Williams, Tennessee (1911–1983)

US dramatist. His work is characterized by fluent dialogue and searching analysis of the psychological deficiencies of his characters. His plays, usually set in the US Deep South against a background of decadence and degradation, include The Glass Menagerie (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), the last two of which earned Pulitzer Prizes.

Born in Columbus, Mississippi, Williams was educated at the universities of Missouri and Iowa. His first real success was The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire cemeted his reputation on Broadway. His other plays include Suddenly Last Summer (1958) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). After writing The Night of the Iguana (1961), also awarded a Pulitzer Prize, he entered a period of ill health, and few of his subsequent plays succeeded. However, his earlier work earned him a reputation as one of America's pre-eminent dramatists. Many of his plays have been made into successful theatrical films, several of which were directed memorably by US director Elia Kazan. Williams also published volumes of short stories, One Arm (1948) and Hard Candy (1954), as well as a novelette, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1950).