Louis Sheaffer (né Slung October 18, 1912 – August 7, 1993) was an American journalist for the ''

Brooklyn Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' between 1934 and 1955. After the newspaper's closure in 1955, Sheaffer wrote a two part biography on

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...

and released the first volume ''O'Neill: Son and Playwright'' in 1968. The final part of Sheaffer's biography on O'Neill, titled ''O'Neill: Son and Artist'', was awarded the 1974

Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award honors "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography by an American author." Award winners receive ...

and nominated for the 1974 National Book Award for Biography. Apart from the Pulitzer Prize, Sheaffer was a three-time

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

recipient and received over ten fellowships from MacDowell.

Early life and education

On October 18, 1912, Louis Sheaffer Slung was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. He briefly went to the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

for his post-secondary education in the early 1930s.

Career

In 1934, Sheaffer began his career with the ''

'' as a

newspaper journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during World War II and resumed his tenure with the Eagle in 1946. Later on, Sheaffer was named the newspaper's film critic in 1947 and theater critic in 1949. Sheaffer remained with the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' as a theatre critic until the newspaper's closure in 1955. After leaving the newspaper, Sheaffer moved to the

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, within the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The current Broadway theater, completed in 1972, i ...

and worked as a

press agent In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization. It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) via the media. The subj ...

for a year. In 1956, Sheaffer started writing a two-part biography on playwright

. Sheaffer released the first part of his O'Neill biography, ''O'Neill: Son and Playwright'', in 1968 and followed up with the second part, titled ''O'Neill: Son and Artist'', in 1973. The following year, ''O'Neill: Son and Artist'' was awarded the 1974

Awards and honors

Studying theater arts, Sheaffer received his first

in 1959 and received additional fellowships in 1962 and 1969. In 1974, Sheaffer was nominated for the National Book Award for Biography for ''O'Neill: Son and Artist''. From MacDowell, Sheaffer received over ten fellowships between 1970 and 1988.

Death

Sheaffer died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

Long Island College Hospital University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital (or LICH) was a 506-bed teaching hospital located in the Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York. The hospital was founded in 1858 as Long Island Coll ...

on August 7, 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheaffer, Louis American theater critics 1993 deaths American male journalists American film critics Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners University of North Carolina alumni 1912 births American male biographers MacDowell Colony fellows Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Journalists from Kentucky Brooklyn Eagle people