Richard Connell

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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."

[edit] Family history

Richard Connell was born to Richard Edward Connell Sr. (1857-1912) and Mary Miller Connell on October 17, 1893 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York. He had three sisters (names). His father was a reporter and editor of the local Poughkeepsie News-Press. In 1892, Connell Sr. took the position of police commissioner in Poughkeepsie and thus began his political career. In 1896, he was unsuccessful in a bid for the 55th United States Congress and failed again in 1898 and 1900 when he ran for the State assembly. He did become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention where he served in 1900 and 1904. Eventually Richard’s father won an election for the 62nd United States Congress in March 4, 1911 where he served until his death a year later on October 30, 1912. (He had been nominated in 1912 as the Democratic candidate for reelection to the Sixty-third Congress.)

[edit] Life

At 10 years of age, while his father was still an editor for the Poughkeepsie News-Press, Richard Connell’s own interest in writing began to develop. 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) in Washington, D.C., but left a year later in 1911 to become a secretary for his farther. After his father’s death two years later, Richard returned to college; this time to Harvard, where he became an editor for the Harvard Lampoon and The 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 a libel. Ironically, after graduating in 1915, Connell accepted a job working for the same newspaper editor who sued over his editorial. While working as a reporter for the New York American, he received an attractive offer from the J. Walter Thompson Company and left the newspaper business to write advertising copy. After World War I broke out in 1914, Connell enlisted and served with the 27th New York Division, where he offered his talents as the editor of the camp newspaper, Gas Attack. His unit also spent a year in France. When the war ended, Connell returned to his previous job of writing ad copy. Many of his short stories like Heart of a Sloganeer and Once a Sloganeer find their roots in his experiences with advertising.

In 1919 Richard Connell married Louise Herrick Fox, 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 the O. Henry Memorial Award in 1924. Connell became one of the best-known American short story writers; 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 in Beverly Hills, California at the age of fifty-six of a heart-attack on November 22, 1949.