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Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III was an American playwright. He is considered among the three foremost playwrights of the 20th century American drama as well as Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller.

Born: March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, US.

Died: February 25, 1983, (aged 71), New York, US, he died by seconal poisoning.

Resting Place: Calvary cemetery, ST Louis Missouri, US.

Nationality: American.

Education; -University of Missouri -University of Lowa -Washington University in St.Lewis'

Years active: 1930-83

Partners: -Pancho Rodriguez y Gonzales. -Frank Meno -Robert Carroll

Sexuality: Homosexual.

CHILDHOOD Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in Columbus, Mississippi of English, Welsh, and Huguenot ancestry. His father was a traveling shoe salesman who became alcoholic and was frequently away from home. His mother, Edwina, was the daughter of Rose O. Dakin, a music teacher, and the Reverend Walter Dakin, an Episcopal priest from Illinois who was assigned to a parish in Clarksdale, Mississippi, shortly after Williams' birth. Williams had a complicated relationship with his father, a demanding salesman who preferred work instead of parenting. Williams described his childhood in Mississippi as pleasant and happy, but his life changed for him when his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. The carefree nature of his boyhood was stripped in his new urban home, and as a result, Williams turned inward and started to write.

His parent's marriage certainly didn't help. Often strained, the Williams home could be a tense place to live. "It was just a wrong marriage," Williams later wrote. However, although life was hard at home, most of the tense situations fueled Williams to write his amazing books and plays, for example his mother became the model for the foolish but strong Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, while his father represented the aggressive, driving Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Later Years At Tennessee father's urging, he took a job as a sales clerk with a shoe company. The future playwright hated the position, and again he turned to his writing, crafting poems and stories after work. Eventually, however, the depression took its toll and Williams suffered a nervous breakdown. Afterwards,Williams returned to St. Louis where he connected with several poets studying at Washington University. In 1937 he returned to college, enrolling at the University of Iowa. He graduated the following year.

The 1960s were a difficult time for Williams. His work received poor reviews and increasingly the playwright turned to alcohol and drugs as coping mechanisms. In 1969 his brother hospitalized him. Upon his release, Williams got right back to work and churned out several new plays as well as Memoirs in 1975, which told the story of his life and his afflictions, but he never fully escaped his demons. Surrounded by bottles of wine and pills, Williams died in a New York City hotel room on February 25, 1983.