Tennessee Williams Timeline
Tennessee Williams Born
Thomas Lanier Williams—later known as Tennessee—is born in Columbus, Mississippi. He is the second child of Cornelius Williams and Edwina Dakin Williams, both descendants of well-to-do Southern families.
Williams Survives Diphtheria
Five-year-old Williams contracts diphtheria. He nearly dies, and his legs remain paralyzed for nearly two years.
Family Moves to St. Louis
The Williams family moves to St. Louis, Missouri. A year later, their third and last child, Williams's younger brother Dakin, is born.
"Can A Good Wife Be A Good Sport?"
Sixteen-year-old Williams enters a writing contest in The Smart Set magazine and wins third place, and a prize of $5, for his essay "Can A Good Wife Be a Good Sport?" It is his entry into the literary world.
University of Missouri
Williams enters the University of Missouri, the first of three colleges he attends in his university career. In college he is given the nickname "Tennessee," his father's home state, for his thick Southern drawl.
Universal Shoe Company
At his father's insistence, Williams withdraws from university and takes a job at the Universal Shoe Company, his father's employer. He works for the shoe company for about six years. During that time Williams enrolls at Washington University in St. Louis, but then drops out again.
University of Iowa, First Play
Williams enrolls at the University of Iowa. He makes his dramatic debut with the production of Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay in Memphis. He follows that up with the plays Candles to the Sun and The Fugitive Kind, both produced by the Mummers of St. Louis. Also this year, Williams's older sister Rose is hospitalized for schizophrenia.
Graduates from College
Williams graduates from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Grants for Playwriting
To support his playwriting, Williams receives a $100 prize from the Group Theatre and a $1,000 Rockefeller Grant. He moves to New Orleans and changes his name to Tennessee.
Battle of Angels
His play Battle of Angels is produced in Boston and New York City.
Moves to NYC
Williams moves to New York City and spends most of the year supporting himself with odd jobs, such as bellhop, elevator operator, and movie usher.
Rose Receives a Lobotomy
In an attempt to cure her daughter's schizophrenia, Edwina Dakin Williams volunteers Rose for one of the first lobotomies performed in the United States. As a result of the operation, Rose is stuck in a permanent state of semi-consciousness. Williams resents his parents for the rest of his life for allowing her to have the experimental operation.
At the same time, Williams takes a job as a screenwriter for MGM Studios in Los Angeles. They reject the script he produces but give him the rights to use the work as he pleases. He adapts it into a stage play entitled The Glass Menagerie.
The Glass Menagerie—First Success
The Glass Menagerie—a play about an overbearing Southern mother, her emotionally fragile daughter, and her resentful son—premieres in Chicago to positive critical reception. Three months later it opens in New York and receives the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Williams starts a romantic relationship with Frank Merlo, his secretary. On 3 December, A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway, starring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Jessica Tandy as fluttery, fragile Blanche Dubois. The play earns Williams a Pulitzer Prize and turns him into a star of the theater world.
Summer and Smoke
The play Summer and Smoke opens on Broadway.
A Streetcar Named Desire Moves to Film
The film version of A Streetcar Named Desire premieres, starring all of the original Broadway cast members except for Jessica Tandy, who is replaced by the actress Vivien Leigh. The movie is a hit and earns Academy Awards for all of the main actors, except Marlon Brando.
The Rose Tattoo
The Rose Tattoo opens on Broadway. Williams wins the Tony Award for Best Play.
Camino Real
Camino Real opens on Broadway. It is a critical flop and runs for just sixty performances, but Williams considers it one of his best works.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens on Broadway. It is a hit and earns Williams another Pulitzer and Tony.
Baby Doll
Williams writes the screenplay for Baby Doll, a movie about an underage bride whose husband has promised her father that she will remain a virgin until the age of twenty. Time magazine calls it "just possibly the dirtiest American-made motion picture that has ever been legally exhibited."31
Orpheus Descending, Psychoanalysis
On 21 March, Williams's play Orpheus Descending opens on Broadway and runs for just sixty-eight performances. Williams falls into a depression following the play's poor reviews and undergoes psychoanalysis. After starting therapy, he writes the one-act play Suddenly Last Summer, about a woman who goes insane after witnessing her cousin be brutally murdered because he is homosexual.
Sweet Bird of Youth
Sweet Bird of Youth opens on Broadway.
Period of Adjustment
Period of Adjustment opens on Broadway.
The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana opens on Broadway. Williams wins another Tony Award for Best Play. The play turns out to be Williams's last critical success for a decade.
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, Frank Merlo Dies
On 16 January, Williams's play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore opens on Broadway. Later that year, his longtime partner Frank Merlo dies of lung cancer. Williams falls into a depression that lasts for years.
The Seven Descents
The Seven Descents of Myrtle opens on Broadway. It is a critical bomb and closes after barely two-dozen performances. This play begins a streak of several poorly-received plays.
Nervous Breakdown
Williams suffers a nervous breakdown. His younger brother Dakin has him committed to a psychiatric hospital in St. Louis, where Williams remains until December.
Small Craft Warnings—Final Success
The play Small Craft Warnings opens off Broadway and runs for two hundred performances. It is Williams's first commercial success in a decade, and proves to be the last of his career.
Out Cry
Out Cry opens on Broadway and closes after twelve performances.
Publishes Memoirs
Williams publishes Memoirs, in which he writes frankly about his addictions, family crises, and homosexuality.
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale opens on Broadway, but then closes after two-dozen performances.
Vieux Carré
Vieux Carré opens on Broadway and closes after only six performances.
Clothes for a Summer Hotel
Clothes for a Summer Hotel opens on Broadway and runs for fourteen performances.
Tennessee Williams Dies
Tennessee Williams chokes to death on a medicine bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysée in New York City. He is buried in St. Louis, Missouri.
