Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (d. 1943)
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.
Woollcott was the inspiration for Sheridan Whiteside, the caustic 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, and for the caustic character Waldo Lydecker in the book 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.
1887Jan, 19
Alexander Woollcott
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Events on 1887
- 20Jan
Pearl Harbor
The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. - 2Feb
Groundhog Day
In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed. - 10Apr
Pope Leo XIII
On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America. - 28Apr
Guillaume Schnaebelé
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war. - 11Nov
Haymarket affair
August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are executed as a result of the Haymarket affair.