The Eugene O'Neill Award (Swedish: O'Neill-stipendiet) is one of Sweden's finest awards for stage actors. It is a scholarship for actors at the Swedish theater. It has been awarded annually by the Royal Dramatic Theatre since 1956. [1] [2] [3]
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (1888–1953) was a noted American playwright. He was a four winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama and was the Nobel laureate for literature in 1936. [4]
Just before Eugene O'Neill died in 1953, he drew up a will in which he gave the then not yet staged play Long Day's Journey Into Night (written in 1941) to Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre, along with exclusive first performance rights. The play had its world premiere in Stockholm on February 2, 1956. The gesture was as thanks for the Royal Dramatic Theatre's continued interest in staging his plays (more so than any other theatre in the world), and for Swedish appreciation of his work long before he became recognized internationally, or in his home country. [5] [6]
Later his widow American stage and film actress Carlotta Monterey (1888– 1970), also gave the Royal Dramatic Theatre the performing rights to A Touch of the Poet (1942), Hughie (1942) and More Stately Mansions (posthumous). She refused staging fees for his plays in Sweden, provided that 8% of the royalties from the revenues of each performance were given to the Eugene O'Neill Memory Fund, which manages the money for the Eugene O'Neill Award. [7] [8] [9]
The scholarship is bestowed annually on the 16th of October, the anniversary of O'Neill's birthday. In accordance with O'Neill's own wishes, it is given to "highly deserving actors of the Royal Dramatic Theatre". Recipients of the award are decided by Dramaten's board of directors. As an extra honour to Eugene O'Neill, the first award was granted to the two actors who played the leading parts of James and Mary Tyrone in the original staging of Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in February 1956; Lars Hanson (1886–1965) and Inga Tidblad (1901–1975). [10] [11] [12]
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night is often included on lists of the finest U.S. plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He was awarded the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is also the only playwright to win four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
Long Day's Journey into Night is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the 20th century. It premiered in Sweden in February 1956 and then opened on Broadway in November 1956, winning the Tony Award for Best Play. O'Neill received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama posthumously for Long Day's Journey into Night. The work is openly autobiographical in nature. The "long day" in the title refers to the setting of the play, which takes place during one day.
Lars Mauritz Hanson was a Swedish film and stage actor, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era.
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages.
Jan Wilhelm Malmsjö is a Swedish stage and film actor, musical star and singer. He is married to Marie Göranzon and father to Jonas Malmsjö.
Gunn Wållgren (born Gunnel Margaret Haraldsdotter Wållgren; ; was a Swedish stage and film actress. She is best remembered for her role in Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny and Alexander.
The Royal Dramatic Training Academy, was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years (1787–1964) seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education for Swedish stage actors. It was established in 1787 by the theatre and art loving King Gustav III and was for many years under the protection of the Swedish royal family.
The Swedish Theatre in Stockholm was, at the beginning of the 20th century, Sweden's largest dramatic theatre. It was located on Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. During its years in use, from 1875 to 1925, it was often considered as Sweden's foremost national theatre.
Ralf Örjan Valter Ramberg is a Swedish actor born in Örgryte, Gothenburg.
More Stately Mansions is a play by Eugene O'Neill.
Carl Olof Magnus Winnerstrand was a Swedish actor.
Olof Johan Harald Molander was a Swedish theatre and film director. He was most notable for his many Strindberg and Shakespeare productions.
Thaliapriset is regarded to be one of Sweden's finest theatre awards and is given annually to an actor, director or a theatre personality of the stage. The annual scholarship was established in December 1951 by the daily Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. Throughout the years, some of the leading Swedish stage performers have received the award.
Hughie is a short two-character play by Eugene O'Neill set in the lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in Midtown Manhattan, New York, during the summer of 1928. The play is essentially a long monologue delivered by a small-time hustler named Erie Smith to the hotel's new night clerk Charlie Hughes, lamenting how Smith's luck has gone bad since the death of Hughie, Hughes' predecessor. O'Neill wrote Hughie in 1942, although it did not receive its world premiere until 1958, when it was staged in Sweden at the Royal Dramatic Theatre with Bengt Eklund as Erie Smith. It was first staged in English at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 1963 with Burgess Meredith as Erie.
Gertrud Fridh was a Swedish stage and film actress.
Inga Sofia Tidblad was a Swedish actress. She was one of the most praised actresses in Swedish theatre.
Lena Irene Lindh is a Swedish stage and film actress and singer.
Kerstin Anita Wall, is a Swedish stage and film actress.
John Wilhelm Brunius was a Swedish actor, scriptwriter and film director.
Simon Jönsson Berger, known as Simon J. Berger is a Swedish actor. He is the son of musician Bengt Berger and artist Gittan Jönsson. He grew up in Stockholm and in Österlen. He was educated at the Fridhems Folkhögskola and Teaterhögskolan in Malmö, from which he graduated in 2007. Berger has also acted at Scen Österlen, Lunds Studentteater, Malmö Stadsteater and Royal Dramatic Theatre.