Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (1887–1943) was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. He was the inspiration for Sheridan Whiteside, the main character in the play The Man Who Came to Dinner by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and for the far less likable character Waldo Lydecker in the film Laura. He was convinced he was the inspiration for Rex Stout’s brilliant detective Nero Wolfe, but Stout, although he was friendly to Woollcott, said there was nothing to that idea.
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Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.
—Alexander Woollcott
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