Biography of Famous Alcoholic and Producer Horace Liveright

About the famous American producer, publisher, and alcoholic Horace Liveright, about his struggle with the disease.

HORACE LIVERIGHT (1886-1933). American publisher, theatrical producer, and filmmaker.

Liveright founded a publishing firm in New York in 1918 which published the work of many little-known authors who were later to emerge as the American literary giants of the '20s and '30s. He also founded the Modern Library series, and was a vigorous crusader against the strict literary censorship of the period. In the mid'-20s, he produced several successful plays.

"He loaned courage and money to many fumbling talents," wrote Ben Hecht. "There was in New York no more popular and exciting figure than Liveright. Beauty, success, and admiration attended him like a faithful retinue, and hundreds of hangers-on were proud to boast of his friendship."

Progressive alcoholism, however, took its toll, and during a period spent in Hollywood in the late '20s, Hecht observed that Liveright". . . seemed to do nothing but drink himself into nightly comas."

Liveright returned to New York and dropped from public sight. When he died late in 1933, he was bankrupt and deeply in debt. Six people attended his funeral.

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