Long Day's Journey into Night is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956.

The parents and two sons blame and resent each other for various reasons; bitterness and jealousy serve as proxies for ultimately failed attempts at tenderness and compassion.

The family's enduring emotional and psychological stress is fueled by their shared self-analysis, combined with articulate honesty.

James Tyrone is a 65-year-old actor who had long ago bought a "vehicle" play for himself and had established his reputation based on this one role in which he had toured for years.

Although that "vehicle" had served him well financially, he is now resentful that his having become so identified with this character has limited his scope and opportunities as a classical actor.

His dress and appearance are showing signs of his strained financial circumstances, but he retains many of the mixed affectations of a classical actor in spite of his shabby attire.

His wife Mary recently returned from treatment for morphine addiction and has put on some much-needed weight as a result.

When Edmund, her younger son, hears her moving around at night and entering the spare bedroom, he becomes alarmed, thinking she is succumbing to her addiction.

In addition to Mary's problems, the family is burdened by Edmund's coughing; they fear that he might have tuberculosis, and are anxiously awaiting a doctor's diagnosis.

Jamie points out to Edmund that they had concealed their mother's addiction from him for ten years, explaining that his naiveté about the nature of the disease was understandable but deluded.

Mary does most of the talking and discusses her love for fog but her hatred of the foghorn, and her husband's obvious obsession with money.

After seeing the condition that his wife is in, James expresses the regret that he bothered to come home, and he attempts to ignore her as she continues her remarks, which include blaming him for Jamie's drinking.

When Edmund reveals that he has consumption (tuberculosis), Mary refuses to believe it, and attempts to discredit Dr. Hardy, due to her inability to face the reality and severity of the situation.

Alone, Mary admits that she needs more morphine and hopes that someday she will "accidentally" overdose, because she knows that if she did so on purpose, the Virgin never would forgive her.

When James comes back with more alcohol he notes that there was evidence that Jamie had attempted to pick the locks to the whiskey cabinet in the cellar, as he has done before.

Holding her wedding gown, she talks about her convent days and how she lost her vocation by falling in love with James, while her husband and sons silently watch her.

Several characters are referenced in the play but do not appear on stage: O'Neill finished revising the manuscript into its final version in March 1941.

"We refused, of course," wrote publisher Bennett Cerf in his memoirs, "but then were horrified to learn that legally all the cards were in her hand.

The actual cottage, today owned and operated by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, is made up as it may appear in the play.

Regarding O'Neill himself, by 1912 he had attended a renowned university (Princeton), spent several years at sea, and suffered from depression and alcoholism.

He did contribute poetry to the local newspaper, the New London Telegraph, as well as reporting, and he was admitted to a sanatorium in 1912–13, suffering from tuberculosis (consumption), whereupon he devoted himself to playwriting.

The play's first production in the United Kingdom came in 1958, opening first in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then moving to the Globe Theatre in London's West End.

It was directed again by Quintero, and the cast included Anthony Quayle (James), Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies (Mary), Ian Bannen (Jamie), Alan Bates (Edmund), and Etain O'Dell (Cathleen).

The play was made into a 1962 film starring Katharine Hepburn as Mary, Ralph Richardson as James, Jason Robards as Jamie, Dean Stockwell as Edmund, and Jeanne Barr as Cathleen.

At that year's Cannes Film Festival, Richardson, Robards and Stockwell all received Best Actor awards, and Hepburn was named Best Actress.

A 1987 TV film directed by Jonathan Miller starred Kevin Spacey as Jamie, Peter Gallagher as Edmund, Jack Lemmon as James Tyrone, Bethel Leslie as Mary, and Jodie Lynne McClintock as Cathleen.

The same cast had previously performed the play at Canada's Stratford Festival; Wellington essentially filmed the stage production without significant changes.