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Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983)
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 The
Kindness of Strangers : The Life of Tennessee Williams by
Donald Spoto
In this first
complete, critical biography of one of America's finest
playwrights, Donald Spoto reveals the intimate connections between
Williams' personal dramas and his remarkably autobiographical art.
From his birth into a genteel Southern family, through his
success, celebrity, and wealth, Tennessee Williams lived a life as
gripping as his plays. The Kindness of Strangers is "a work
of honest reverence."--San Francisco Chronicle. 34 photos.
 Tom
: The Unknown Tennessee Williams by Lyle Leverich
The
riveting, revelatory, and sole authorized account of the critical
first decades of Tennessee Williams's life. Tennessee Williams,
author of such indelible masterpieces as The Glass Menagerie and A
Streetcar Named Desire, is considered by many to be the greatest
literary artist of the American theater. Tom is Lyle Leverich's
definitive account based on his exclusive access to letters,
diaries, unpublished manuscripts, and family documents of
Williams's early life and of the events that shaped this most
autobiographical of dramatists. It tells the story of the marital
traumas of his bullying father and overly protective mother, the
mental disorders that institutionalized his beloved sister Rose,
his stalled academic career, and his confused sexuality and early
successes as a writer; and it leaves Thomas Lanier Williams on the
brink of fame with The Glass Menagerie and his transformation into
the celebrated persona of "Tennessee."
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Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983)
Tennessee Williams
(1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Mississippi. His first real
recognition came in 1940 with a Rockefeller fellowship and his
first play, Battle of Angels, was produced by the Theatre
Guild in Boston. The Glass Menagerie was the initial
success which established him as one of the leading American
playwrights. Many of his plays have been produced on television
and made into movies and ballets —A Streetcar Named Desire,
Summer and Smoke, Night of the Iguana, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
and The Glass Menagerie, to name a few—provided vehicles
for Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, Richard
Burton, Burl Ives, and many other stars. In the course of his
career he received two Pulitzer Prizes (for A Streetcar Named
Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and four New York
Drama Critic's Circle Awards, and in 1969, was awarded the Gold
Medal for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters
and the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
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From the Mississippi Writers Page
Introduction:
One of America's greatest playwrights, and
certainly the greatest ever from the South, Tennessee Williams
wrote fiction and motion picture screenplays, but he is acclaimed
primarily for his plays—nearly all of which are set in the
South, but which at their best rise above regionalism to approach
universal themes.
Site includes a biography, list of selected
publications, bibliography, filmography, links and more.
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Home of the Tennessee
Williams Annual Review and the Tennessee
Williams Scholar' Conference.
Dr.
Robert Bray edits the Tennessee
Williams Annual Review and directs the Tennessee Williams
Scholars' Conference.
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From Tom Sullivan
Excerpt:
Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26,
1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. His father, Cornelius Coffin
Williams, was a shoe salesman who spent a great deal of his time
away from the family. Williams had one older sister and one
younger brother. They spent much of their childhood in the home of
their maternal grandfather who was an Episcopal minister. In 1927,
Williams got his first taste of literary acclaim when he placed
third in a national essay contest sponsored by The Smart Set
magazine. The essay was entitled "Can a Good Wife Be a Good
Sport?"
Williams studied for several years at the
University of Missouri, but withdrew before completing his degree
and took a job in St. Louis at the International Shoe Company
where his father worked. Other odd jobs with which he supported
himself included waiter, elevator operator, and theater usher. He
eventually returned to school and received a degree from the
University of Iowa in 1938. Whether in school or working in the
factory, Williams was constantly writing.
In 1939, Williams moved to New Orleans and
formally adopted his college nickname "Tennessee" -
which was the state of his father's birth. Tennessee Williams is
considered one of America's greatest playwrights. He was also a
known homosexual...
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Names Index:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
| Authors
Index | Scholars
Index |
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