Eleanor Ruggles

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Eleanor Ruggles O'Leary (born June 24, 1916 in Boston , Massachusetts , † July 2, 2008 in Marlborough , Massachusetts) was an American biographer .

Life

Eleanor Ruggles O'Leary was the daughter of Daniel Blaisdell and Alice, née Morrill, Ruggles. She grew up in the Boston neighborhood of Beacon Hill and attended Winsor School . She graduated from Vassar College in English and Theater Arts in 1938 . She then moved to London and took acting lessons from Elsie Fogerty. Upon her return to the United States, she became the director of the Duchess County Players in New York City , working with the Group 20 Theater and the Theater Guild of New York City . However, she broke off her theater career in favor of her marriage to Robert Semmes O'Leary. She moved with him to Cambridge .

With her biography Gerard Manley Hopkins: a life about the British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins , Ruggles made her debut as an author in 1944. This was followed by other biographies on Nicholas Vachel Lindsay , John Henry Newman and Edwin Booth . Her The Prince of Players , which was preceded by several years of research, was her greatest success. It was made into a film by 20th Century Fox just two years later, starring Richard Burton as Edwin Booth, under the title King of Actors . She later worked as a critic for the Boston Globe between the 1960s and 1970s, often reviewing biographies.

On July 2, 2008, Ruggles died of respiratory failure at the age of 92 . At that time she had been living in an old people's home for Alzheimer's patients for five years.

Work (selection)

  • Gerard Manley Hopkins: a life (1944)
  • Journey into Faith (1948)
  • The Prince of Players (1953)
  • The West Going Heart (1959)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Gloria Negri: Eleanor O'Leary, 92; was biographer, book reviewer ( Memento of the original dated December 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.highbeam.com archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Boston Globe , July 20, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Ruggles, Eleanor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Leary, Eleanor Ruggles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biographer
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts, United States
DATE OF DEATH July 2, 2008
Place of death Marlborough , Massachusetts, United States