- Richard Connell
Richard Edward Connell, Jr. (
October 17 ,1893 –November 22 ,1949 ) was an American author and journalist, best known for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game ." Connell was one of the best-known American short story writers of his timeFact|date=January 2008 and his stories appeared in the "Saturday Evening Post " and "Collier's Weekly ". Connell had equal success as a journalist and screenwriter. He was nominated for an Academy Award for best original story for 1941's "Meet John Doe ". He died of a heart attack inBeverly Hills, California onNovember 22 , 1949 at the age of fifty-six.Family history
Richard Connell was the son of Richard Edward Connell Sr. (1857-1912) and
Mary Miller Connell , born onOct. 17 , 1893 inPoughkeepsie ,Dutchess County ,New York . He had three sisters, an older sister named Sarah, and two younger sisters, Catherine and Anna (1900 Census, Poughkeepsie,NY). His father was a reporter and editor of the local newspaper. Connell (senior) took the position of police commissioner in Poughkeepsie and thus began his political career. In 1896, he was unsuccessful in a bid for the55th United States Congress and failed again in 1898 and 1900 when he ran for the State assembly. He did become a delegate to theDemocratic National Convention where he served in 1900 and 1904. Eventually Richard’s father won an election for the62nd United States Congress inMarch 4 ,1911 where he served until his death a year later onOctober 30 ,1912 . (He had been nominated in 1912 as the Democratic candidate for reelection to the Sixty-third Congress.Life
At 10 years of age, while his father was still an editor for the "Poughkeepsie News-Press", Richard Connell’s own interest was his writings. His stories earned him 10 cents each in addition to his coverage for baseball games. His love for the game later inspired short stories like "
The Umps " and "Pitchers Are Peculiar ". By the age of 18 he earned a position as city editor of the paper, increasing his pay to $16 a week. Richard attended Georgetown College (now University) inWashington, D.C. , but left a year later in 1911 to become a secretary for his father, Richard Edward Connell.After his father's death one year later, in 1915, when he was 22, Richard returned to college; this time toHarvard University , where he became an editor for the "Harvard Lampoon " and "The Harvard Crimson ". In one of his stories for "The Crimson", Richard berated a New York newspaper editor who became enraged over the criticism and sued the Harvard newspaper for libel. Ironically, after graduating in 1915, Connell accepted a job working for the same newspaper editor who had sued over his editorial. While working as a reporter for the "New York American ", Connell received an attractive offer from theJ. Walter Thompson Company and left the newspaper business to write advertising copy.After the United States entered
World War I in 1917, Connell enlisted and served with the27th New York Division , where he offered his talents as the editor of the camp newspaper, "Gas Attack ". His unit also spent a year inFrance . When the war ended, Connell returned to his job of writing ad copy. Many of his short stories, such as "Heart of a Sloganeer " and "Once a Sloganeer " find their roots in his experiences with advertising.In 1919 Richard Connell married
Louise Herrick Fox ; that year he also sold his first short story and left advertising to pursue freelance writing. He wrote several short stories including "A Friend of Napoleon " and "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924), sometimes known as "The Hounds of Zaroff". "The Most Dangerous Game " was awarded theO. Henry Memorial Award in 1924. Connell became one of the best-known American short story writersFact|date=January 2008; his stories appeared in the "Saturday Evening Post " and "Collier's Weekly ". He was nominated for an Academy Award for best original story for 1941's "Meet John Doe ". Connell had equal success as a journalist and screenwriter. He died inBeverly Hills, California at the age of fifty-six of a heart attack onNovember 22 , 1949.External links
* (public domain in Canada)
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