Editing Tennessee Williams

{{Short description|American playwright (1911–1983)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Tennessee Williams
| image              = Tennessee Williams NYWTS.jpg
| caption            = Williams in 1965
| birth_name         = Thomas Lanier Williams III
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1911|3|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Columbus, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1983|2|25|1911|3|26|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Calvary Cemetery (St. Louis)|Calvary Cemetery]]
| education          = [[University of Missouri]]<br>[[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University]]<br>[[University of Iowa]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation         = {{hlist|Playwright |screenwriter}}
| years_active       = 1930–1983
| notable_works      = ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' (1944) <br/>''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1947) <br/>''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1955) <br/>''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]'' (1959) <br/>''[[The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1961)
| signature          = Tennessee Williams signature.svg
}}
'''Thomas Lanier Williams III''' (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name '''Tennessee Williams''', was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries [[Eugene O'Neill]] and [[Arthur Miller]], he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book| editor-first=Harold| editor-last=Bloom| title=Tennessee Williams| publisher=Chelsea House Publishing| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4AX9Ox0h9YC&q=foremost+20th+century| isbn= 978-0877546368| year=1987| page=57}}</ref>

At age 33, after years of obscurity, Williams suddenly became famous with the success of ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' (1944) in New York City. It was the first of a string of successes, including ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1947), ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1955), ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]'' (1959), and ''[[The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1961). With his later work, Williams attempted a new style that did not appeal as widely to audiences. His drama ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' and Arthur Miller's ''[[Death of a Salesman]]''.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Much of Williams's most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/19/archives/theater-hall-of-fame-enshrines-51-artists-great-things-and-blank.html|title=Theater Hall of Fame Enshrines 51 Artists|newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 19, 1979|access-date=February 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621221301/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/19/archives/theater-hall-of-fame-enshrines-51-artists-great-things-and-blank.html|archive-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=live|last1=Johnston |first1=Laurie }}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:Houghton - MS Thr 553 (6). Tennessee Williams age 5.jpg|alt=Tennessee Williams (age 5) in Clarksdale, MS.|thumb|upright|Williams at age 5 (1916) in [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]]]]
[[File:Tennessee Williams' Childhood Home.jpg|thumb|Childhood Home in [[Columbus, Mississippi]]]]

Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in [[Columbus, Mississippi]], of English, Welsh, and [[Huguenot]] ancestry, the second child of Edwina Dakin (August 9, 1884 – June 1, 1980) and Cornelius Coffin "C. C." Williams (August 21, 1879 – March 27, 1957).<ref name=Cambridge>{{cite book| editor-last=Roudané| editor-first=Matthew Charles| title=The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=1997| url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00matt| url-access=registration| quote=| page=xvi| isbn=978-0521498838}}</ref> His father was a traveling shoe salesman who became an alcoholic and was frequently away from home. His mother, Edwina, was the daughter of Rose O. Dakin, a music teacher, and the Reverend Walter Dakin, an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest from Illinois who was assigned to a parish in [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]], shortly after Williams's birth.  Williams lived in his grandfather's Episcopal rectory with his family for much of his early childhood and was close to his grandparents. Among his ancestors was musician and poet [[Sidney Lanier]].

He had two siblings, older sister Rose Isabel Williams (1909–1996)<ref>{{cite news| last=Hoare| first=Philip| title=Obituary: Rose Williams| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rose-williams-1362925.html| work=The Independent| access-date=December 26, 2013| location=London| date=September 12, 1996| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122203846/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rose-williams-1362925.html| archive-date=January 22, 2014| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref> and younger brother Walter Dakin Williams<ref>{{cite news| last=Cuthbert| first=David| title=Theater Guy: Remembering Dakin Williams, Tennessee's 'professional brother' and a colorful fixture at N.O.'s Tenn fest| url=http://blog.nola.com/davidcuthbert/2008/05/theater_guy_remembering_dakin.html| work=[[The Times-Picayune]]| date=May 24, 2008| access-date=September 12, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822014611/http://blog.nola.com/davidcuthbert/2008/05/theater_guy_remembering_dakin.html| archive-date=August 22, 2017| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> (1919<ref>{{cite web| title=Tennessee Williams: Biography| url=http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/22/5820/1490001.cw/index.html| work=Pearson Education| access-date=December 26, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401203421/http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/22/5820/1490001.cw/index.html| archive-date=April 1, 2013}}</ref>–2008).<ref>{{cite news| title=Tennessee Williams' brother dead at 89| url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/05/21/Tennessee-Williams-brother-dead-at-89/UPI-24131211418362/| work=[[United Press International]]| access-date=December 26, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227010622/http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/05/21/Tennessee-Williams-brother-dead-at-89/UPI-24131211418362/| archive-date=December 27, 2013| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref> As a young child, Williams nearly died from a case of [[diphtheria]] that left him frail and virtually confined to his house during a year of recuperation.  At least partly due to his illness, he was considered a weak child by his father. Cornelius Williams, a descendant of [[East Tennessee]] pioneers, had a violent temper and was prone to use his fists. He regarded what he thought was his son's effeminacy with disdain. Edwina, locked in an unhappy marriage,<ref>{{cite journal| first=Edwina Dakin| last=Williams| title=Diary Entries, 1931 to 1934| date=2019| journal=Tennessee Williams Annual Review| issue=18| access-date=July 2, 2024| publisher=[[Historic New Orleans Collection]]| pages=18–32 | doi=10.2307/48615455| jstor=48615455| url=https://doi.org/10.2307/48615455}}</ref> focused her attention almost entirely on her frail young son.{{sfn|Bloom|1987|page=15}}  Critics and historians agree that Williams drew from his own dysfunctional family in much of his writing<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and that his desire to break free from his puritan upbringing propelled him towards writing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tennessee Williams|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0136.xml}}</ref>

When Williams was eight years old, his father was promoted to a job at the home office of the [[International Shoe Company]] in [[St. Louis]]. His mother's continual search for a more appropriate home, as well as his father's heavy drinking and loudly turbulent behavior, caused them to move numerous times around St. Louis. Williams attended [[Soldan International Studies High School|Soldan High School]], a setting he referred to in his play ''The Glass Menagerie''.{{sfn|Roudané|1997|pages=11-13}} Later he studied at [[University City High School (St. Louis)|University City High School]].<ref>Tennessee Williams and John Waters (2006), ''Memoirs'', New Directions Publishing, 274 pages {{ISBN|0-8112-1669-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/williams/gen.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021053816/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/williams/gen.htm|url-status=dead|title=USgennet.org|archive-date=October 21, 2011}}</ref> At age 16, Williams won third prize for an essay published in ''[[Smart Set]]'', titled "Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?" A year later, his short story "[[The Vengeance of Nitocris]]" was published (as by "Thomas Lanier Williams") in the August 1928 issue of the magazine ''[[Weird Tales]]''.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Weird Tales Story| first1=Robert| last1=Weinberg| first2=E. Hoffmann| last2=Price| publisher=Wildside Press| date=December 1, 1999| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3AwaMkBUVUC&q=The+Weird+Tales+Story| pages=1–3| isbn=978-1587151019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These early publications did not lead to any significant recognition or appreciation of Williams's talent, and he would struggle for more than a decade to establish his writing career. Later, in 1928, Williams first visited Europe with his maternal grandfather Dakin.

==Education==
From 1929 to 1931, Williams attended the [[University of Missouri]] in [[Columbia, Missouri|Columbia]], where he enrolled in journalism classes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theatre.missouri.edu/notable-alumni |title=Notable Alumni |publisher=University of Missouri-Department of Theatre |date=July 19, 2016 |access-date=February 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913183118/https://theatre.missouri.edu/notable-alumni |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  He was bored by his classes and distracted by  unrequited love for a girl. Soon he began entering his poetry, essays, stories, and plays in writing contests, hoping to earn extra income.  His first submitted play was ''Beauty Is the Word'' (1930), followed by ''Hot Milk at Three in the Morning'' (1932).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/manuscript.htm |title=Manuscript Materials – Division of Special Collections, Archives and Rare Books |publisher=University of Missouri |access-date=March 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202025428/http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/manuscript.htm |archive-date=February 2, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As recognition for ''Beauty,'' a play about rebellion against religious upbringing, he became the first freshman to receive honorable mention in a writing competition.{{sfn|Roudané|1997|page=15}}

At University of Missouri, Williams joined the [[Alpha Tau Omega]] fraternity, but he did not fit in well with his fraternity brothers. After he failed a military training course in his junior year, his father pulled him out of school and put him to work at the International Shoe Company factory. Although Williams hated the monotony, the job forced him out of the gentility of his upbringing.{{sfn|Roudané|1997|page=15}} His dislike of his new 9-to-5 routine drove Williams to write prodigiously. He set a goal of writing one story a week. Williams often worked on weekends and late into the night. His mother recalled his intensity:

<blockquote>Tom would go to his room with black coffee and cigarettes and I would hear the typewriter clicking away at night in the silent house. Some mornings when I walked in to wake him for work, I would find him sprawled fully dressed across the bed, too tired to remove his clothes.<ref name=Williams1>{{cite book| last=Williams| first=Tennessee| editor-last=Thornton|editor-first=Margaret Bradham| title=Notebooks| url=https://archive.org/details/notebooks0000will| url-access=registration| quote=| publisher=Yale Univ. Press| date=January 30, 2007| page=xi| isbn=978-0300116823}}</ref></blockquote>

Overworked, unhappy, and lacking further success with his writing, by his 24th birthday Williams had suffered a [[mental disorder|nervous breakdown]] and left his job. Memories of this period and of a particular factory co-worker would contribute to the character [[Stanley Kowalski]] in ''A Streetcar Named Desire''.{{sfn|Roudané|1997|page=15}} By the mid-1930s his mother separated from his father due to his worsening alcoholism and abusive temper. They agreed to a legal separation in 1946 but never divorced.<ref>{{cite journal| first=John S.| last=Bak| title=Edwina Dakin Williams's Diary Entries, 1931 to 1934: An Introduction| date=2019| journal=Tennessee Williams Annual Review| issue=18| access-date=July 2, 2024| publisher=[[Historic New Orleans Collection]]| pages=7–17 | doi=10.2307/48615454| jstor=48615454| url=https://doi.org/10.2307/48615454}}</ref>

In 1936, Williams enrolled at [[Washington University in St. Louis]] where he wrote the play ''Me, Vashya'' (1937). After not winning the school's poetry prize, he decided to drop out. In the autumn of 1937, he transferred to the [[University of Iowa]] in [[Iowa City, Iowa|Iowa City]], where he graduated with a B.A. in English in August 1938.<ref>[https://www.writinguniversity.org/writers/tennessee-williams "Tennessee Williams"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418161234/https://www.writinguniversity.org/writers/tennessee-williams |date=April 18, 2018 }}, Writing University</ref> He later studied at the [[Dramatic Workshop]] of [[The New School]] in New York City. Speaking of his early days as a playwright and an early collaborative play called ''Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay!'', Williams wrote, "The laughter ... enchanted me. Then and there the theatre and I found each other for better and for worse. I know it's the only thing that saved my life."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3PX5 |title=Tennessee State Historical Marker 2 May 2008. |access-date=July 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814201231/http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3PX5 |archive-date=August 14, 2011 |url-status=live  }}</ref>  Around 1939, he adopted Tennessee Williams as his professional name, in acknowledgement of his Southern accent and roots.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parini |first1=Jay |title=American Writers Classics |date=2003 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-684-31248-4 |page=304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CTjcOQ0oE6kC |quote= "Williams acknowledged when, in 1939, he adopted his famous nom de plume."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gontarski |first1=S. E. |title=Tennessee Williams, T-shirt Modernism and the Refashionings of Theater |date=6 July 2021 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-78527-689-7 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbEzEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 |language=en}}</ref>

===Literary influences===
[[File:Tennessee Williams NYWTS 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1| Williams arriving at funeral services for [[Dylan Thomas]] in 1953]]
Williams's writings reference some of the poets and writers he most admired in his early years: [[Hart Crane]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hermeren |first1=Goran |title=Influence in Art and Literature |date=8 March 2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6945-9 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXt9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 |language=en}}</ref> [[Arthur Rimbaud]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aubyn |first1=Frederic Chase St |title=Arthur Rimbaud |date=1988 |publisher=Twayne |isbn=978-0-8057-8227-1 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ps1cAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> [[Anton Chekhov]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gross |first1=Robert |title=Tennessee Williams: A Casebook |date=19 September 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-67354-3 |page=173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDaPBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 |language=en}}</ref> [[William Shakespeare]], [[Clarence Darrow]],{{sfn|Gross|2014|p=27}} [[D. H. Lawrence]],{{sfn|Roudané|1997|p=167}} [[Katherine Mansfield]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davison |first1=Claire |title=Katherine Mansfield and Translation |date=23 September 2015 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-0775-5 |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zqk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT206 |language=en}}</ref> [[August Strindberg]],{{sfn|Roudané|1997|p=167}} [[William Faulkner]],{{sfn|Kabatchnik|2012|p=513}} [[Thomas Wolfe]],{{sfn|Gross|2014|p=204}} [[Emily Dickinson]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kabatchnik |first1=Amnon |title=Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection |date=18 October 2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-8355-0 |page=513 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y6CjzgBKTa8C&pg=PA513 |language=en}}</ref> [[William Inge]],{{sfn|Kabatchnik|2012|p=513}} [[James Joyce]],{{sfn|Kabatchnik|2012|p=513}}  and, according to some, [[Ernest Hemingway]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kolin |first1=Philip |title=Tennessee Williams: A Guide to Research and Performance |date=28 October 1998 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30306-7 |page=91 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dLEDZFQNCEC&pg=PA91 |language=en}}</ref>

==Career==
As Williams was struggling to gain production and an audience for his work in the late 1930s, he worked at a string of menial jobs that included a stint as caretaker on a chicken ranch in [[Laguna Beach, California|Laguna Beach]], California. In 1939, with the help of his agent [[Audrey Wood (literary agent)|Audrey Wood]], Williams was awarded a $1,000 grant from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] in recognition of his play ''[[Battle of Angels]].'' It was produced in [[Boston]], Massachusetts in 1940 and was poorly received.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/portraitofartist0000hirs/page/18/mode/2up|page=18|title=A Portrait of the Artist: The Plays of Tennessee Williams|year=1979|last=Hirsch|first= Foster|publisher=Kennikat Press}}</ref>

Using some of the Rockefeller funds, Williams moved to New Orleans in 1939 to write for the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA), a federally funded program of the [[New Deal]] era.  Williams lived for a time in New Orleans' [[French Quarter]], including 722 Toulouse Street, the setting of his 1977 play ''[[Vieux Carré (play)|Vieux Carré]]''. The building is now part of [[The Historic New Orleans Collection]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Tennessee Williams Pathfinder| url=https://www.hnoc.org/research/tennessee-williams-pathfinder| publisher=[[The Historic New Orleans Collection]]| access-date=September 13, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913140217/https://www.hnoc.org/research/tennessee-williams-pathfinder| archive-date=September 13, 2017| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> The Rockefeller grant brought him to the attention of the Hollywood film industry and Williams received a six-month contract as a writer from the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] film studio, earning $250 weekly.

During the winter of 1944–45, his [[memory play]] ''The Glass Menagerie,'' developed from his 1943 short story "Portrait of a Girl in Glass", was produced in Chicago and garnered good reviews. It moved to New York where it became an instant hit and enjoyed a long Broadway run. [[Elia Kazan]] (who directed many of Williams's greatest successes) said of Williams: "Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life."<ref>{{cite book| last=Spoto| first=Donald| title=The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams| url=https://archive.org/details/kindnessofstrang00spot_0| url-access=registration| quote=| location=Cambridge, Massachusetts| publisher=Da Capo Press| date=August 22, 1997| page=[https://archive.org/details/kindnessofstrang00spot_0/page/171 171]| isbn=978-0306808050}}</ref> ''The Glass Menagerie'' won the award for the best play of the season, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.

The huge success of his next play, ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'', cemented his reputation as a great playwright in 1947. During the late 1940s and 1950s, Williams began to travel widely with his partner Frank Merlo (1922 – September 21, 1963), often spending summers in Europe. He moved often to stimulate his writing, living in New York, New Orleans, [[Key West]], Rome, [[Barcelona]], and London. Williams wrote, "Only some radical change can divert the downward course of my spirit, some startling new place or people to arrest the drift, the drag."{{sfn|Williams|2007|page=xv}}

Between 1948 and 1959 Williams had seven of his plays produced on Broadway: ''[[Summer and Smoke]]'' (1948), ''[[The Rose Tattoo]]'' (1951), ''[[Camino Real (play)|Camino Real]]'' (1953), ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1955),  ''[[Orpheus Descending]]'' (1957), ''[[Garden District (play)|Garden District]]'' (1958), and ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]'' (1959). By 1959, he had earned two [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama|Pulitzer Prize]]s, three [[New York Drama Critics' Circle]] Awards, three [[Donaldson Award]]s, and a [[Tony Award]].

Williams's work reached wider audiences in the early 1950s when ''[[The Glass Menagerie (1950 film)|The Glass Menagerie]]'' and ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' were adapted into motion pictures. Later plays also adapted for the screen included ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]], ''[[The Rose Tattoo (film)|The Rose Tattoo]]'', ''[[The Fugitive Kind|Orpheus Descending]]'', [[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'', ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth (1962 film)|Sweet Bird of Youth]]'', and ''[[Summer and Smoke (film)|Summer and Smoke]]''.

After the extraordinary successes of the 1940s and 1950s, he had more personal turmoil and theatrical failures{{which|date=October 2021}} in the 1960s and 1970s. Although he continued to write every day, the quality of his work suffered from his increasing alcohol and drug consumption, as well as occasional poor choices of collaborators.{{who|date=October 2021}}<ref>{{cite web| title=Tennessee Williams| url=http://www.biography.com/people/tennessee-williams-9532952?page=2| publisher=[[Biography (TV series)]]| date=December 2, 2015| access-date=December 26, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227034551/http://www.biography.com/people/tennessee-williams-9532952?page=2| archive-date=December 27, 2013| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 1963, his partner Frank Merlo died.

Consumed by [[Major depressive disorder|depression]] over the loss, and in and out of treatment facilities while under the control of his mother and brother Dakin, Williams spiraled downward. His plays ''Kingdom of Earth'' (1967), ''In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel'' (1969), ''Small Craft Warnings'' (1973), ''The Two Character Play'' (also called ''Out Cry'', 1973), ''The Red Devil Battery Sign'' (1976), ''Vieux Carré'' (1978), ''Clothes for a Summer Hotel'' (1980), and others were all box office failures. Negative press notices wore down his spirit. His last play, ''A House Not Meant to Stand,'' was produced in Chicago in 1982. Despite largely positive reviews, it ran for only 40 performances.

In 1974, Williams received the [[St. Louis Literary Award]] from the Saint Louis University Library Associates.<ref>{{cite web| title=Library Associates Literary Award| url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award| publisher=St. Louis University| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award| archive-date=July 31, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |title=Recipients of the Saint Louis Literary Award |author=Saint Louis University Library Associates |access-date=July 25, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731082313/http://lib.slu.edu/about/associates/literary-award |archive-date=July 31, 2016}}</ref> In 1979, four years before his death, he was inducted into the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/11/19/113925202.pdf| title=Theater Hall of Fame Enshrines 51 Artists| work=The New York Times | first=Laurie| last=Johnston| date=November 19, 1979}}</ref>

==Personal life==
{{more citations needed|date=August 2017}}
Throughout his life, Williams remained close to his sister, Rose, who was diagnosed with [[schizophrenia]] as a young woman. In 1943, as her behavior became increasingly disturbing, she was subjected to a [[lobotomy]], requiring her to be institutionalised for the rest of her life. As soon as he was financially able, Williams moved Rose to a private institution just north of [[New York City]], where he often visited her. He gave her a percentage interest in several of his most successful plays, the royalties from which were applied toward her care.<ref>{{cite journal| first=Philip| last=Kolin| url=https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jdtc/article/viewFile/1985/1948| title=Something Cloudy, Something Clear: Tennessee Williams's Postmodern Memory Play| date=Spring 1998| journal=Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism| access-date=September 13, 2017| publisher=[[University of Kansas]]| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304193927/https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/jdtc/article/viewFile/1985/1948| archive-date=March 4, 2016| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>Greenberg-Slovin, Naomi.  "Notes from the Dramaturg".  Program to ''The Glass Menagerie''.  Everyman Theatre, Baltimore, 2013–14 season.</ref> The devastating effects of Rose's treatment may have contributed to Williams's alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of [[amphetamine]]s and [[barbiturate]]s.<ref>"The Kindness of Strangers", Spoto</ref>

After some early attempts at relationships with women, by the late 1930s, Williams began exploring his homosexuality. In New York City, he joined a gay social circle that included fellow writer and close friend [[Donald Windham]] (1920–2010) and Windham's then-boyfriend Fred Melton. In the summer of 1940, Williams initiated a relationship with Kip Kiernan (1918–1944), a young dancer he met in [[Provincetown, Massachusetts]]. When Kiernan left him to marry a woman, Williams was distraught. Kiernan's death four years later at age 26 was another heavy blow.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gener|first=Randy|date=September 24, 2006|title=Suddenly That Summer, Out of the Closet|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/theater/24gene.html|access-date=July 29, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

On a 1945 visit to [[Taos, New Mexico]], Williams met Pancho Rodríguez y González, a hotel clerk of Mexican heritage. Rodríguez was prone to jealous rages and excessive drinking, and their relationship was tempestuous. In February 1946, Rodríguez left New Mexico to join Williams in his [[New Orleans]] apartment. They lived and traveled together until late 1947, when Williams ended the relationship. Rodríguez and Williams remained friends, however, and were in contact as late as the 1970s.

Williams spent the spring and summer of 1948 in [[Rome]] in the company of a young man named "Rafaello" in Williams' ''Memoirs''. He provided financial assistance to the younger man for several years afterward. Williams drew from this for his first novel, ''The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone''.

{{multiple image
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 | image1            = I Tennessee Williams House, NYC, NY.jpg
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 | caption1          = 235 [[58th Street (Manhattan)|E 58th Street]], [[New York City]]
 | image2            = I Tennessee Williams House, Key West, FL, USA.jpg
 | width2            = 180
 | caption2          = Tennessee Williams' house in [[Key West, Florida]]
}}
When he returned to New York City, Williams met and fell in love with Frank Merlo (1921–1963). An occasional actor of Sicilian ancestry<!-- Is this significant? How close was Sicily in his life? -->, he had served in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]]. This was the enduring romantic relationship of Williams's life, and it lasted 14 years until infidelities and drug abuse on both sides ended it. Merlo, who had become Williams's personal secretary, took on most of the details of their domestic life. He provided a period of happiness and stability, acting as a balance to the playwright's frequent bouts with depression.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 15249274 | doi=10.1176/appi.ajgp.12.4.370 | volume=12 | title=Tennessee Williams | year=2004 | journal=Am J Geriatr Psychiatry | pages=370–5  | last1 = Jeste | first1 = ND | last2 = Palmer | first2 = BW | last3 = Jeste | first3 = DV| issue=4 }}</ref> Williams feared that,  like his sister Rose, he would fall into insanity. His years with Merlo, in an apartment in Manhattan and a modest house in Key West, Florida were Williams's happiest and most productive. Shortly after their breakup, Merlo was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Williams returned to him and cared for him until his death on September 20, 1963.

In the years following Merlo's death, Williams descended into a period of nearly catatonic depression and increasing drug use, which resulted in several hospitalizations and commitments to mental health facilities. He submitted to injections by Dr. [[Max Jacobson]], known popularly as Dr. Feelgood, who used increasing amounts of amphetamines to overcome his depression. Jacobson combined these with prescriptions for the sedative [[Seconal]] to relieve his insomnia. During this time, influenced by his brother, a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] convert, Williams joined the Catholic Church,<ref>{{cite web |title=Tennessee Williams Baptism Collection Finding Aid |url=http://library.loyno.edu/assets/handouts/archives/Collection%2053%20TWilliams.pdf |website=Special Collections & Archives, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans |access-date=July 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412105359/http://library.loyno.edu/assets/handouts/archives/Collection%2053%20TWilliams.pdf |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> however he never attributed much significance to religion in his personal life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michiels |first1=Laura |title=The Metatheater of Tennessee Williams: Tracing the Artistic Process Through Seven Plays |date=13 July 2021 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-4258-1 |page=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtE4EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |language=en}}</ref> He was never truly able to recoup his earlier success, or to entirely overcome his dependence on prescription drugs.

As Williams grew older, he felt increasingly alone; he feared old age and losing his sexual appeal to younger gay men. In the 1970s, when he was in his 60s, Williams had a lengthy relationship with Robert Carroll, a [[Vietnam War]] veteran and aspiring writer in his 20s. Williams had deep affection for Carroll and respect for what he saw as the younger man's talents. Along with Williams's sister Rose, Carroll was one of the two people who received a bequest in his will.{{sfn|Spoto|1997|page=302}}  Williams described Carroll's behavior as a combination of "sweetness" and "beastliness". Because Carroll had a drug problem, as did Williams, friends including [[Maria Britneva]] saw the relationship as destructive. Williams wrote that Carroll played on his "acute loneliness" as an aging gay man. When the two men broke up in 1979, Williams called Carroll a "twerp", but they remained friends until Williams died four years later.{{sfn|Williams|2007|page=738}}

==Death==
[[File:Tennessee williams will.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|The first page of Williams' [[last will and testament]]]]
On February 25, 1983, Williams was found dead at age 71 in his suite at the [[Hotel Elysée]] in [[New York City]]. Chief Medical Examiner of New York City [[Elliot M. Gross]] reported that Williams had choked to death from inhaling the plastic cap of the type used on bottles of nasal spray or eye solution.<ref>
{{cite news | last=Daley | first=Suzanne | date=February 27, 1983 | title=Williams Choked on a Bottle Cap | url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/31/specials/williams-choked.html | newspaper=The New York Times | access-date=November 6, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117180500/http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/31/specials/williams-choked.html | archive-date=November 17, 2017 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}
</ref> The report was later corrected on August 14, 1983, to state that Williams had been using the plastic cap found in his mouth to ingest [[barbiturates]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Drugs Linked to Death of Tennessee Williams |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/31/specials/williams-drugs.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 14, 1983 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226223629/http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/31/specials/williams-drugs.html |archive-date=February 26, 2017  }}</ref> and had actually died from a toxic level of [[Seconal]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lahr|first=John|title=Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh|publisher=W. W. Norton & Co.|year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-02124-0|location=New York|pages=587–588}}</ref>

He wrote in his will in 1972:<ref>{{cite book| title=Rethinking Literary Biography: A Postmodern Approach to Tennessee Williams| first=Nicholas| last=Pagan| publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press| date=September 1993| pages=74–75| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hkn8Kn3UNQC&q=hart+crane| isbn= 978-0838635162}}</ref>

{{Blockquote
|text=I, Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) Williams, being in sound mind upon this subject, and having declared this wish repeatedly to my close friends-do hereby state my desire to be buried at sea. More specifically, I wish to be buried at sea at as close a possible point as the American poet [[Hart Crane]] died by choice in the sea; this would be ascrnatible [sic], this geographic point, by the various books (biographical) upon his life and death. I wish to be sewn up in a canvas sack and dropped overboard, as stated above, as close as possible to where Hart Crane was given by himself to the great mother of life which is the sea: the Caribbean, specifically, if that fits the geography of his death. Otherwise—whereever fits it [sic].
}}

However, his brother Dakin Williams arranged for him to be buried at [[Calvary Cemetery (St. Louis)|Calvary Cemetery]] in St. Louis, Missouri, where his mother is buried.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 51195–51196). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', "most of his estate was left to the [[University of the South]] in Sewanee, Tenn., with the bulk of it to remain in trust for his sister during her lifetime."  Rose Williams, Tennessee's sister, died in 1996 after many years in a mental institution in New York state; the university subsequently received about $7&nbsp;million, which supports a creative writing program.<ref>{{cite news| title=Rose Williams, 86, Sister And the Muse of Playwright| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/07/arts/rose-williams-86-sister-and-the-muse-of-playwright.html| last=Gussow| first=Mel| date=September 7, 1996| work=The New York Times| access-date=September 15, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913143124/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/07/arts/rose-williams-86-sister-and-the-muse-of-playwright.html| archive-date=September 13, 2017| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Posthumous recognition==
[[File:The grave of poet and playwright Tennessee Williams in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Williams' grave at Calvary Cemetery in [[St. Louis]]]]
From February 1 to July 21, 2011, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the University of Texas at Austin, the home of Williams's archive, exhibited 250 of his personal items. The exhibit, titled "Becoming Tennessee Williams", included a collection of Williams manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and artwork.<ref name=Exhibit>[http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2011/williams/ "Becoming Tennessee Williams"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110322175611/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2011/williams/ |date=March 22, 2011 }} Exhibit at the University of Texas of Austin, Feb 1 to July 31, 2011</ref> The Ransom Center holds the earliest and largest collections of Williams's papers, including all of his earliest manuscripts, the papers of his mother Edwina Williams, and those of his long-time agent [[Audrey Wood (literary agent)|Audrey Wood]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00135p1 |title=Tennessee Williams: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center |website=norman.hrc.utexas.edu |access-date=February 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303071433/http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00135p1 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In late 2009, Williams was inducted into the Poets' Corner at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. Performers and artists who took part in his induction included [[Vanessa Redgrave]], playwright [[John Guare]], [[Eli Wallach]], [[Sylvia Miles]], [[Gregory Mosher]], and Ben (Griessmeyer) Berry.<ref name="wickedlocal1">{{cite web |last=Rand |first=Susan |url=http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellfleet/fun/entertainment/arts/x2087397507/Photo-Gallery-Tennessee-Williams-inducted-into-Poets-Corner |title=Photo Gallery: Tennessee Williams inducted into Poets' Corner |work=Wicked Local Wellfleet |date=November 15, 2009 |publisher=[[GateHouse Media]] |location=[[Perinton, New York]] |access-date=February 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520063421/http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellfleet/fun/entertainment/arts/x2087397507/Photo-Gallery-Tennessee-Williams-inducted-into-Poets-Corner |archive-date=May 20, 2011}}</ref>

The Tennessee Williams Theatre in Key West, Florida, is named for him. The Tennessee Williams Key West Exhibit on Truman Avenue houses rare Williams memorabilia, photographs, and pictures including his famous typewriter.

At the time of his death, Williams had been working on a final play, ''[[In Masks Outrageous and Austere]]'',<ref name=Independent>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/tennessee-williams-a-tormented-playwright-who-unzipped-his-heart-2251954.html |title=Tennessee Williams: A tormented playwright who unzipped his heart |work=[[The Independent]] |first=Paul|last=Taylor|date=March 25, 2011 |access-date=May 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326044232/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/tennessee-williams-a-tormented-playwright-who-unzipped-his-heart-2251954.html |archive-date=March 26, 2011 |url-status=live  }}</ref> which attempted to reconcile certain forces and facts of his own life. This was a continuing theme in his work. As of September 2007, author [[Gore Vidal]] was completing the play, and [[Peter Bogdanovich]] was slated to direct its Broadway debut.<ref name="test">{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/bwiddicombe/2007/09/11/2007-09-11_a_new_tennessee_williams_play_reaches_br.html |title=A 'new' Tennessee Williams play reaches Broadway |work=[[Daily News (New York)|New York Daily News]] |date=September 11, 2007 |access-date=February 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117091331/http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/bwiddicombe/2007/09/11/2007-09-11_a_new_tennessee_williams_play_reaches_br.html |archive-date=January 17, 2011 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The play received its world premiere in New York City in April 2012, directed by [[David Schweizer (director)|David Schweizer]] and starring [[Shirley Knight]] as Babe.<ref>{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Kepler z|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/theater/heroine-is-chosen-for-last-williams-play.html |title=Heroine Is Chosen for Last Williams Play |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 4, 2012 |access-date=March 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308070903/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/theater/heroine-is-chosen-for-last-williams-play.html |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

The rectory of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Columbus, Mississippi, where Williams's grandfather Dakin was rector at the time of Williams's birth, was moved to another location in 1993 for preservation. It was newly renovated in 2010 for use by the City of Columbus as the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ryan |last=Poe |url=http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=7802 |title=Newly renovated Tennessee Williams home debuts |work=[[The Commercial Dispatch]] |date=September 10, 2010 |access-date=February 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708131126/http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=7802 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.thecityofcolumbusms.org/primary.asp?t=9&p=66 "Tennessee Williams Welcome Center," official website of the City of Columbus, Mississippi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212210036/http://www.thecityofcolumbusms.org/primary.asp?t=9&p=66 |date=December 12, 2013 }}, accessed October 20, 2013.</ref>

Williams's literary legacy is represented by the literary agency headed by [[Georges Borchardt]].

In 1985, French author-composer [[Michel Berger]] wrote a song dedicated to Tennessee Williams, "[[Quelque chose de Tennessee]]" (Something of Tennessee), for [[Johnny Hallyday]]. It became one of the singer's more famous songs.

Since 1986, the [[Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival|Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival]] has been held annually in New Orleans, Louisiana, in commemoration of the playwright. The festival takes place at the end of March to coincide with Williams's birthday.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/ |title=Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival |access-date=February 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203070237/http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/ |archive-date=February 3, 2006 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

''The Tennessee Williams Songbook''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.twwordsandmusic.com/the-project/|title=The Project|access-date=May 3, 2019|archive-date=April 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424193739/http://www.twwordsandmusic.com/the-project/|url-status=dead}}</ref> is a one woman show written and directed by David Kaplan, a Williams scholar and curator of [[Provincetown]]'s Tennessee Williams Festival, and starring Tony Award nominated actress [[Alison Fraser]]. The show features songs taken from plays of Williams's canon, woven together with text to create a new narrative. The show premiered at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.myneworleans.com/the-tennessee-williams-new-orleans-literary-festival-celebrates-the-williams-songbook/|title=The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival celebrates the Williams Songbook|date=May 31, 2013}}</ref>  The show was recorded on CD and distributed by [[Ghostlight Records]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ghostlightrecords.com/alison-fraser-tennessee-williams-words-and-music.html|title=Alison Fraser 'Tennessee Williams: Words And Music'|website=Ghostlight Records|access-date=May 3, 2019|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615152645/http://www.ghostlightrecords.com/alison-fraser-tennessee-williams-words-and-music.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2014 Williams was one of the inaugural honorees in the [[Rainbow Honor Walk]], a [[List of halls and walks of fame|walk of fame]] in San Francisco's [[Castro District, San Francisco|Castro neighborhood]] noting [[LGBTQ]] people who have "made significant contributions in their fields."<ref name=":022">{{cite web|url=https://quirkytravelguy.com/lgbt-walk-fame-rainbow-honor-san-francisco/|title=The Rainbow Honor Walk: San Francisco's LGBT Walk of Fame|last=Shelter|first=Scott|date=March 14, 2016|website=Quirky Travel Guy|language=en-US|access-date=July 28, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://sfist.com/2014/09/02/castros_rainbow_honor_walk_dedicate/|title=Castro's Rainbow Honor Walk Dedicated Today: SFist|date=September 2, 2014|website=SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports|access-date=August 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810075052/https://sfist.com/2014/09/02/castros_rainbow_honor_walk_dedicate/|archive-date=August 10, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://www.gaysonoma.com/2016/07/second-lgbt-honorees-selected-for-san-franciscos-rainbow-honor-walk/|title=Second LGBT Honorees Selected for San Francisco's Rainbow Honor Walk|last=Carnivele|first=Gary|date=July 2, 2016|website=We The People|access-date=August 12, 2019}}</ref>

In 2015, The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans was founded by Co-Artistic Directors Nick Shackleford and Augustin J Correro. The New Orleans–based non-profit theatre company is the first year-round professional theatre company that focuses exclusively on the works of Williams.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.twtheatrenola.com/ |title=The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans &#124; Home |access-date=February 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227060216/https://www.twtheatrenola.com/ |archive-date=February 27, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote= "[T]here used to be two streetcars in New Orleans. One was named ''Desire'' and the other was called ''Cemeteries''. To get where you were going, you changed from the first to the second. In [his] stories and in those plays, Tennessee validated with his genius our common ticket of transfer."—Biographer and critic [[Gore Vidal]] in  the Introduction to ''Tennessee Williams: Collected Stories'' (1985)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vidal |first1=Gore |title=Introduction to Tennessee Williams: Collected Stories |date=1985 |publisher=New Directions Publishing |location=New York |isbn=0-8112-0952-0 |pages=xix-xxv |edition=First}}</ref>}}
Since 2016, St. Louis, Missouri has held an annual Tennessee Williams Festival, featuring a main production and related events such as literary discussions and new plays inspired by his work. In 2018 the festival produced ''A Streetcar Named Desire''.

The [[U.S. Postal Service]] honored Williams on a stamp issued on October 13, 1995 as part of its literary arts series.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holditch |first1=W. Kenneth |last2=Leavitt |first2=Richard Freeman |title=Tennessee Williams and the South |date=2002 |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |page=54 |isbn=978-1-57-806410-6 |oclc=48876482 }}</ref>

Williams is honored with a star on the [[St. Louis Walk of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/?view=achievement| title=St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees| publisher=St. Louis Walk of Fame| access-date=April 25, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031162946/http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/?view=achievement| archive-date=October 31, 2012| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> He is also inducted into the [[Clarksdale Walk of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IKv82hw_9usC&q=Clarksdale+walk+of+fame&pg=PA16|title=I'm Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism in the Mississippi Delta|last=King|first=Stephen A.|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|year=2011|isbn=978-1-61703-011-6|pages=16|language=en}}</ref>

On October 17, 2019, the [[Mississippi Writers Trail]] installed a historical marker commemorating William's literary contributions during his namesake festival produced by the City of Clarksdale, Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mississippi Writers Trail Unveils Marker Honoring Tennessee Williams {{!}} Mississippi Development Authority|url=https://www.mississippi.org/news-room/mississippi-writers-trail-unveils-marker-honoring-tennessee-williams/|access-date=June 16, 2020|website=Mississippi.org|archive-date=June 16, 2020|date=October 17, 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616220255/https://www.mississippi.org/news-room/mississippi-writers-trail-unveils-marker-honoring-tennessee-williams/ }}</ref>

==Works==
Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in ''The Glass Menagerie'' is thought to be modeled on his sister Rose. Some biographers believed that the character of [[Blanche DuBois]] in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' also is based on her and that the mental deterioration of Blanche's character is inspired by Rose's mental health struggles.

Amanda Wingfield in ''The Glass Menagerie'' generally was taken to represent Williams's mother Edwina. 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 as a [[Motif (literature)|motif]] in ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer]]''.

The [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama]] was awarded to ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' in 1948 and to ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' in 1955. These two plays later were adapted as highly successful films by noted directors [[Elia Kazan]] (''Streetcar''), with whom Williams developed a very close artistic relationship, and [[Richard Brooks]] (''Cat''). Both plays included references to elements of Williams's life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism.

Although ''[[The Flowering Peach]]'' by [[Clifford Odets]] was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955, and ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' was at first considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees, Joseph Pulitzer Jr., chairman of the Board, had seen ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' and thought it worthy of the drama prize. The Board went along with him after considerable discussion.<ref>Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich, & Erika J. Fischer. ''The Pulitzer Prize Archive: A History and Anthology of Award-Winning Materials in Journalism, Letters, and Arts'', München: K.G. Saur, 2008. {{ISBN|3-598-30170-7}} {{ISBN|978-3-598-30170-4}} p. 246.</ref>

Williams wrote ''[[Something Cloudy, Something Clear|The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer]]'' when he was 29, and worked on it sporadically throughout his life. A semi-autobiographical depiction of his 1940 romance with Kip Kiernan in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it was produced for the first time on October 1, 2006, in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape production company. This was part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival. ''Something Cloudy, Something Clear'' (1981) is also based on his memories of Provincetown in the 1940s.

His last play went through many drafts as he was trying to reconcile what would be the end of his life.<ref name="wickedlocal1"/> There are many versions of it, but it is referred to as ''[[In Masks Outrageous and Austere]]''.

===Plays===
* ''[[Candles to the Sun]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Fugitive Kind]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Spring Storm]]'' (1937)
* ''Me Vashya'' (1937)
* ''[[Not About Nightingales]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Battle of Angels]]'' (1940)
* ''[[List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams|I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix]]'' (1941)
* ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' (1944)
* ''[[You Touched Me!]]'' (1945)
* ''[[Stairs to the Roof]]'' (1947)
* ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Summer and Smoke]]'' (1948)
* ''[[The Rose Tattoo]]'' (1951)
* ''[[Camino Real (play)|Camino Real]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Orpheus Descending]]'' (1957)
* ''[[Suddenly Last Summer]]'' (1958)
* ''[[Sweet Bird of Youth]]'' (1959)
* ''[[Period of Adjustment]]'' (1960)
* ''[[The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1961)
* ''[[Summer and Smoke|The Eccentricities of a Nightingale]]'' (1962, rewriting of ''Summer and Smoke'')
* ''[[The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore]]'' (1963)
* ''[[List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams|The Mutilated]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Seven Descents of Myrtle]]'' (1968, aka ''Kingdom of Earth'')
* ''[[In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel]]'' (1969)
* ''[[Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis?]]'' (1969)
* ''[[Small Craft Warnings]]'' (1972)
* ''[[The Two-Character Play]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Out Cry]]'' (1973, rewriting of ''The Two-Character Play'')
* ''[[The Red Devil Battery Sign]]'' (1975)
* ''[[This Is (An Entertainment)]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Vieux Carré (play)|Vieux Carré]]'' (1977)
* ''Tiger Tail'' (1978)
* ''[[A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur]]'' (1979)
* ''[[Clothes for a Summer Hotel]]'' (1980)
* ''[[The Notebook of Trigorin]]'' (1980)
* ''[[Something Cloudy, Something Clear]]'' (1981)
* ''[[A House Not Meant to Stand]]'' (1982)
* ''[[In Masks Outrageous and Austere]]'' (1983)

===Novels===
* ''The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' (1950, adapted for films in [[The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone|1961]] and [[The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003 film)|2003]])
* ''Moise and the World of Reason''   (1975)

===Screenplays and teleplays===
* ''[[The Glass Menagerie (1950 film)|The Glass Menagerie]]'' (1950)
* ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1951)
* ''[[The Rose Tattoo (film)|The Rose Tattoo]]'' (1955)
* ''[[Baby Doll]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)|Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1958)
* ''[[Suddenly, Last Summer (film)|Suddenly, Last Summer]]'' (1959)
* ''[[The Fugitive Kind]]'' (1959)
* ''Ten Blocks on the Camino Real'' (1966)
* ''[[Boom! (1968 film)|Boom!]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Stopped Rocking and Other Screenplays]]'' (1984)
* ''[[The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond]]'' (2009; screenplay from 1957)

===Short stories===
* "[[The Vengeance of Nitocris]]" (1928)
* "The Field of Blue Children" (1939)
* "Oriflamme" (1944)
* "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin" (1951)
* ''[[One Arm and Other Stories]]'' (1948)
** "One Arm"
** "The Malediction"
** "The Poet"
** "Chronicle of a Demise"
** "[[Desire and the Black Masseur]]"
** "Portrait of a Girl in Glass"
** "The Important Thing"
** "[[The Angel in the Alcove]]"
** "The Field of Blue Children"
** "The Night of the Iguana"
** "[[The Yellow Bird (short story)|The Yellow Bird]]"
* ''[[Hard Candy: A Book of Stories]]'' (1954)
**"Three Players of a Summer Game"
**"Two on a Party"
**"The Resemblance between a Violin Case and a Coffin"
**"Hard Candy"
**"Rubio y Morena"
**"The Mattress by the Tomato Patch"
**"The Coming of Something to the Widow Holly"
**"The Vine"
**"[[The Mysteries of Joy Rio|The Mysteries of the Joy Rio]]"
*''The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four Short Stories'' (1966)
**"The Knightly Quest"
**"Mama's Old Stucco House"
**"Man Bring This Up Road"
**"The Kingdom of Earth"
**"Grand"
* ''Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of Stories'' (1974)
**"Happy August the Tenth"
**"The Inventory at Fontana Belle"
**"Miss Coynte of Greeme"
**"Sabbatha and Solitude"
**"Completed"
**"Oriflamme"
* "Tent Worms" (1980)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/1980/5/1/tent-worms|title=Tent Worms|magazine=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|first=Tennessee|last=Williams|date=May 1, 1980|access-date=May 2, 2024}}</ref>
* ''It Happened the Day the Sun Rose'' (1981), published by [[Sylvester & Orphanos]]
* ''Collected Stories'' (1985) (New Directions)

===One-act plays===
{{Main|List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams}}
Williams wrote more than 70 one-act plays during his lifetime. The one-acts explored many of the same themes that dominated his longer works. Williams's major collections are published by [[New Directions Publishing|New Directions]] in New York City.
* ''American Blues'' (1948)
* ''[[Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays]]'' (2005)
* ''[[List of one-act plays by Tennessee Williams|Dragon Country]]: a book of one-act plays'' (1970)
* ''[[The Traveling Companion and Other Plays]]'' (2008)
* ''[[The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays]]'' (2011)
** ''At Liberty'' (1939)
** ''The Magic Tower'' (1936)
** ''Me, Vashya'' (1937)
** ''Curtains for the Gentleman'' (1936)
** ''In Our Profession'' (1938)
** ''Every Twenty Minutes'' (1938)
** ''Honor the Living'' (1937)
** ''The Case of the Crushed Petunias'' (1941)
** ''Moony's Kid Don't Cry'' (1936)
** ''The Dark Room'' (1939)
** ''The Pretty Trap'' (1944)
** ''Interior: Panic'' (1946)
** ''Kingdom of Earth'' (1967)
** ''I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark on Sundays'' (1973)
** ''Some Problems for the Moose Lodge'' (1980)
* ''[[27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Other Plays]]'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''Something Wild...'' (introduction) (1953)
** ''27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''The Purification'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''The Lady of Larkspur Lotion'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''The Last of My Solid Gold Watches'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''Portrait of a Madonna'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''Auto-da-Fé'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''Lord Byron's Love Letter'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''The Strangest Kind of Romance'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''The Long Goodbye'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''At Liberty'' (1946)
** ''Moony's Kid Don't Cry'' (1946)
** ''Hello from Bertha'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''This Property Is Condemned'' (1946 and 1953)
** ''Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen...'' (1953)
** ''Something Unspoken'' (1953)
* ''Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws and Other One-Act Plays'' (2016)
** ''A Recluse and His Guest'' (1982)
** ''Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws'' (1981)
** ''Steps Must Be Gentle'' (1980)
** ''Ivan's Widow'' (1982)
** ''This Is the Peaceable Kingdom'' (1981)
** ''Aimez-vous Ionesco?'' (c.1975)
** ''The Demolition Downtown'' (1971)
** ''Lifeboat Drill'' (1979)
** ''Once in a Lifetime'' (1939)
** ''The Strange Play'' (1939)
* ''[[The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Volume VI]]''
* ''[[The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Volume VII]]''

===Poetry===
* ''In the Winter of Cities'' (1956)
* ''Androgyne, Mon Amour'' (1977)
* ''[[The Collected Poems of Tennessee Williams]]'' (2002)

===Non-fiction===
* ''Memoirs'' (1975) 
* ''[[New Selected Essays: Where I Live]]'' (2009)

===Selected works===
* Gussow, Mel and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. ''Tennessee Williams, Plays 1937–1955'' ([[Library of America]], 2000) {{ISBN|978-1-883011-86-4}}.
** ''Spring Storm''
** ''Not About Nightingales''
** ''Battle of Angels''
** ''I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix''
** ''From 27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' (1946)
*** ''27 Wagons Full of Cotton''
*** ''The Lady of Larkspur Lotion''
*** ''The Last of My Solid Gold Watches''
*** ''Portrait of a Madonna''
*** ''Auto-da-Fé''
*** ''Lord Byron's Love Letter''
*** ''This Property Is Condemned''
** ''The Glass Menagerie''
** ''A Streetcar Named Desire''
** ''Summer and Smoke''
** ''The Rose Tattoo''
** ''Camino Real''
** ''From 27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' (1953)
*** "Something Wild"
*** ''Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen''
*** ''Something Unspoken''
** ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof''
* Gussow, Mel, and Holditch, Kenneth, eds. ''Tennessee Williams, Plays 1957–1980'' ([[Library of America]], 2000) {{ISBN|978-1-883011-87-1}}.
** ''[[Orpheus Descending]]''
** ''Suddenly, Last Summer''
** ''Sweet Bird of Youth''
** ''Period of Adjustment''
** ''The Night of the Iguana''
** ''The Eccentricities of a Nightingale''
** ''[[The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore]]''
** ''The Mutilated''
** ''Kingdom of Earth'' (''The Seven Descents of Myrtle'')
** ''Small Craft Warnings''
** ''Out Cry''
** ''Vieux Carré''
** ''A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur''
** "Crazy Night"<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Purcell|first=Carey|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/crazy-night-unpublished-story-by-tennessee-williams-will-be-featured-in-the-strand-magazine-com-216429|title=''Crazy Night'', Unpublished Story by Tennessee Williams, Will Be Featured in The Strand Magazine|magazine=[[Playbill]]|date=March 25, 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Lanier family tree]]
* [[Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival]]
* [[Virginia Spencer Carr]], friend and biographer of Williams
* [[Audrey Wood (literary agent)|Audrey Wood]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Gross, Robert F., ed. ''Tennessee Williams: A Casebook.'' [[Routledge]] (2002). Print. {{ISBN|0-8153-3174-6}}.
* Jacobus, Lee. ''The Bedford Introduction to Drama.'' Bedford: Boston. Print. 2009.
* Lahr, John. ''Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh.'' W. W. Norton & Co. New York. Print. 2014. {{ISBN|978-0-393-02124-0}}.
* Leverich, Lyle. ''Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams''. W. W. Norton & Company. Reprint. 1997. {{ISBN|0-393-31663-7}}.
* Saddik, Annette. ''The Politics of Reputation: The Critical Reception of Tennessee Williams' Later Plays''. Associated University Presses. London. 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. Print. 1975. {{ISBN|0-385-00573-3}}.
* Williams, Dakin. ''His Brother's Keeper: The Life and Murder of Tennessee Williams''. Dakin's Corner Press. First Edition. Print. 1983.

==External links==
{{Prone to spam|date=March 2012}}
{{commons category|Tennessee Williams}}
{{wikiquote|Tennessee Williams}}
{{wikisource author|Tennessee Williams}}

* [http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00135p1 Tennessee Williams Collection] and [https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/guides/?guide=TennesseeWilliams Research Guide], as well as [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01421 Kate Medina Collection of Tennessee Williams] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]], [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4079626// Tennessee Williams Papers at Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library]
* [https://www.hnoc.org/node/112 Fred W. Todd Tennessee Williams Collection] and [https://www.hnoc.org/research/tennessee-williams-pathfinder Tennessee Williams Pathfinder] at the [[Historic New Orleans Collection]]
* [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21328 Tennessee Williams manuscripts, 1972–1974], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, [[New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]]
*[https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?mss0112 Tennessee Williams collection] from [https://library.udel.edu/special/ Special Collections, University of Delaware Library]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200303130804/https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3209/the-art-of-theater-no-5-tennessee-williams ''The Paris Review'' interview]
* {{IMDb name|0931783}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name|2512}}
* {{Playbill person}}

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