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Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon

Known For Writing
Birthday Oct 04, 1884
Died Dec 10, 1946 (62)
Birthplace Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Popularity 0.2 (history)
Updated Aug 14, 2025
Entry Date Aug 14, 2025
Links TMDb IMDb
Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. 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 hi ... s 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. Runyon's fictional world is also known to the general public through the musical Guys and Dolls based on two of his stories, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure". The musical additionally borrows characters and story elements from a few other Runyon stories, most notably "Pick The Winner". The film Little Miss Marker (and its two remakes, Sorrowful Jones and the 1980 Little Miss Marker) grew from his short story of the same name. Runyon was also a well-known newspaper reporter, covering sports and general news for decades for various publications and syndicates owned by William Randolph Hearst. Already famous for his fiction, he wrote a well-remembered "present tense" article on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933 for the Universal Service, a Hearst syndicate, which was merged with the co-owned International News Service in 1937.

Known For

Filmography

No data available

Three Wise Guys

Three Wise Guys

2005

Writer

Little Miss Marker

Little Miss Marker

1980

Story

Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls

1955

Story

Money from Home

Money from Home

1953

Story

Stop, You're Killing Me

Stop, You're Killing Me

1952

Theatre Play

The Lemon Drop Kid

The Lemon Drop Kid

1951

Short Story

Johnny One-Eye

Johnny One-Eye

1950

Story

Sorrowful Jones

Sorrowful Jones

1949

Story

It Ain't Hay

It Ain't Hay

1943

Story

The Big Street

The Big Street

1942

Story

Tight Shoes

Tight Shoes

1941

Story

Princess O'Hara

Princess O'Hara

1935

Story

Hold 'Em Yale

Hold 'Em Yale

1935

Story

No Ransom

No Ransom

1934

Story

Midnight Alibi

Midnight Alibi

1934

Story

Little Miss Marker

Little Miss Marker

1934

Story

The Lemon Drop Kid

The Lemon Drop Kid

1934

Short Story

Lady for a Day

Lady for a Day

1933

Story

No data available

Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Irish Eyes Are Smiling

1944

Producer

The Big Street

The Big Street

1942

Producer

Organization Category Movie
Television Credits

No data available

No data available

Popularity Metrics

Popularity History


Year Month Avg Max Min
2024 6 3 4 1
2024 7 4 9 1
2024 8 4 10 1
2024 9 4 7 1
2024 10 2 7 1
2024 11 1 2 1
2024 12 2 5 1
2025 1 3 5 1
2025 2 1 3 1
2025 3 1 2 1
2025 5 1 2 1
2025 6 1 1 1
2025 7 0 0 0
2025 8 0 1 0
2025 9 0 0 0
2025 10 0 0 0

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