Remembering Tennessee Williams
The man behind classic characters and stories of the 20th Century, Tennessee Williams on the 34th anniversary of his death.
Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams III born on 26 March 1911 was an American playwright. He is considered among the three foremost playwrights in 20th-century American drama. His plays were controversial and very much ahead of their time.
His greatest plays include A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagarie, Sweet Bird of Youth and The Night Of The Iguana, as well as the novel The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone. Tennesse is responsible for the creation of iconic literary characters such as Blanche DuBois, Stanley Kowalski, Maggie The Cat, Alva Starr and Baby Doll.
He gained success with The Glass Menagerie in 1943 which won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best play of the season. His next play, A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 became a huge success and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948.
The play opened on Broadway on 3 December 1947, and closed on 17 December 17 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is considered by many to be one of Tennessee Williams’ greatest.
In 1951, A Streetcar Named Desire was adapted into a film and gained even more success. The film’s cast consisted of most of the Broadway cast directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter. The film made an unknown Brando a success, and earned Vivien Leigh her second Academy Award for Best Actress. Although Jessica Tandy originated the role of Blanche DuBois on Broadway, Vivien had appeared in the London theatre. Tennessee Williams wrote the screenplay for the film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay. The film is a masterpiece and set an Oscar record when it became the first film to win in three acting categories.
Between 1948 and 1959, seven of his plays were performed on Broadway: Summer and Smoke (1948), The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real (1953), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), Garden District (1958), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). By 1959 he had earned two Pulitzer Prizes, three New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, three Donaldson Awards, and a Tony Award.
Later plays also adapted for the screen included Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1958, starring Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie The Cat as well as Paul Newman and Burl Ives. Although the film was a huge success and was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, Tennessee Williams was reportedly displeased with the story being changed. His work was often controversial, and The Hays Code for films at the time, limited and restricted the play’s original homosexual themes.
Paul Newman also starred in the film adaptation of Tennessee William’ Sweet Bird of Youth, and Elizabeth Taylor starred in the controversial Suddenly Last Summer in 1959 alongside Montgomery Clift and Katharine Hepburn. Suddenly Last Summer was adapted for the screen by Gore Vidal though Tennessee Williams also received credit, he would later say that he had nothing to do with the film.
Following Streetcar and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer was the third of Tennessee Williams’ plays to be adapted for the screen that dealt with the subject of homosexuality. Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Both Streetcar and Hot Tin Roof included references to elements of Tennessee’s life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism.
Other film adaptations of Tennessee’s plays include The Rose Tattoo, Orpheus Descending, The Night of the Iguana and Summer and Smoke, and This Property Is Condemned, as well as the film version of the novel The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was adapted for television in 1976 with Natalie Wood as Maggie The Cat, as well as Robert Wagner and Laurence Olivier as Big Daddy.
Tennessee Williams died on 25 February 1983 at the age of 71. As one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, he left behind fantastic stories, characters and masterpieces. My favourites are A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and This Property Is Condemned. I also really love the TV movie version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, as I think that Natalie Wood’s performance as Maggie The Cat is just amazing. This Property Is Condemned is my personal favourite film and performance again by Natalie Wood. Tennessee Williams always created such fantastic characters like the southern belle’s Maggie the Cat and Alva Starr, and the locations are great, especially New Orleans.
Elia Kazan who directed many of Williams’ greatest successes and developed a very close artistic relationship, said of Tennessee Williams: “Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life.”
