Tennessee Williams
Herb Snitzer/Getty Images
Tennessee Williams is considered one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century, but there was nothing too dramatic about his death.
Born in Mississippi in 1911, Thomas Lanier Williams suffered a near-fatal bout of diphtheria as a child that permanently affected his health. His family, disappointed in his son’s ill-health and overall weak disposition, became hostile toward him. Williams’ dysfunctional family became the inspiration for his later, award-winning work as a playwright.
In high school and college, his short stories and articles were published in school and local papers. He began entering them into contests for supplemental income while he worked at a shoe factory. Hating the routine of factory work, he vowed to write even more so that he could leave the traditional workforce.
When he was 24 years old, he had not yet managed to make enough money to leave the 9-5 life and suffered a nervous breakdown. Losing his job as a result, he recovered and went back to college — hopping from university to university for the next few years.
He ultimately ended up at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York City, where he discovered his tribe of friends and mentors, as well as the genre his writing was best-suited for — theatre.
His time in New York City also helped him reconcile his homosexuality, something he had never even thought to try to face when he lived in the South.
Once he began writing plays in earnest, he adopted the name Tennessee Williams and the rest is history.
Library of CongressAndy Warhol (left) talking with Tennessee Williams in 1967.
On Feb. 25, 1983, Williams was found dead in the Hotel Elysée in New York City, where he had been living for quite some time. He was 71 years old.
The cause of Williams’ death at first seemed like pure misfortune: he had choked on the cap of an eye drop bottle that he used frequently. He’d gotten into the habit of popping the cap between his two front teeth as he tipped his head back to administer the drops — this time he had swallowed the cap by mistake.
Later, the coroner revealed that drugs — not just bad luck — were likely at play in his death. Barbiturates such as Seconal, mixed with alcohol, would have suppressed his gag reflex, making it much harder for him to dislodge the cap from his windpipe as he began to choke.
Nevertheless, despite Williams’ legendary insight into human tragedy, he probably never saw that coming.
