Historic Forest Hills Cemetery

Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (1888–1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His numerous plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of realism associated with playwrights Aton Chekov, Henrik Ibsen, and August Strindberg. His plays were among the first to include speeches in the American vernacular and were embraced with alacrity by the public. His plays often involved characters who inhabit the fringes of society, engaging in depraved behavior, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair.