O'Neill Wrote From The Heart Power Of Words: Playwright studied real life to raise the bar of American drama.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: J. BONASIA

Eugene O'Neill didn't mince words. But he didn't waste time using big, flowery language, either, when he wanted to make a point.

In fact, O'Neill became America's first great playwright by telling the hard truths of everyday life through the voices of common people.

"Truth, in the theatre as in life, is eternally difficult, just as the easy is the everlasting lie," he wrote.

O'Neill was born in a hotel room at the corner of New York's famous Broadway and 43rd Street. It was an apt birthplace for the writer who would alter American drama, transforming it from lowbrow entertainment into a lofty art form.

Born to an actor father, O'Neill was raised in the wings of theaters across the country. His mother became a morphine addict. His only brother, whom he admired, grew up to be a drunkard.

O'Neill used this harsh and fractured family life as inspiration. His best-known …