author
Owen Davis
1874–1956
A powerhouse of American theater, he wrote well over 200 plays and helped shape Broadway for decades. Best known today for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Icebound, he moved easily from melodrama to more serious drama, as well as radio and film.
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About the author
Born in Portland, Maine, in 1874, Owen Davis became one of the most prolific playwrights in American history. After studying at Harvard and trying other work for a time, he turned fully to writing for the stage and built a career that stretched across the first half of the 20th century.
He first found major success with popular melodramas, then broadened into comedies and more realistic drama. His play Icebound won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and his work also reached audiences through radio, film, and stage adaptations of well-known novels.
Davis was not just a successful writer but also an important figure in the theater world itself: he became the first elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America. By the time of his death in New York City in 1956, he had left behind an unusually large body of work and a lasting place in American theatrical history.