help with author description

Hello, I am attempting to display the contents of the author description field inside the loop. I have tried:
<?php
if(get_query_var(‘author_name’)) :
$curauth =
get_userdatabylogin(get_query_var(‘author_name’));
else :
$curauth = get_userdata(get_query_var(‘author’));
endif;

echo “$curauth->description”;
?>

As well as:
<?php the_author_description(); ?>

I had it working a while back and now for some reason, it is not. Your help in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.