“The world is violent and mercurial--it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love--love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.” -- Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Tennessee Williams (3/26/1911 - 2/25/1983), born Thomas Lanier Williams III. His plays are impossible not to mention when talking about the history of American theater: "The Glass Menagerie" (1944), "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947), "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" (1955), "Orpheus Descending" (1957), "Sweet Bird Of Youth" (1959), and "The Night Of The Iguana" (1961).
Williams' works broke taboos, picturing rape, madness and human brutality among other elements woven into mostly Southern gothic themes. His depression and alcoholism later in his career reduced the quality and quantity of his work, but could never detract from his profound contribution to the American stage and film.
(photo: Williams at his desk, by Alfred Eisenstaedt, The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock)
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