Tennessee Williams (1911–1983)
Author of A Streetcar Named Desire
About the Author
After O'Neill, Williams is perhaps the best dramatist the United States has yet produced. Born in his grandfather's rectory in Columbus, Mississippi, Williams and his family later moved to St. Louis. There Williams endured many bad years caused by the abuse of his father and his own anguish over show more his introverted sister, who was later permanently institutionalized. Williams attended the University of Missouri, and, after time out to clerk for a shoe company and for his own mental breakdown, also attended Washington University of St. Louis and the University of Iowa, from which he graduated in 1938. Williams began to write plays in 1935. During 1943 he spent six months as a contract screenwriter for MGM but produced only one script, The Gentleman Caller. When MGM rejected it, Williams turned it into his first major success, The Glass Menagerie (1945). In this intensely autobiographical play, Williams dramatizes the story of Amanda, who dreams of restoring her lost past by finding a gentleman caller for her crippled daughter, and of Amanda's son Tom, who longs to escape from the responsibility of supporting his mother and sister. After The Glass Menagerie,Williams wrote his masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, (1947), along with a steady stream of other plays, among them such major works as Summer and Smoke(1948), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1954), and Suddenly Last Summer (1958). His plays celebrate the "fugitive kind," the sensitive outcasts whose outsider status allows them to perceive the horror of the world and who often give additional witness to that horror by becoming its victims. Stephen S. Stanton has summed up Williams's "virtues and strengths" as "a genius for portraiture, particularly of women, a sensitive ear for dialogue and the rhythms of natural speech, a comic talent often manifesting itself in "black comedy,' and a genuine theatrical flair exhibited in telling stage effects attained through lighting, costume, music, and movements." After The Night of the Iguana (1961), Williams continued to write profusely---and constantly to revise his work---but it became more difficult to get productions of his plays and, if they were produced, to win critical or popular acclaim for them. Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for these two and for The Glass Menagerie and The Night of the Iguana. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Tennessee Williams. UH Photographs Collection.
Series
Works by Tennessee Williams
Summer and Smoke / Orpheus Descending / Suddenly Last Summer / Period of Adjustment (1976) 465 copies, 3 reviews
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore / The Night of the Iguana (1990) 270 copies, 1 review
Five O'Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just, 1948-1982 (1990) 70 copies, 1 review
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Volume 2: Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino… (1971) 60 copies
The Glass Menagerie / A Streetcar Named Desire / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Suddenly Last Summer (1955) 48 copies
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 6: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Short Plays (1981) — Author — 36 copies
Suddenly last summer / The milk train doesn't stop here anymore / Small craft warnings (2009) 32 copies, 1 review
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams Volume 5: The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore/Kingdom of Earth (Theatre of… (1976) 27 copies
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 7: In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Other Plays (1981) 21 copies
In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel - Acting Edition (Acting Edition for Theater Productions) (1969) 16 copies
The milk train doesn't stop here anymore;: [and], Cat on a hot tin roof (Penguin plays) (1969) 11 copies
Tennessee Williams Selected Plays - The Franklin Library - Jerry Pinkney Illustrations (1977) 11 copies
Una gata sobre un tejado de zinc / El análisis perfecto hecho por un loro (Artes escénicas/Obras) (Spanish Edition) (2007) 8 copies
Iets van Tolstoi 8 copies
Drámák 5 copies
The Vengeance of Nitocris 4 copies
Something Unspoken 4 copies
De repente el último verano: y otras piezas cortas (El libro de bolsillo - Literatura) (Spanish Edition) (2012) 4 copies
Four plays: The glass menagerie, A streetcar named desire, Summer and smoke, Camino real (1956) 3 copies
Die Katze auf dem hei en Blechdach ; Die tätowierte Rose : zwei Theaterstücke (1956) — Author — 3 copies
Tennessee Williams: Selected Plays, Limited Edition (The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature) (1977) 3 copies
Three American Plays 3 copies
Gata em Telhado de Zinco Quente, A Descida de Orfeu e A Noite do Iguana - Colecao Biblioteca Teatral (2016) — Author — 2 copies
El país del dragón I — Author — 2 copies
Soudain l'été dernier, suivi de "Le Train de l'aube ne s'arrête plus ici" (1995) — Author — 2 copies
El manco y otros cuentos 2 copies
The Dark Room 2 copies
Un tramway nommé désir [A Streetcar Named Desire] ; Portrait d'une madone [Portrait of a Madona] ; Propriété… — Author — 2 copies
Theatre of Tennessee Williams, The 2 copies
The Catastrophe of Success 2 copies
three plays of tennessee williams 2 copies
The Mysteries of the Joy Rio 2 copies
Théâtre II 2 copies
El Pais del Dragon II 2 copies
Un tranvía llamado deseo 2 copies
Der Milchzug halt hier nicht mehr [and] Konigreich auf Erden [The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More and… (1969) 2 copies
The Case of the Crushed Petunias 2 copies
Dulce pajaro de juventud & Escaleras al techo & El cuaderno de Trigorin/ Sweet Bird of Youth & Stairs to the roof & The… (2004) 2 copies
Die Glasmenagerie / Endstation Sehnsucht / Die tätowierte Rose / Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach (1999) 2 copies
Portrait of a Madonna — Author — 2 copies
At Liberty: A Drama 2 copies
The Last of My Solid Gold Watches 2 copies
Playboy interview 2 copies
La Vengeance de Nitocris 1 copy
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, 1955 1 copy
Dulce pájaro de juventud 1 copy
Caramelo fundido 1 copy
KIZGIN DAMDAKİ KEDİ 1 copy
Garden District (Program) 1 copy
Jednorękijednoręki 1 copy
Arena 1936 1 copy
Ausgewählte Dramen 1 copy
Sommerspiel Zu Dritt 1 copy
I 'blues' 1 copy
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof {1976 TV movie} — Author — 1 copy
A Streetcar Named Desire (Modern Classics (Penguin)) by Williams Tennessee (2009-07-01) Paperback 1 copy
A Streetcar Named Desire [1984 TV movie] — Author — 1 copy
Snowfall 1 copy
Two on a Party {short story} 1 copy
7 Selected Plays 1 copy
Un tramvai numit dorinta. Pisica pe acoperisul fierbinte — Author — 1 copy
A ultima primavera 1 copy
Hello from Bertha 1 copy
Det kan man kalla kärlek 1 copy
Lektürehilfen. A Streetcar Named Desire: Ausführliche Inhaltsangabe mit Interpretation. Inklusive… (2008) 1 copy
Tutto finito 1 copy
Ausgewählte Dramen: Die Glasmenagerie - Endstation Sehnsucht - Die tätowierte Rose - Die Katze auf dem heißen… (1966) 1 copy
Teatro 2. La noche de la iguana - Lo que no se dice - Súbitamente el último verano - Periodo de ajuste. (1966) 1 copy
Lord Byron's Love Letter 1 copy
Teatro La camera buia Ritratto di Madonna La lunga permanenza interrotta ovvero una cena poco soddisfacente Proibito Lo… — Author — 1 copy
Tennessee Williams plays 1 copy
Young men waking at daybreak 1 copy
Γλυκό πουλί της νιότης 1 copy
Tutti i racconti 1 copy
Ορφέας στον Άδη 1 copy
Λεωφορείο ο πόθος 1 copy
Θεατρικά ἔργα:… 1 copy
Sweet bird of youth 1 copy
Soudain l'ete dernier 1 copy
Moony's Kid Don't Cry 1 copy
La chatte sur un toit brûlant, suivi de La descente d'Orphée [Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Orpheus Descending] (2003) — Author — 1 copy
The Glass Managerie, film 1 copy
The Rose Tattoo (film 1 copy
El país del dragón II 1 copy
No Bar de Um Hotel de Tóquio 1 copy
Associated Works
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) — Introduction, some editions; Afterword, some editions — 1,076 copies, 34 reviews
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 958 copies, 7 reviews
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural: A Treasury of Spellbinding Tales Old & New (1985) — Contributor — 545 copies, 3 reviews
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume Two: E. E. Cummings to May Swenson (2000) — Contributor — 421 copies, 1 review
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940s to Now (2009) — Contributor — 275 copies, 5 reviews
First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers (1994) — Contributor — 188 copies, 1 review
In Another Part of the Forest: An Anthology of Gay Short Fiction (1994) — Contributor — 183 copies, 2 reviews
The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues: More Than 150 Monologues from More Than 70 Playwrights (1987) — Contributor — 182 copies
Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time (Stonewall Inn Editions) (1988) — Contributor — 181 copies, 1 review
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Contributor — 70 copies, 1 review
The Second Gates of Paradise: The Anthology of Erotic Short Fiction (1997) — Contributor — 38 copies
Twenty One-Act Plays: An Anthology for Amateur Performing Groups (1978) — Contributor — 37 copies, 1 review
The Tony winners: A collection of ten exceptional plays, winners of the Tony Award for the most distinguished play of… (1977) — Contributor — 6 copies
Critics' Choice: New York Drama Critics' Circle Prize Plays, 1935-1955 (1945) — Contributor — 3 copies
Weird Tales Volume 12 Number 2, August 1928 — Contributor — 3 copies
Teatro Norteamericano contemporaneo — Contributor — 2 copies
Amores de mujer : (de los 15 a los 70 ) — Contributor — 2 copies
Meesters der vertelkunst : zevenendertig verhalen uit de moderne wereldliteratuur (1975) — Contributor — 2 copies
50 seltsame Geschichten — Contributor — 1 copy
32 Współczesne Opowiadania Amerykańskie - Tom I — Contributor — 1 copy
50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, Volume 3 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Williams, Tennessee
- Legal name
- Williams, Thomas Lanier, III
- Birthdate
- 1911-03-26
- Date of death
- 1983-02-25
- Burial location
- Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Columbus, Mississippi, USA
- Place of death
- New York, New York, USA
- Cause of death
- choking
drug overdose - Places of residence
- Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Key West, Florida, USA
New York, New York, USA - Education
- University of Iowa (BA|1938)
- Occupations
- playwright
- Awards and honors
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (1980)
Kennedy Center Honors (1979)
American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award (Literature ∙ 1944)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1952)
Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1948, 1955)
New York Drama Critics Circle Award (1945, 1948, 1955, 1962) (show all 11)
American Theater Hall of Fame (1979)
Tony Award for Best Play (1951)
Clarksdale Walk of Fame
St Louis Walk of Fame
Rainbow Honor Walk (2014) - Agent
- Tom Erhardt (Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd) - estate agent
Members
Reviews
The Fugitive Kind by Tennessee Williams (Kää… by Sidney Lumet
Hillsboro - June 9th - 10 am
I just didn't think this book stood the test of time. The play script was distracting to read and I don't think it translated well into a book. there were parts that were supposed to be funny (did he really throw meat at someone at the beginning?) and I just could not see the humor.
And, of course, the violence was just appalling. I know this type of violence is obviously not a new thing, nor are her excuses ~ unfortunately domestic violence has been around for far too long and is STILL a problem even today.
But, there were obviously other questionable situations and insinuations that I thought were pretty shocking as well.
If there was a moral or a point to this story, I just didn't catch it I guess.… (more)
I just didn't think this book stood the test of time. The play script was distracting to read and I don't think it translated well into a book. there were parts that were supposed to be funny (did he really throw meat at someone at the beginning?) and I just could not see the humor.
And, of course, the violence was just appalling. I know this type of violence is obviously not a new thing, nor are her excuses ~ unfortunately domestic violence has been around for far too long and is STILL a problem even today.
But, there were obviously other questionable situations and insinuations that I thought were pretty shocking as well.
If there was a moral or a point to this story, I just didn't catch it I guess.… (more)
Lists
1940s (3)
Overdue Podcast (1)
Five star books (2)
Plays I Like (5)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 338
- Also by
- 97
- Members
- 29,444
- Popularity
- #680
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 315
- ISBNs
- 713
- Languages
- 28
- Favorited
- 130
