Tennessee Williams Biography

American Playwright, Novelist, Poet, famous for The Glass Menagerie

Feb 10, 2009

Brief biography of American writer Tennessee Williams, famous for his many plays.

American writer Tennessee Williams is famous for the plays A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie, among others. He is considered one of the best playwrights in the United States since the Second World War.

He wrote powerful and involved dramas that mainly deal sensitively with emotionally damaged people trying to survive in a hostile environment. His greatest dramatic influence was Henrik Ibsen, whose Ghost was Williams' turning point when he saw the play.

Early Life of Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. His family lived with his grandfather where he was brought up. When he was 12, the family moved to St. Louis. Tennessee and his sister were not happy and did not adjust to the city life. They were made fun of for their poverty and Southern accents.

When he was 18 years old, he entered the University of Missouri, but the family's lack of funds forced Williams to leave school without graduating. He eventually earned a degree in playwriting after 9 years, when he was 27.

Career as a Playwright

Williams's first play was American Blues, produced in 1939 when he was 28. His breakthrough came with The Glass Menagerie, which ran on Broadway for over a year and won him the first of his four New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. A Streetcar Named Desire followed, with Blanche du Bois, the star of a Southern belle, whose privileged upbringing deeply conflicted with the harsh realities of life.

A Streetcar Named Desire won Tennessee Williams his first Pulitzer Prize. It was made into a memorable movie, as have many of his plays, some of them blockbusters with famous stars in the starring role, including Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.

Most of his plays were directed by Elia Kazan, who became a close friend. Tennessee williams' prominent contemporaries include playwrights Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill.

Last Years of Williams

Williams was in poor health during the 1960s, caused by a dependence on drink and sleeping pills that led to a breakdown in 1969. He struggled to overcome his addictions. He died on February, 1983, at the age of 71.

"Don't you just love these long, rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn't just an hour – but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands – and who knows what to do with it?" ~ Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Works by Tennessee Williams

Goring, Rosemary, editor. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994

McGovern, Una, editor. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002

Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993

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