Thomas Lanier Williams III, popularly known as Tennessee Williams, was born March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. The nickname Tennessee was acquired in college thanks to his southern drawl and his father’s Tennessee roots.
Williams came from a troubled home, and this tumultuous background provided scores of inspiration for his later works. Williams’s father, Cornelius Williams, was a salesman by trade, and while his abuse was initially mild, it grew in severity as Williams aged. Williams’s mother was accused of being an overly protective, if not smothering, woman. There is also speculation she suffered from an untreated mood disorder.
By age eight, Williams fell ill with diphtheria, leaving him unable to do much of anything for the next two years. His mother decided he had been idle too long and gave him a typewriter in order that he might utilize his imagination and be productive. With this typewriter, Williams increasingly retreated into his literary worlds.
By early 1930s, Williams pursued his education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He transferred several times before graduating from the University of Iowa in 1938.
Williams was extremely close to his sister Rose, and it was thus a hard blow when she was diagnosed as schizophrenic and subsequently institutionalized. When her condition worsened, Williams’s parents agreed to a prefrontal lobotomy for Rose. It left her incapacitated for the remainder of her life, and it is rumored Williams never forgave his parents. Many of his works revolve around a mad heroine, which many literary scholars equate to a rough equivalent of his ill sister. They also generally agree this contributed in large part to his lifelong struggle with alcoholism.
With the onset of the conservative 1950s, Williams became a common target under McCarthyism for his homosexual lifestyle. Additionally, Williams battled with depression his entire life and lived under constant fear of going insane like his sister Rose. When his longtime partner, Frank Merlo, died, Williams sunk into a ten-year depressive spell.
Williams died February 25, 1983, in New York, New York. Although the cause of his death is somewhat contentious, Williams is said to have choked on a bottle cap. Many prescription drugs, however, were found in the hotel room, spurring the belief that excessive alcohol and drug consumption contributed to the accident.
He left behind a legacy of literary genius and a slew of now-classic plays. The most famous found translation into film. The Glass Menagerie was made in 1950, with Kirk Douglas starring. A Streetcar Named Desire followed a year later, with Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden starring; and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with roles played by Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, was released in 1958.
Williams earned an immense amount of praise and accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1948 and again in 1955. His 1952 play, The Rose Tattoo, won the Tony Award for best play. He was also nominated for two Best Writing Oscars—1951’s Streetcar Named Desire and 1956’s Baby Doll.
YUDDY
