Tennessee Williams Facts & Worksheets

Tennessee Williams was considered one of the most influential playwrights in 20th-century America. His most famous stage plays include A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Since his death, he has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

See the fact file below for more information on Tennessee Williams, or you can download our 21-page Tennessee Williams worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

• On March 26, 1911, Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi. He had a younger brother named Walter and a sister named Rose.
• He was born Thomas Lanier Williams III, but in 1939 he changed his name to “Tennessee” in honor of the state where his father was raised.
• Williams spent his early years in Clarkdale, where his grandpa was a minister, in a parsonage. 
• Williams studied journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
• Williams authored many plays, poetry, essays, and tales when he was at university, including “Beauty is the Word,” which he entered in writing contests to attempt to make some extra cash.
• Williams’ essay “Beauty is the Word” earned him the distinction of becoming the first freshman to ever get an honorable mention in a literary contest.
• Williams also attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he penned the play Me, Vashya, and the University of Iowa, from where he earned a degree in English.
• Williams moved to New Orleans in 1940 after receiving funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, where he worked on a Roosevelt administration initiative to aid citizens during the Great Depression.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND WORKS

• Before finding success with The Glass Menagerie (1944), Williams worked in professions that included theater usher to Hollywood screenplay. Williams reflected a low-class Southern family there who resided in a rental house. 
• The drama focuses on the failure of Tom’s pessimistic mother, Amanda, who has fantasies of a romantic past, and Laura, Tom’s shy and reclusive sister, who lives in a dream world with an assortment of glass animals.
• Williams’ following significant drama, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• It is an account of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern beauty whose polite pretenses fall short of the brutal realities embodied by her violent brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski.
• Williams’ subsequent work, Camino Real, was released in 1953 and featured Lord Byron and Don Quixote among its fictional town’s residents was a critical and commercial flop.
• Two years later, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It exposed the psychological lies dealing with relationships in the family of a wealthy Southern planter.
• The Night of the Iguana (1961) also won another Pulitzer, which tells the tale of an excommunicated minister turned fraudulent tour guide who finds God in a dilapidated Mexican Hotel.
• His other works include more serious-themed works: Suddenly Last Summer (1958), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), The Fugitive Kind (1959), In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969), Small Craft Warnings (1972), and many others.

CRITICISMS AND DIFFICULTIES

• Williams may have had his most difficult times during the 1960s because of some of the press’ harshest criticisms. More and more people condemned his plays for openly tackling taboo subjects, which had long drawn criticism.
• Frank Merlo, Williams’ lifelong friend, also died from incurable lung cancer around this time. 

“The future is called ‘perhaps,’ which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to allow that to scare you.” 

–Tennessee Williams

• Williams entered a period of depression and increased use of substances in the years after Merlo’s passing, leading to repeated hospitalizations and admissions to mental health facilities. 
• To alleviate Williams’ depression, Dr. Max Jacobson prescribed increasing doses of amphetamines. To treat his sleeplessness further, the doctor mixed them with prescriptions for the antidepressant Seconal. 
• Williams joined the Catholic Church after being persuaded by his brother, a Roman Catholic, even though he subsequently said he never took his conversion seriously.
• Williams was discovered dead in his hotel room at the Hotel Elysée in New York City on February 25, 1983, at 71.

RECOGNITION

• Williams was inducted into the New York Cathedral of Saint John the Divine’s Poets’ Corner in late 2009.
• To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, 250 of Williams’ personal belongings were on display at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin from February 1 through July 21, 2011.
• The “Becoming Tennessee Williams” exhibition featured a selection of Williams’ writings, letters, photos, and artwork.

“The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?” 

~ Tennessee Williams ~

• Williams was among the first recipients of the Rainbow Honor Walk in 2014, a street of fame in San Francisco’s Castro district honoring LGBTQ people who have “made significant achievements in their profession.”
• Artists Nick Shackleford and Augustin J. Correro established The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans the following year. The non-profit theater group is the first year-round theatrical company focusing solely on Tennessee Williams’ works.
• A Tennessee Williams Festival has also been celebrated annually in St. Louis, Missouri, that began in 2016. It includes a main performance, as well as related activities like book talks and new plays influenced by his work. A Streetcar Named Desire was shown during the 2018 festival.

OTHER WORKS

• First plays: Candles to the Sun (1936), Fugitive Kind (1937)
• Final Play: In Masks Outrageous and Austere (1983)
• Novels: The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950) and Moise and the World of Reason (1975)
• First screen and teleplay: The Glass Menagerie (1950)
• Final screen and teleplays: The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (1957), Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966), Boom! (1968)
• First Short story: “The Vengeance of Nitocris” (1928)
• Final short story: It Happened the Day the Sun Rose (1981)
• Selected one-act plays: American Blues (1948), 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and Other Plays (1946 and 1953)
• Other works: Orpheus Descending, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, Memoirs (1975)

Tennessee Williams Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Tennessee Williams across 21 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Tennessee Williams, considered one of the most influential playwrights in 20th-century America. His most famous stage plays include A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Tennessee Williams Facts
2. About Tennessee Williams
3. Artistic Expertise
4. A Film Review
5. A Pulitzer Poster
6. Promoting the Play
7. The Ending…
8. One-Act Play
9. Poetic Image
10. The Tennessee Way
11. Making a Good Story

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Tennessee Williams?

Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams III (1911-1983), was an American playwright and author. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in American history and is known for his insightful and often controversial plays, which explore themes of desire, loneliness, and the human condition. Some of his most famous works include “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and “The Glass Menagerie.”

What are some key themes in Tennessee Williams’ works?

Tennessee Williams’ works often revolve around themes of desire, illusion versus reality, loneliness, and the fragility of human relationships. He frequently delved into the complexities of human sexuality and explored the destructive consequences of repressed desires. Williams also examined the societal pressures and expectations that affect individuals, particularly women, and the psychological struggles they face.

Did Tennessee Williams receive any awards or recognition for his work?

Yes, Tennessee Williams received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, first for “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1948 and then for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 1955. He also received the Tony Award for Best Play for “The Rose Tattoo” in 1952 and “Night of the Iguana” in 1962. Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1979, and his contributions to American literature and theater continue to be celebrated today.

How did Tennessee Williams’ personal life influence his work?

Tennessee Williams’ personal life had a significant impact on his work. His turbulent relationships, struggles with mental health, and experiences growing up in the South informed the themes and characters in his plays. Williams often drew inspiration from his own family dynamics, including his complicated relationship with his mother. Additionally, his exploration of sexuality and desire in his works reflected his own experiences as a gay man in a time when homosexuality was often stigmatized. Overall, Williams’ personal struggles and triumphs greatly shaped the depth and emotional resonance of his plays.

What are some of Tennessee Williams’ most famous plays?

• “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947): The story of Blanche DuBois and her conflict with her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.
• “The Glass Menagerie” (1944): A semi-autobiographical play about a fragile young woman named Laura and her overbearing mother, Amanda.
• “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1955): A family drama revolving around a Southern family’s conflicts and secrets during a birthday celebration.
• “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1958): A one-act play exploring themes of truth, denial, and the power of memory.
• “The Night of the Iguana” (1961): Set in Mexico, the play delves into the struggles of a defrocked priest and his encounters with a group of eccentric characters.

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