirteen by reporting a murder trial for his father's paper. At fifteen he was a hardened police reporter, sports writer, copy reader, and occasionally smuggled in a few editorials. The father slew hundreds of the son's adjectives with a blue pencil and taught him to write. Since then he has gone to Harvard, served overseas, and established himself as a short-story writer of distinction."

Biography[]

Connell was born on October 17, 1893, in Poughkeepsie, New York,[1] the son of Richard E. Connell and Mary Miller Connell. He began his writing career for The Poughkeepsie Journal, and attended Georgetown College for a year before going to Harvard University. While at Harvard, Connell edited The Lampoon and The Crimson. He subsequently worked on the city staff of The New York American and as a copy writer for J. Walter Thompson.[3] Connell served in France with the US Army during World War I. While in the army, he was the editor of his camp's newspaper.[4] After the war, he turned to writing short stories, and eventually wrote over 300.[3]

Screenplays[]

Novels[]

  • The Mad Lover (1927)
  • Murder at Sea (1929)
  • Playboy (1936)
  • What Ho! (1937)

Short story collections[]

  • The Sin of Monsieur Pettipon and Other Humorous Tales (1922) – Also known as Mister Braddy's Bottle and Other Humorous Tales
  • Variety (1925) – Includes "The Most Dangerous Game".[5]
  • Ironies (1930) – Includes "The Law Beaters".[6]
  • Apes and Angels (1970) – Includes "The Man Who Could Imitate a Bee".[7]
  • The Most Dangerous Game

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Connell, Richard Edward, 1893-1949. Richard Edward Connell personal archive, 1912-1972, bulk 1912-1915: an inventory". Harvard University Libraries. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  2. ^ Williams, Blanche (1935). Great American Short Stories: O. Henry Memorial Prize Winning Stories 1919-1934. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp. 207–227.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Richard Connell, Novelist, is Dead: Short-Story and Screen Writer Worked on Many Successful Films--Once in Advertising". The New York Times. November 24, 1949.
  4. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20100123164538/http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/connell-most-dangerous-game.html
  5. ^ Variety at WorldCat
  6. ^ Ironies at WorldCat
  7. ^ Apes and angels at WorldCat

External links[]

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