celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Literature and art / Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long…
Case file s1837 · Literature and art · 1953
See 1953 on the timelineSee it in 3D
1953
Eugene O'Neill: Eugene O’Neill, Nobel laureate in Literature 1936
Eugene O'Neill. Nobel Foundation. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
27 November 1953
Place
Boston, Massachusetts · United States
Field
playwright (Nobel Prize 1936, four Pulitzer Prizes) · Literature and writing on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (Massachusetts) · Common law
Historical event
None
Literature and artPostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1956 against his 25-year ban

Eugene O'Neill died in a Boston hotel on 27 November 1953, aged 65. He had disowned his daughter Oona in 1943 after she married Charlie Chaplin, and never saw her again. His son Eugene Jr. died by suicide in 1950. His son Shane, also disowned, later died by suicide. The autobiographical play Long Day's Journey Into Night was locked in a vault in 1941 with instructions that it not be produced or published until 25 years after his death. His third wife, Carlotta Monterey, held the literary rights. In 1956, three years after his death, she broke the ban, and the play was published that year. It opened on Broadway on 7 November 1956 in a production directed by Jose Quintero, with Fredric March and Florence Eldridge, and won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play. Oona later inherited the Spithead estate in Bermuda. Yale holds the principal O'Neill papers.

What the law took from it

A sealed manuscript depends on the widow who holds the rights, and she can open it.

Sources
  1. theatermania.comPress
  2. encyclopedia.comPress
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Eugene O'Neill disowned his daughter Oona in 1943, and his widow Carlotta released Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1956 against his 25-year ban,” story s1837, https://www.celebrity.estate/eugene-oneill-1953, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Laura Ingalls Wilder: Laura Ingalls Wilder cropped sepia21957 · Mansfield, MissouriLaura Ingalls Wilder left her book royalties to a Missouri library after her daughter's death; the daughter's heir renewed the copyrights, and a 2001 settlement paid the library $875,000Shared: also Literature and art; 4 years apart; also North AmericaLaura Ingalls Wilder's will left her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the proceeds of her literary estate "during her natural life," with the Wright County library in Mansfield to receive them afterward.The Seattle Times and 2 moreAyn Rand: Photo portrait of Russian-American writer Ayn Rand used for the first-edition back cover of her novel The Fountainhead (1943).1982 · New YorkAyn Rand's heir kept the first and last pages of The Fountainhead manuscript; the Library of Congress took them from his home in January 2002Shared: also Literature and art; 29 years apart; also North AmericaAyn Rand died in 1982 and left her papers and estate to Leonard Peikoff, who as executor controls the copyrights to all her works except Anthem.peikoff.com and 2 moreJohn Steinbeck: John Steinbeck 1939 (cropped)1968 · New YorkA jury awarded John Steinbeck's stepdaughter more than $13 million against his son's family for blocking films of his novelsShared: also Literature and art; 15 years apart; also North AmericaSteinbeck left his copyrights to his third wife, Elaine. His sons, Thom and John IV, received smaller bequests. Elaine and Thom fought for decades over control of the works.usatoday.com and 3 moreFrank Lloyd Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright portrait1959 · Phoenix, ArizonaFrank Lloyd Wright's grave in Wisconsin was emptied 26 years after his burial, and his body was cremated for ArizonaShared: also Literature and art; 6 years apart; also North AmericaWright was buried in Wisconsin, near Taliesin, his home and school at Spring Green, beside members of his family. His third wife, Olgivanna, led the Taliesin Fellowship after his death.arabnews.pk and 4 moreJack Kerouac: Kerouac by Palumbo 2 (cropped)1969 · St. Petersburg, FloridaA Florida judge ruled that the will giving Jack Kerouac's estate to his widow's family was forged, and the ruling changed nothingShared: also Literature and art; 16 years apart; also North AmericaKerouac left his estate to his mother, Gabrielle. She died in 1973. A will dated 1973 in her name left everything to Stella Sampas Kerouac, Jack's third wife.nbcmiami.com and 3 moreJackson Pollock: Jackson Pollock by Hans Namuth (cropped)1956 · East Hampton (Springs), New YorkJackson Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman claimed he painted Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before his 1956 crash, and his widow Lee Krasner and the Pollock-Krasner board rejected itShared: also Literature and art; 3 years apart; also North AmericaOn 11 August 1956 Pollock, aged 44, drove his Oldsmobile with two passengers, Edith Metzger and his mistress, the artist Ruth Kligman, less than a mile from his home. The car crashed. Pollock and Metzger died. Kligman survived.The Art Newspaper and 3 more

Where this case sits

Literature and artPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States