Eugene O’Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. The drama, Long Day's Journey Into Night, is often numbered on the short list of being among the finest American plays in the 20th century.

O'Neill was well received in both America and Europe, and American critics heaped lavish praise on his work. He was the first American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize.

His major works include The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape, Desire Under the Elms, The Great God Brown, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, Days Without End, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Ah, Wilderness!, The Iceman Cometh, and several plays produced posthumously, including Long Day’s Journey Into Night, A Touch of the Poet, and Hughie.