Richard Edward Connell Jr was born on the 17th October 1893, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

He began his writing career as a journalist for The Poughkeepsie Journal as well as attending Georgetown College for a year and then Harvard University. At Harvard, Connell edited The Lampoon and The Crimson. He subsequently worked for The New York American and as a copy writer for the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.

During the First World War Connell served in France with the US Army and was the editor of his camp's newspaper.

After the war, he turned to writing short stories, and eventually wrote over 300 of them for the periodicals and journals of the day including regular contributions to The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's. The attention of his audience kept him popular for decades. He is perhaps best remembered for his macabre short story 'The Most Dangerous Game', written in 1924.

In 1942 he was even nominated for an Academy Award (Best Original Story) for the Frank Capra movie 'Meet John Doe' based on his story 'A Reputation'.

Richard Connell died on 22nd November 1949 in Beverly Hills, California. He was 56.