1/25

Saw an incredible documentary last night on PBS about the playwright Eugene O'Neil. I had photographed a number of his plays back when I was doing theatrical production photography so I was familiar with some of his work, but knew little about his personal life. He grew up in a tragic, wildly dysfunctional family in Connecticut and only became a playwright after traveling the world as a seaman and then nearly drinking himself to death afterwards in NYC.

He was immediately successful as a playwright and managed to win three Pulitzer prizes and the Nobel Prize BEFORE he wrote his three greatest works (The Iceman Cometh, Long Days Journey Into Night and Moon for the Misbegotten). All the while suffering from depression and physical ailments that made it difficult to write. He won another Pulitzer posthumously for Long Days Journey Into Night.

It was fascinating to see such incredible work harvested from such a tormented life, but it was also painful to have a sense of how much he suffered as a result of his childhood.

I'm not sure if I could ever be as singleminded as he (he basically did nothing but write to the exclusion of almost everything else, and he left his second wife and young family without ever saying goodbye.), but it does gives you an idea of how much dedication is needed to produce great art. The film left me with much to contemplate in the upcoming months.