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Tennessee Williams

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Tennessee Williams

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Also known as Thomas Lanier Williams III, Thomas Williams

American playwright (1911–1983)

OverviewAI-generated

Tennessee Williams was an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and poet. Born Thomas Williams in Columbus, he held United States citizenship. He was educated at the University of Iowa, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri, and The New School. His notable works include The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Williams received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award for Best Play, Kennedy Center Honors, and Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a Tony Award for Best Play. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Influenced by Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, and Hart Crane, he resided in Clarksdale, Columbus, New Orleans, and St. Louis. He died in New York City in 1983.

Synthesized by Vinony from 45 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
26 March 1911
Died
25 February 1983
Works
345

Top works

  • 100 Years of Weird
  • Cat on a hot tin roof
  • Lel ha-Iguʾanah
  • The night of the iguana
  • Rimskai︠a︡ vesna Missis Stoun

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Columbus, Mississippi, USA

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. At age 33, after years of obscurity, Williams suddenly became famous with the success of The Glass…

Known for

  • Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation — Self - Playwright (archive footage)2021
  • Beautiful Darling — Self (archive footage)2010
  • The Yellow Bird — Narrator (voice)2002
  • Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage — Self (archive footage)1994
  • The Kennedy Center Honors — Self1978
  • Midi Première — Self1975
  • Tennessee Williams' South1973
  • Begegnung mit Tennessee Williams — Self - Interviewee1972
  • The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest1968
  • Small World — Self1958

via TMDB

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Family name
Williams
Gender
male
Citizenship
United States
Place of birth
Columbus
Place of death
New York City
Occupation
writer
Languages spoken
English language
Student of
Erwin Piscator
Field of work
performing arts
Image
Tennessee Williams NYWTS.jpg
Show 20 more facts
Commons category
Tennessee Williams
date of birth
1914-03-26
date of death
1985-02-25
topic's main category
Category:Tennessee Williams
manner of death
accidental death
described by source
Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia
influenced by
Hart Crane
name in native language
Tennessee Williams
start of work period
1930-00-00
writing language
English language
birth name
Thomas Lanier Williams
sexual orientation
homosexuality
personal library at
Harry Ransom Center
P12749
Silk Road
cause of death
choking
Sources (9)

via Wikidata · CC0

~34 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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.

Writing his first play in 1930, Williams' work did not gain much traction until 1944 with the success of The Glass Menagerie. His next plays, 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), were also successful and widely acclaimed. 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tennessee Williams” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (9)