orig. Thomas Lanier Williams
born March 26, 1911, Columbus, Miss., U.S.
died Feb. 25, 1983, New York, N.Y.
U.S. playwright.
The son of a traveling salesman and a clergyman's daughter, he lived in St. Louis from age 12. After attending several colleges he graduated from the University of Iowa (1938). He first won recognition for his group of one-act plays American Blues (1939). Wider success came with The Glass Menagerie (1944) and mounted with A Streetcar Named Desire (1947, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1951), Camino Real (1953), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1958). His plays, which also include Suddenly Last Summer (1958; film, 1959) and The Night of the Iguana (1961; film, 1964), describe a world of repressed sexuality and violence thinly veiled by gentility. He also wrote the novel The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950; film, 1961) and the screenplays for The Rose Tattoo (1955, adapted from his 1951 play) and Baby Doll (1956). A clear-sighted chronicler of fragile illusions, he is regarded as one of the greatest American playwrights.