Eileen McKenney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eileen McKenney (died 22 December 1940, El Centro, California) was the wife of the American writer Nathanael West. They were killed in a car accident on their way back to Hollywood from a hunting trip in Mexico, when West ran a stop sign. F. Scott Fitzgerald, a close friend of West and McKenney had died the day before, and were on their way back to Los Angeles to attend Fitzgerald's funeral. McKenney and West were then to fly to New York City for the opening of My Sister Eileen on Broadway. (Source: IMDB)

McKenney was the sister of the writer Ruth McKenney, and the inspiration for Ruth's book My Sister Eileen (1938), which was adapted as a Broadway play in 1940, filmed in 1942 and 1955 by Columbia Pictures, and adapted into the Broadway musical Wonderful Town (1953). There was also a TV series My Sister Eileen (1960-1961) based on the book and play.