Thomas Lanier Williams
• Born
March 26,
1911 in
Columbus,
Mississippi

Thomas Lanier Williams
•Lived for several years in
Clarksdale,
Mississippi
•Moved to St.
Louis in 1918

Family Life
• Mother was a controlling woman
• Father was abusive and hard on him

Family Life
• Father assumed he was raising a homosexual
• Williams always felt rejected by his father

Family Life
• His sister Rose became mentally ill and was lobotomized and committed to a mental institution
• Williams remained close to his sister

Education
•Attended the
University of
Missouri, but his father pulled him out and put him to work

Education
•Eventually went back to school and graduated from the
University of
Iowa

A Legend Begins
• Changed his name to
“Tennessee” and began to write controversial plays

A Legend Begins
• First hit was Glass
Menagerie
• Originally titled The
Gentleman Caller
• Story based partially on
William’s home life

A Legend Begins
• Glass Menagerie was an instant success and the pressure began to surmount for
Williams

The Legend Continues
• Williams found that
New Orleans was an inspirational city to write in
• He also spent time in Key
West and New York

The Legend Continues
• Williams won his first Pulitzer
Prize in 1948 for
A Streetcar
Named Desire
• It was made into a movie in 1951

The Legend Continues
• Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof gave
Williams his second
Pulitzer Prize in 1955

The Legend Continues
Other instant successes were:
• The Rose Tattoo
• Baby Doll
• Sweet Bird of
Youth
• The Night of the
Iguana

The Legend Continues
• All of William’s plays touched on some controversial issue that had never been introduced in plays/movies before

The Legend Continues
• Sexual frustration
• Homosexuality
• Mental illness
• Emasculation
• Cannibalism
• Nymphomania
• Alcohol abuse

The Legend Changes
• Williams began to drink and take pills more frequently

The Legend Changes
• His partner died in 1963 and this event was the true turning point for Williams

The Legend Changes
• His drinking and drug use quickly heightened

The Legend Changes
• His work in
New York/
Hollywood began to receive poor reviews

The Legend Changes
• Just like he had been rejected by his father years before, critics were now rejecting him

The Legend Changes
• Williams’ alcoholism took control and he became paranoid

The Legend Changes
• Tennessee’s brother Dakin had him committed in 1969 to a mental institution because he suffered from alcohol poisoning and paranoia

The Legend Changes
• He began to drink and pop pills again after his threemonth stay

The Legend Changes
• Throughout these difficult times,
Tennessee remained true to himself and never lost faith in his ability to write decent plays
(despite the reviews)

The Legend Ends
• Eventually Tennessee’s abusive behavior caught up with him and he died a lonely death at the age of 71 in a New
York hotel room

The Legend Ends
• The coroner’s report revealed that Williams died of asphyxia by choking on a top from a medicine bottle

The Legend Ends
• In 1996, Rose Williams died in the mental institution that had become her home
• Her tombstone reads “Blow out your candle,
Laura”, a famous line from
The Glass Menagerie

The Legend Lives On
• Williams’ plays continue to awe audiences everywhere both on stage and the big screen

The Glass Menagerie
•Originally titled A Gentleman
Caller
•Had a successful run in 1944 in
Chicago
•Debuted on Broadway in 1945

The Glass Menagerie
•Williams’ first popular success
•Williams received the New
York Drama Critics’ Circle award as the best play of the season
•Was called play of the century

The Glass Menagerie
•It has become one of the most performed plays in the repertory of
American community theaters

The Glass Menagerie
•The movie version of the
1950’s starred the unknown actor Marlon
Brando

The Glass Menagerie
•An updated version was filmed in 1987 and directed by
Paul Newman

The Glass Menagerie
•Play largely based on
William’s family in own
particular his sister,
Rose

The Glass Menagerie
•One act play with seven scenes and only four characters

The Glass Menagerie
•Play is full of negative emotion