Alexander Woollcott

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) was an American drama critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an occasional actor and playwright, and a prominent radio personality.

Alexander Woollcott
Woollcott in 1939, photographed by Carl Van Vechten
Born(1887-01-19)January 19, 1887
Colts Neck Township, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1943(1943-01-23) (aged 56)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeHamilton College, New York
Occupation
  • Drama critic
  • essayist
  • playwright
  • editor
  • actor
  • raconteur
  • radio personality
Alma materHamilton College
RelativesWilliam W. Woollcott (brother)

Woollcott was the inspiration for two fictional characters. The first was Sheridan Whiteside, the caustic but charming main character in the play The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, later made into a film in 1942. The second was the snobbish, vitriolic columnist Waldo Lydecker in the novel Laura, later made into a film in 1944. Woollcott was convinced he was the inspiration for his friend Rex Stout's brilliant, eccentric detective Nero Wolfe, an idea that Stout denied.

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