Eileen McKenney (1914–40) was the sister of the writer Ruth McKenney and the inspiration for Ruth's book My Sister Eileen (1938). It 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 (1960–61).
McKenney was married to American writer Nathanael West. On 22 December 1940, she died, age 26, with her husband in a car crash, near El Centro, California, when West ran a stop sign. They had been on a hunting trip in Mexico.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, a close friend of West and McKenney, had died the day before; and they were on their way back to Los Angeles to attend his funeral and then to fly to New York City for the Broadway opening of My Sister Eileen.
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Name | McKenney, Eileen |
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Date of birth | 1914 |
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Date of death | 1940 |
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