Editing Eugene O'Neill (section)

==Illness and death==
[[File:EugeneONeilGrave.jpg|thumb|Grave of Eugene O'Neill]]
After suffering from multiple health problems (including depression and alcoholism) over many years, O'Neill ultimately faced a severe [[Parkinson's disease|Parkinson's]]-like tremor in his hands that made it impossible for him to write during the last 10 years of his life; he tried [[Dictation machine|dictation]] but found himself unable to compose that way.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}} While at Tao House, O'Neill had intended to write a collection of works he called "the Cycle" chronicling American life spanning from 1755 to 1932. Only two of the eleven plays O'Neill proposed, ''[[A Touch of the Poet]]'' and ''[[More Stately Mansions]]'', were completed.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Black |first=Stephen A. |title=Eugene O'Neill: Beyond Mourning and Tragedy |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1999 |isbn=0-300-07676-2 |location=New Haven and London |pages=394; 481 |language=English}}</ref> As his health worsened, O'Neill lost inspiration for the project and wrote three largely autobiographical plays, ''[[The Iceman Cometh]]'', ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'', and ''[[A Moon for the Misbegotten]]'', which he completed in 1943, just before leaving Tao House and losing his ability to write. The book "''Love and Admiration and Respect": The O'Neill-Commins Correspondence''" includes an extended account written by Saxe Commins, O'Neill's publisher, in which he talks of "snatches of dialogue" between Carlotta and O'Neill over the disappearance of a group of manuscripts that O'Neill had brought with him from San Francisco. "When the table was cleared I learned the cause of the tension; the manuscripts were lost. They had disappeared mysteriously during the day and there was no clue to their whereabouts."<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Eugene ONeill stamp.png|upright=1.5|thumb|right|O'Neill stamp issued in 1967]]

O'Neill died at the Sheraton Hotel (now [[Boston University]]'s [[Shelton Hall (Boston University)|Kilachand Hall]]) on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at age 65. As he was dying, he whispered: "I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."<ref>{{cite book|last=Sheaffer|first=Louis|title=O'Neill: Son and Artist|url=https://archive.org/details/oneillsonartist00shea|url-access=registration|publisher=Little, Brown & Co.|date=1973|isbn=0-316-78337-4}}</ref> He is interred in the [[Forest Hills Cemetery]] in [[Boston]]'s [[Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts|Jamaica Plain]] neighborhood.

In 1956, Carlotta arranged for his autobiographical play ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' to be published, although his written instructions had stipulated that it not be made public until 25 years after his death. It was produced on stage to tremendous critical acclaim and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Long-Days-Journey-into-Night-play-by-ONeill|title=Long Day's Journey into Night {{!}} play by O'Neill|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=February 24, 2019}}</ref> It is widely considered his finest play. Other posthumously published works include ''[[A Touch of the Poet]]'' (1958) and ''[[More Stately Mansions]]'' (1967).

In 1967, the [[United States Postal Service]] honored O'Neill with a [[Prominent Americans series]] (1965–1978) $1 postage stamp.

In 2000, a team of researchers studying O'Neill's autopsy report concluded that he died of [[cerebellar cortical atrophy]], a rare form of brain deterioration unrelated to either alcohol use or Parkinson's disease.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-13-me-19213-story.html#:~:text=Nobel%20Prize%2Dwinning%20playwright%20Eugene,New%20England%20Journal%20of%20Medicine. Los Angeles Times, 13 April 2000]. Retrieved September 10, 2020</ref>