James O'Neill (November 15, 1847 – August 10, 1920) was an Irish-American theatre

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and the father of the American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

Early life

James O'Neill was born on November 15, 1847 in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. His parents were distant cousins, Edward"Eugene O'Neill", ''American Experience'', PBS
/ref> and Mary O'Neill. His father was a farmer. The family emigrated to America in 1851 and settled in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. In 1857 they moved to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

where James was apprenticed to a machinist."James O'Neill", ''History of the San Francisco Theatre'' Vol. XX, WPA, Northern California, 1942
/ref>

Career

James O'Neill plaque, New Ross, Wexford, Ireland

At the age of 21, he made his stage debut in a Cincinnati, Ohio, production of

Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

's ''The Colleen Bawn'' (1867). Also in 1867,

Edwin Forrest Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born i ...

embarked on a "farewell tour". O'Neill had a minor part in Forrest's Cincinnati production of ''Virginius'', and then joined a travelling

repertory A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

company. He played a young sailor in

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III, commonly known as Joe Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedia ...

's ''Rip Van Winkle'' and for the first time found his brogue a handicap. He also played Macduff to

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' of August 3, 1879 described James O'Neill as "...a quiet gentleman of medium height, well-proportioned figure, square shoulders and stands very erect. He has black hair, black eyes, rather dark complexion, a black mustache, and a fine set of teeth which he knows how to display to advantage." "Gelb, Barbara. "O'Neill's Father Shaped His Son's Vision", ''The New York Times'', Theater Reviews, April 27, 1986
/ref> While in San Francisco, O'Neill became friends with fellow actor,

John Elitch John Elitch, Jr. (April 10, 1850 – March 10, 1891) was a restaurateur, businessman, actor, zookeeper, and original owner and namesake of Elitch Gardens and the Elitch Theatre in Denver, CO. Early Years and Marriage John Elitch, Jr., originally ...

. When Elitch opened the Elitch Zoological Gardens in Denver, Colorado, on May 1, 1890, O'Neill attended the opening and promised "I'll come back and play on that stage whenever you say." On May 30, 1897, O'Neill kept his promise and appeared in the opening play, ''Helene'', by Martha Morton. He was considered a promising actor, quickly working his way up the ranks to become a matinee idol. Gelb, Arthur and Gelb, Barbara. ''O'Neill: Life With Monte Cristo'' New York Times Books
/ref>

Scandal

In 1874 O'Neill joined

Richard M. Hooley Richard Martin Hooley (April 13, 1822 – September 8, 1893) was an American theatre manager, minstrelsy manager, and one of the earliest theatre managers in Chicago. Hooley was born in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, and educated in Manchester be ...

's company, and the following year toured San Francisco, Virginia City and Sacramento. He then headed back east to join the Union Square Company. On June 14, 1877, while in New York, James O'Neill married Mary Ellen Quinlan, daughter of Thomas and Bridget Quinlan, at St. Ann's Church on 12th Street. James and Ella had three sons: James (b. 1878), Edmund (b. 1883) and

(b. 1888). While James was on tour, Ella often accompanied him, and the boys were placed in boarding school. In the fall of 1877, three months after James' marriage, a woman by the name of Nettie Walsh sued O'Neill, claiming that O'Neill already married her, when she was 15, and he was the father of her three year old son. The couple was in San Francisco on September 10, 1878 when their first son, James O'Neill, Jr. was born in the home of one of O'Neill's friends. While in San Francisco, O'Neill took on the role of Christ in

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

's production ''The Passion'' for which Belasco rounded up 100 nursing mothers to appear in the tableau "the Massacre of the Innocents". The Board of Supervisors passed a local ordinance prohibiting "profane" dramas, and O'Neill and the rest of the company were arrested. O'Neill pleaded guilty and paid a $50 fine for himself and $5 for each of his co-defendants. About October 30, 1880 O'Neill and his family took a train back to New York where he re-joined the Union Square Company.

''The Count of Monte Cristo''

As early as 1875, while a stock star at Hooley's Theatre in Chicago, O'Neill played the title role in a stage adaptation of Dumas' ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

''. In early 1883 O'Neill took over the lead role in ''Monte Cristo'' at Booth's Theater in New York, after Charles R. Towne died suddenly in the wings after his first performance. O'Neill's interpretation of the part caused a sensation with the theater-going public. A company was immediately set up to take the play on tour. O'Neill bought the rights to the play. The San Francisco ''News Latter'' was less appreciative of O'Neill, saying on December 31, 1887 "In his hands the romantic story has degenerated into an extravagant melodrama. ...He is reaping the pecuniary profit of his business sagacity, but it is at the cost of art." O'Neill soon had enough of the Count. His lines came out by rote and his performances became

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