Happy Deathday Mr. Williams!

On February 25th in 1983, American playwright Tennessee Williams died at the age of 71 from a choking accident, involving the cap from an eye drop bottle. (Though- it was indicated that intoxication was a factor in his death).

Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his most recognized work “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1948. He won the Pulitzer again in 1955 for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. He was awarded the Tony Award for best play for his 1952 play “The Rose Tattoo”. And in 1980 he was even presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter!

Though Williams, like many writers, suffered with the vice of drinking and struggled with depression, the impact he had on American drama is invaluable and will never be forgotten. “The Glass Menagerie”, published in 1945, remains one of our very favorite plays to this day.

In 2009, Williams was inducted into the Poet’s Corner at St. John the Divine Episcopalian Church! If you’d like to read a little bit about that, just click the picture of his gravestone below.

You may notice something interesting about the post we have linked to the picture above…did you notice? That was our very first “deathday” post here at DWC!

Today, have a drink… hell… have two or three… (but be responsible), put your feet up, crack open some Tennessee Williams and get lost in the Southern Gothic recesses of your mind. Succumb to the drama.

Write on in peace, Mr. Williams!