Tennessee Williams
Williams in 1965.
Born	March 26, 1911(1911-03-26) Columbus, Mississippi
Died	February 24, 1983 (aged 71) New York, New York
Occupation	Playwright
Writing period	1930-1983
Genres	Southern Gothic
Influences Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg, Hart Crane
Influenced Stephen Chbosky[1]
Signature

Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known as Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo received the Tony Award for best play. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2365x2269, 773 KB) High resolution version from http://memory. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States on the Tombigbee River. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Jimi Hendrix song, see 1983. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... This article is about the state. ... This article is about work. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Southern Gothic is a subgenre of the Gothic writing style, unique to American literature. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: , IPA: ) was a Russian short story writer and playwright. ... David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer of the 20th century, whose prolific and diverse output included novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism, and personal letters. ...   (January 22, 1849 â€“ May 14, 1912) was a Swedish writer, playwright, and painter. ... Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. ... The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky (born January 25, 1970) is an American author, editor, screenwriter, and film director. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Jimi Hendrix song, see 1983. ... A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918. ... A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the play. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Casa Iguana hotel in Mismaloya The Night of the Iguana is a play by Tennessee Williams about American tourists in Mexico. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Drama Critics Circle is comprised of nineteen drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Rose Tattoo is a Tennessee Williams play. ... The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League [1] at an annual ceremony in New York City. ...

Biography

He was born in Columbus, Mississippi, in the home of his paternal grandfather, the local Episcopal rector. The home is now the Mississippi Welcome Center and tourist office for the city. Williams' middle name, Lanier, indicates his family's Virginia connections to the artistic family from England, and earlier from Italy. Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States on the Tombigbee River. ... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ... The Lanier family tree contains a number of musicians in the British royal court. ...

By the time Thomas was three, the family had moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi. At five, he was diagnosed with a paralytic disease. It caused his legs to be paralyzed for nearly two years but his mother encouraged him to make up stories and read. She gave him a typewriter when he was 13.^{[citation needed]} Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. ...

His father Cornelius Williams was a traveling salesman who became increasingly abusive as his children grew older. The father often favored Tennessee's brother Dakin, perhaps because of Tennessee's illness and extended weakness and convalescence as a child. Tennessee's mother Edwina Dakin Williams had aspirations as a genteel southern lady and was somewhat smothering. She may have had a mood disorder.

In 1918, when Williams was seven, the family moved again, this time to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1927, at 16, Williams won third prize (five dollars) for an essay published in Smart Set entitled, "Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?" A year later, he published "The Vengeance of Nitocris" in Weird Tales. St. ... The Smart Set was a literary magazine founded in March 1900 by William dAlton Mann. ... For other uses, see Nitocris (disambiguation). ...

In the early 1930s Williams attended the University of Missouri–Columbia, where he joined Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. His fraternity brothers dubbed him "Tennessee" for his rich southern drawl. In the late 1930s, Williams transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for a year, and finally earned a degree from the University of Iowa in 1938. By then, Williams had written Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay!. This work was first performed in 1935 at 1780 Glenview in Memphis. The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known as the [[. In East Asia, the rise of militarism occurred. ... University of Missouri redirects here. ... ATΩ (Alpha Tau Omega) (commonly known as ATO, Taus, Alpha Taus) is an American social fraternity that annually ranks among the top ten national fraternities for numbers of chapters and total number of members. ... Washington University in St. ... St. ... The University of Iowa, also commonly called Iowa or locally UI, is a major coeducational research university located on a 1,900-acre (8 km²) campus in Iowa City, Iowa, US, on the banks of the Iowa River in East Central Iowa. ...

Tennessee Williams found inspiration in his problematic family for much of his writing.

Williams lived for a time in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He moved there in 1939 to write for the WPA. He first lived at 722 Toulouse Street, the setting of his 1977 play Vieux Carré. The building is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection. He began writing A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) while living at 632 St. Peter Street. He finished it later in Key West, Florida, where he moved in the 1940s. He lived in a separate building at the home of a family named Black. Mr. Black was an Episcopal minister. George Black, the son, became one of his gay partners, and they were close for many years, even after George and his family moved to Miami. It has been suggested that this Mr. Black was the inspiration for the film John Q.^{[citation needed]} French Quarter: upper Chartres street looking down towards Jackson Square and the spires of St. ... NOLA redirects here. ... WPA Graphic The Works Progress Administration (later Work Projects Administration, abbreviated WPA), was created on May 6, 1935 by Presidential order (Congress funded it annually but did not set it up). ... A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. ... Nickname: Coordinates: , Country United States State Florida County Monroe Government  - Type Council-Manager  - Mayor Morgan McPherson Area  - City  7. ...

Tennessee was close to his sister Rose, a slim beauty who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. As was common then, Rose was institutionalized and spent most of her adult life in mental hospitals. When therapies were unsuccessful, she showed more paranoid tendencies. In an effort to treat her, Rose's parents authorized a prefrontal lobotomy, a drastic treatment that was thought to help some mental patients who suffered extreme agitation. Performed in 1937 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the operation made Rose incapacitated for the rest of her life. Look up Lobotomy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Knoxville redirects here. ...

Williams never forgave his parents. Her surgery may have contributed to his alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of amphetamines and barbiturates often prescribed by Dr. Max (Feelgood) Jacobson.^[2] They may have shared a genetic vulnerability, as Williams also suffered from depression. Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ... Amphetamine is a synthetic drug originally developed (and still used) as an appetite suppressant. ... Barbiturates are drugs that acts as central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and by virtue of this they produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to anesthesia. ...

Williams' relationship with Frank Merlo, a second generation Sicilian American who had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, lasted from 1947 until Merlo's death from cancer in 1963. With that stability, Williams created his most enduring works. Merlo provided balance to many of Williams' frequent bouts with depression^[3] and the fear that, like his sister Rose, he would go insane. Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Depression. ...

Tennessee Williams died at the age of 71 after he choked on an eyedrop bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York. He would routinely place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eyedrops in each eye ^[4] His brother Dakin and some friends believed he was murdered. The police report, however, suggested his use of drugs and alcohol contributed to his death. Many prescription drugs were found in the room. Williams' lack of gag response may have been due to drugs and alcohol effects. The Hotel Elysee Hotel Elysee , 60 East 54th Street, New York, NY 10022, (212) 753-1066, In the annals of New York’s literary life, few places can hold a candle to the Hotel Elysée. ...

Williams' funeral took place on Saturday March 3, 1983 at St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church in New York City. Williams' body was interred in the Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri. Williams had long told his friends he wanted to be buried at sea at approximately the same place as the poet Hart Crane, as he considered Crane to be one of his most significant influences. Bellefontaine Cemetery (established in 1849) and the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery (established in 1857) in St. ... Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. ...

Tennessee Williams left his literary rights to Sewanee, The University of the South in honor of his grandfather, Walter Dakin, an alumnus of the university. It is located in Sewanee, Tennessee. The funds support a creative writing program. When his sister Rose died after many years in a mental institution, she bequeathed over 50 million dollars from her part of the Williams estate to Sewanee, The University of the South as well. The University of the South is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Sewanee, Tennessee. ... Sewanee is a census-designated place located in Franklin County, Tennessee. ... The University of the South is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Sewanee, Tennessee. ...

In 1989, the City of St. Louis inducted Tennessee Williams into its St. Louis Walk of Fame. The St. ...

The work

The "mad heroine" theme that appeared in many of his plays seemed clearly influenced by the life of Williams' sister Rose.^{[citation needed]}

Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was understood to be modeled on Rose. Some biographers believed that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is also based on her, as well as Williams himself. When Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire, he believed he was going to die and that this play would be his swan song. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier (November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award winning English actress. ... Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), with Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski Blanche DuBois is the principal character in Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. ... A Streetcar Named Desire is an Academy Award-winning 1951 film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. ... The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams. ... Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), with Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski Blanche DuBois is the principal character in Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. ... For other uses, see Swan Song. ...

Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was generally seen to represent Williams' mother. Characters such as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer were understood to represent Williams himself. In addition, he used a lobotomy operation as a motif in Suddenly, Last Summer. In literature, a motif is a recurring element or theme that has symbolic significance in the story. ... Suddenly, Last Summer is a play by Tennessee Williams. ...

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar named Desire both included references to elements of Williams' life such as homosexuality, mental instability and alcoholism.

Williams wrote The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer when he was 29 and worked on it through his life. It seemed an autobiographical depiction of an early romance in Provincetown, Massachusetts. This play was produced for the first time on 1 October 2006 in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape production company, as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival. Something Cloudy, Something Clear is an autobiographical play by Tennessee Williams that was originally written in 1941 as a short unproduced play titled The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer. ... Nickname: Location in Barnstable County in Massachusetts U.S. Census Map Coordinates: , Country State County Barnstable Settled 1700 Incorporated 1727 Government  - Type Open town meeting  - Town    Manager Sharon Lynn Area  - Total 17. ... is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer will be published by New Directions in the spring of 2008, in a collection of previously unpublished plays titled The Traveling Companion and Other Plays, edited by Williams scholar Annette J. Saddik.

Short stories by Tennessee Williams

• The Vengeance of Nitocris (1928)
• The Field of Blue Children (1939)
• The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin (1951)
• Hard Candy: a Book of Stories (1954)
• Three Players of a Summer Game and Other Stories (1960)
• The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four Short Stories (1966)
• One Arm and Other Stories (1967)
• Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of Stories (1974)
• Tent Worms (1980)
• It Happened the day the Sun Rose, and Other Stories (1981)

Collected works

• Gussow, Mel and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. Tennessee Williams, Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America, 2000) ISBN 978-1-88301186-4.
• Gussow, Mel and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. Tennessee Williams, Plays 1957-1980 (Library of America, 2000) ISBN 978-1-88301187-1.

Volumes in the Library of America series The Library of America (LoA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. ... Volumes in the Library of America series The Library of America (LoA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. ...

Cultural references

• Williams' work has had a great influence on the British band The The: for example, 'Sweet Bird of Truth' is a track on their album Infected; the track 'August and September' on the album Mind Bomb starts with the lines 'Suddenly last summer/I started going out of my head'.

• Gore Vidal refers to Williams as the "Glorious Bird" when he met him in Rome after World War II. He noted the image of "the bird is everywhere in his work"^[5]

• The rock band Manic Street Preachers referenced Williams in a song called "Tennessee," included in their debut album Generation Terrorists.

• The American indie rock band The National reference Williams in their song "City Middle" on their album Alligator, in the following excerpt:

"I think I'm like Tennessee Williams

I wait for the click

I wait, but it doesn't kick in"

• Contemporary rock band The Strokes presumably reference Williams in the opening song to their 2003 album Room on Fire:

"Oh, Tennessee, what did you write?

I come together in the middle of the night."

• Country music singer Don Williams referred to Williams in his 1980 hit, "Good Ole Boys Like Me," penned by Bob McDill:

"I can still hear the soft Southern winds in the live oak trees

And those Williams boys they still mean a lot to me

Hank and Tennessee

I guess we're all gonna be what we're gonna be"

• The eighth episode of the HBO drama series The Sopranos is entitled "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti". The title refers to the character Christopher Moltisanti's struggles with his aspirations as a screenwriter. At one point during the episode, Christopher's girlfriend Adriana La Cerva refers to him as "my Tennessee William[sic]"

• In an episode of Canadian sitcom Corner Gas, "Bean There", Wanda suggests that she's a better team player than Hank who "chokes like Tennessee Williams on a bottle cap".

• Elton John references Williams on his 1995 album 'Made In England' with a lyric in the song 'Lies', and again on his autobiographical 2006 album, 'The Captain and The Kid' with a lyric in the song 'Old '67':

"I could be great like Tennessee Williams

If I could only hear something that sounds like the truth"

"Laughin' about how the two of us sound

Like a Tennessee Williams play"

The The are an English musical and multimedia group that have been around since 1979 in various forms, with Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. ... Infected was The Thes 1986 second album. ... Mind Bomb is the 4th album by The The, released by Some Bizarre/Epic on July 11, 1989 and recorded between October 1988 and May 1989. ... Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born October 3, 1925) (pronounced and , ) is an American author of novels, stage plays, screenplays, and essays, and the scion of a prominent political family. ... This article is about the genre. ... Manic Street Preachers (often known colloquially as the Manics) are a Welsh rock band, consisting of James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, guitar), Nicky Wire (bass guitar, vocals) and Sean Moore (drums, vocals). ... Generation Terrorists is the debut album by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers released on February 10 1992. ... The National is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band formed in 1999, by friends from Cincinnati, Ohio. ... For other uses, see Stroke (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see HBO (disambiguation). ... This article is about the television series. ... Episode chronology The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti is the eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. ... Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. ... Adriana La Cerva, played by Drea de Matteo, is a fictional character from the HBO TV series, The Sopranos. ... This is a list of Corner Gas episodes. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... The Captain And The Kid is an autobiograpical album by famous singer/songwriter Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. ... Old 67 is a song from Elton Johns album, The Captain & The Kid. ...

See also

• Lanier family tree
• Virginia Spencer Carr, friend and biographer of Williams

The Lanier family tree contains a number of musicians in the British royal court. ...

Footnotes

Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Tennessee Williams

• Gross, Robert F., ed. Tennessee Williams: A Casebook. Routledge (2002). ISBN 0-8153-3174-6.
• Leverich, Lyle. Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams. W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (1997). ISBN 0-393-31663-7.
• Saddik, Annette. The Politics of Reputation: The Critical Reception of Tennessee Williams' Later Plays (London: Associated University Presses, 1999).
• Spoto, Donald. The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams. Da Capo Press (Reprint, 1997). ISBN 0-306-80805-6.
• Williams, Tennessee. Memoirs. Doubleday (1975). ISBN 0-385-00573-3.
• Williams, Dakin. His Brother's Keeper: The Life and Murder of Tennessee Williams.
• Sewanee, The University of the South

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... The University of the South is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Sewanee, Tennessee. ...

External links

• New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
• Tennessee Williams Quotations - an interactive quotes database which comprises a lot of quotes from Tennessee Williams.
• Monologues by Tennessee Williams at Monologue Search
• A Streetcar Named Desire: Study Guide
• Biography, summaries, and quotes from important works like Glass Menagerie and Streetcar
• Portrait of Tennessee Williams by Margaret Holland Sargent
• Booksfactory article.
• A photograph of Tennessee Williams by Yousuf Karsh on the website of the National Gallery of Australia.
• Williams' Entry on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
• 1985 audio interview with Dotson Raider, friend and biographer of Tennessee Williams. Interview by Don Swaim of CBS Radio - RealAudio
• Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
• Tennessee Williams biography
• Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Suddenly Last Summer
• Interpreting Tennessee Williams - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2005
• American Experience on PBS. Tennessee Williams is featured in this documentary about New Orleans first aired February 12, 2007.
• Tennessee Williams Annual Review Journal published both electronically and in print by The Historic New Orleans Collection
• Tennessee and The Roman Muse: Tennessee Williams, his Time in Rome and his Friendship with Anna Magnani
• FamilySearch: Samuel Taylor Geer's Pedigree Resource File - Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams
• Tennessee Williams Collection (MUM00482) owned by the University of Mississippi Department of Archives and Special Collections.