Donald Robert Perry Marquis (MAR-kwis; July 29, 1878 – December 29, 1937) was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Archy and Mehitabel, Archy being a supposed author of humorous verse. During his lifetime he was equally famous for creating another fictitious character, "the Old Soak," who was the subject of two books, a hit Broadway play (1922–23), a silent film (1926) and a talkie (1937).
Life
Marquis was born to James Stuart Marquis (1816–1897) and Elizabeth Virginia Marquis (née Whitmore, 1834–1915), and he grew up in the small village of Walnut, Illinois. His brother David died in 1892 at the age of 20; his father James, a medical doctor from Ohio died in 1897. His mother had been born in Virginia. After graduating from Walnut High School in 1894, he attended Knox Academy, a now-defunct preparatory program run by Knox College, in 1896, but left after three months.
In 1909, Marquis married Reina Melcher, with whom he had a son, Robert (1915–1921), and a daughter, Barbara (1918–1931).
Reina died on December 2, 1923, and three years later Marquis married the actress Marjorie Potts Vonnegut, whose first husband, the actor Walter Vonnegut, was a cousin of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the bestselling author, playwright and satirist. Marjorie died in her sleep on October 25, 1936.
Marquis died of a stroke in New York City, after suffering three other strokes that partly disabled him.
