Robert Neilson Stephens

Robert Neilson Stephens (July 22, 1867 - January 20, 1906) was an American novelist and playwright. An Enemy to the King, both a play and a novel, was one of his best known works. An Enemy to the King was also adapted for the cinema under the same title, An Enemy to the King, in 1916. Stephens was born in New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1867 to James Andrew and Rebecca (Neilson) Stephens. His father died when he was 9, and his mother then became a teacher. He graduated from the high school in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, then going on to employment at a printing office, followed by a book store and railroad office, until he was hired by the Philadelphia Press in December 1886. He was drama editor of that paper until 1893, and by that time had also published short stories in magazines. He subsequently became a theatrical agent in New York City and began writing plays. His first play, On the Bowery, featured famous bridge jumper Steve Brodie. On the Bowery and his other early plays were intended for popular consumption, not critical acclaim, in the hope he could produce more serious pieces in the future. Stephens married Maude Helfenstein in 1889. Long in ill health, Stephens went to England in 1899, and died in Bournemouth, England, on January 20, 1906.