Damon Runyon Biography
Alfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and author.
He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Benny Southstreet," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." His distinctive vernacular style is known as "Runyonese": a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions. He is credited with coining the phrase "Hooray Henry", a term now used in British English to describe an upper-class, loud-mouthed, arrogant twit. Source: Wikipedia
Biography Snapshot
- Name:
- Damon Runyon
- Nationality:
- United States of America
- Profession:
- Writer, Journalist, Author, Actor, Film Producer, Screenwriter
- Date of Birth:
- October 4, 1880
- Astrological Sign:
- Libra
- Date of Death:
- December 10, 1946
- Age at Death:
- 66
- Cause of Death:
- Laryngeal cancer
Marriages
Cite this page
APA Style
Damon Runyon. (2023). The HistoryHop.com website. Retrieved 10:49am UTC, Dec 7, 2023, from www.historyhop.com/famous-people/damon-runyon/bio.
Harvard Style
Damon Runyon. [Internet]. 2023. The HistoryHop.com website. Available from: www.historyhop.com/famous-people/damon-runyon/bio [Accessed 07 Dec 2023].
MLA Style
"Damon Runyon." Bio. The HistoryHop.com website, 2023. Web. 07 Dec 2023.
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