Adding to the prestige of Mississippi as the home state of major American writers, Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, later moving to Nashville, then back to Mississippi, and finally settling with his family in St. Louis, Missouri. His early life was shaped, in part, by family difficulties, living first in various rectories of his minister grandfather, and later with his father, the manager of a shoe factory, in St. Louis.

After winning first place in a national writing competition, Williams struggled with both his studies and writing. He completed three years at the University of Missouri before joining the work force for a frustrating stint in a shoe company. Following a short term at Washington University in St. Louis, he eventually completed his B. A. at the University of Iowa in 1938. Continuing to compose his plays, Williams saw his early work produced in Tennessee, Missouri, and Massachusetts, but none made it to New York.

The 1945 New York production of Williams's The Glass Menagerie marked the beginning of his world-wide acclaim and the most prolific two decades of his life. Every other year Williams enjoyed one successful opening after another, matching and then eclipsing the success of Eugene O'Neil, America's only other major twentieth-century dramatist before him to achieve such success.

Tennessee Williams wore many hats: not only a playwright, Williams was also the author of essays, short stories, poetry and novels. But iy was always the drama that commanded his critical focus. Other notable and successful plays include A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), and Camino Real (1953).