CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20172018 REGULAR SESSION Senate Resolution No. 122Introduced by Senators Hertzberg and GlazerAugust 08, 2018 Relative to the 65th anniversary of the death of Eugene Gladstone ONeill. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSR 122, as introduced, Hertzberg. Digest KeyBill TextWHEREAS, Eugene Gladstone ONeill was born on October 16, 1888, in a hotel room in New York to the famous actor James ONeill and his wife, and he would grow up to be Americas Shakespeare and the most honored American playwright; andWHEREAS, Spending most of his young life at a boarding school, ONeill found a release from his chaotic family life and schoolwork through literature; andWHEREAS, ONeill discovered freedom by turning to a life at sea, where he ultimately came to grapple with the hardships of poverty and loneliness, and even attempted suicide. These experiences resonated with ONeill and later surfaced through his plays; andWHEREAS, ONeill wrote 38 plays, as well as numerous one-act plays, and he received three Pulitzer Prizes within his lifetime for his works: Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie, and Strange Interlude; and WHEREAS, Struggling with the debilitating effects of Parkinsons disease and believing his career as a writer was over, ONeill moved to California with his wife, Carlotta, where they lived in Danville at Tao House, now a national historic site; andWHEREAS, Reinvigorated by his years in California, ONeill would write the three greatest plays of his storied career: The Iceman Cometh, Long Days Journey Into Night, and A Moon For the Misbegotten, the second of which posthumously earned him a fourth Pulitzer Prize and is often listed as the greatest American play ever written; andWHEREAS, In 1936, ONeill became the first, and to this day, the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. His plays are continuously in performance all over the world; andWHEREAS, On November 27, 1953, unable to write for 10 years and suffering from health complications, Eugene ONeill died at 65 years of age in a hotel room by the Charles River in Boston; andWHEREAS, In 1976, ONeills California home, Tao House, was established as a national historic site; now, therefore, be itResolved by the Senate of the State of California,That Eugene Gladstone ONeill be honored on the 65th anniversary of his death at 65 years of age for his influence as a playwright on the American theatre, his extraordinary California plays, and his unparalleled contributions to literature and drama; and be it furtherResolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20172018 REGULAR SESSION Senate Resolution No. 122Introduced by Senators Hertzberg and GlazerAugust 08, 2018 Relative to the 65th anniversary of the death of Eugene Gladstone ONeill. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSR 122, as introduced, Hertzberg. Digest Key
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20172018 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Resolution No. 122
Introduced by Senators Hertzberg and GlazerAugust 08, 2018
Introduced by Senators Hertzberg and Glazer
August 08, 2018
Relative to the 65th anniversary of the death of Eugene Gladstone ONeill.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
## LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SR 122, as introduced, Hertzberg.
## Digest Key
## Bill Text
WHEREAS, Eugene Gladstone ONeill was born on October 16, 1888, in a hotel room in New York to the famous actor James ONeill and his wife, and he would grow up to be Americas Shakespeare and the most honored American playwright; and
WHEREAS, Spending most of his young life at a boarding school, ONeill found a release from his chaotic family life and schoolwork through literature; and
WHEREAS, ONeill discovered freedom by turning to a life at sea, where he ultimately came to grapple with the hardships of poverty and loneliness, and even attempted suicide. These experiences resonated with ONeill and later surfaced through his plays; and
WHEREAS, ONeill wrote 38 plays, as well as numerous one-act plays, and he received three Pulitzer Prizes within his lifetime for his works: Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie, and Strange Interlude; and
WHEREAS, Struggling with the debilitating effects of Parkinsons disease and believing his career as a writer was over, ONeill moved to California with his wife, Carlotta, where they lived in Danville at Tao House, now a national historic site; and
WHEREAS, Reinvigorated by his years in California, ONeill would write the three greatest plays of his storied career: The Iceman Cometh, Long Days Journey Into Night, and A Moon For the Misbegotten, the second of which posthumously earned him a fourth Pulitzer Prize and is often listed as the greatest American play ever written; and
WHEREAS, In 1936, ONeill became the first, and to this day, the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. His plays are continuously in performance all over the world; and
WHEREAS, On November 27, 1953, unable to write for 10 years and suffering from health complications, Eugene ONeill died at 65 years of age in a hotel room by the Charles River in Boston; and
WHEREAS, In 1976, ONeills California home, Tao House, was established as a national historic site; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California,That Eugene Gladstone ONeill be honored on the 65th anniversary of his death at 65 years of age for his influence as a playwright on the American theatre, his extraordinary California plays, and his unparalleled contributions to literature and drama; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.