Editing Marc Connelly (section)

==Biography==
Marcus Cook Connelly<ref name="nyh040222">{{cite news |title=New Team of Playwrights Assessing Each Other |work=The New York Herald |date=April 2, 1922 |location=New York, New York |page=46 |via = [[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> was born to actor and hotelier Patrick Joseph Connelly and actress Mabel Fowler Cook in [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]]. His father died in 1902. Connelly attended Trinity Hall boarding school in Washington, Pennsylvania, after which he began collecting money for ads in ''[[The Pittsburgh Press]]'' to help to support his mother.<ref name="nytobit" /> 

His initial newspaper job led to Connelly's working as an [[Associated Press]] cub reporter, after which he became a junior reporter for ''The Pittsburgh Gazette Times''. Eventually he began writing a humor column for that newspaper.<ref name=nytobit/> In 1919 he joined the [[Algonquin Round Table]].{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}} 

While he was working in Pittsburgh, Connelly ventured into writing for the stage, creating skits for shows put on by an athletic association and one-act plays for a little theater group. His interest in the theater increased after he began reporting on the theater beat for ''[[The Morning Telegraph]]'' in New York City. In that role he developed a friendship with [[George S. Kaufman]], who wrote about drama for ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name="nytobit" />

Connelly had contributed to several Broadway musicals before teaming up with his most important collaborator, Kaufman, in 1921. During their four-year partnership, they wrote five comedies – ''[[Dulcy (play)|Dulcy]]'' (1921), ''[[To the Ladies (play)|To the Ladies]]'' (1922), ''[[Merton of the Movies (play)|Merton of the Movies]]'' (1922), ''The Deep Tangled Wildwood'' (1923) and ''[[Beggar on Horseback]]'' (1924) – and also co-directed and contributed sketches to the 1922 revue ''The '49ers'', collaborated on the book to the musical comedy ''Helen of Troy, New York'' (1923), and wrote both the book and lyrics for another musical comedy, ''Be Yourself'' (1924).{{Citation needed |date=April 2024}} 

Connelly received the [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] for ''[[The Green Pastures]]'' in 1930.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Buckley |first1=Tom |title=City Hall Celebrates Marc Connelly at 90: Doing the 'Tribute Circuit' City Hall Salutes Marc Connelly |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/08/archives/city-hall-celebrates-marc-connelly-at-90-doing-the-tribute-circuit.html |access-date=May 29, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=November 8, 1980 |page=25|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The play, a re-telling of episodes from the [[Old Testament]], was staged with the first all-black [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] cast. He contributed verse and articles to ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', ''Everybody's'', and other magazines.

Connelly was a drama teacher at [[Yale University]] from 1946 to 1950.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marc-Connelly|title = Marc Connelly &#124; American playwright &#124; Britannica| date=December 9, 2023 }}</ref> In 1968, Connelly published his memoirs, ''Voices Offstage''. Over the years, Connelly appeared as an actor in 21 movies, including ''[[The Spirit of St. Louis (film)|The Spirit of St. Louis]]'' (1957) with [[James Stewart]].

Connelly's television debut as an actor came in 1953 in an episode of ''Broadway TV Theatre'' on [[WWOR-TV|WOR-TV]]. A review in the trade publication ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said that Connelly "handled himself with winning aplomb".<ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 20, 1953 |page=26 |title=Television Followup |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety190-1953-05/page/n165/mode/1up |accessdate=November 5, 2023 }}</ref>

A film about the Round Table members, ''[[The Ten-Year Lunch]]'' (1987), won the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]] and featured Connelly, who was the last survivor. The 1994 film ''[[Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle]]'', a fictional account of the group, featured actor [[Matt Malloy]] as Connelly.

Connelly died on December 21, 1980, in St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, aged 90.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |last1=Whitman |first1=Alden |title=Marc Connelly, Playwright, Dies; Won Fame With 'Green Pastures' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/22/archives/marc-connelly-playwright-dies-won-fame-with-green-pastures-marc.html |access-date=May 29, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=December 22, 1980 |page=A 1|url-access=subscription}}</ref>