by John Lahr
mental illness of, 54, 57–58, 75, 78, 121, 359–60, 653n
as model for Laura, 54, 367–69
as model for many of TW’s characters, 367, 683n, 716n
St. Just as co-trustee for, 161, 591, 592, 594
sexual repression of, 54, 58, 78, 204, 366
shock treatments of, 362
TW on, 36–38, 363–65, 367
TW’s devotion to, 365, 369, 683n
TW’s guilt toward, 357, 365, 366, 367–68, 401, 544, 564
TW’s visits to, 363–64, 367
TW’s will and, 591
TW’s youthful callousness toward, 365–66
Williams, Tennessee, 17, 50, 76, 84, 102, 108, 142, 149, 154, 161, 177, 189, 213, 220, 224, 234, 260, 287, 327, 406, 419, 450, 469, 493, 499, 510, 524, 536, 542, 575, 576, 581
artistic vanity of, 409
automobile accident of, 235–36
awards and honors of, 150, 160, 258, 492, 554, 567
burial at sea desired by, 589
cancer fears of, 106, 111, 114, 283, 455
Catholic conversion of, 491, 704n
childhood of, 34–36, 37, 38, 57
coming-out of, 521, 545
competitiveness of, 311, 315, 442–43
creative exhaustion feared by, 171–73, 197, 254–55, 282, 283, 285, 375, 390–91, 395, 415, 439, 442–43, 472–73, 490, 496, 508, 520
as creator of new dramatic style, 65–67
on critics, 686n
“death act” of, 554–55
death of, 582, 586–88
depressions of, 153, 170, 174, 281, 284–85, 349, 372, 373–74, 472–74, 482–85, 490–91, 494–97, 506, 508
diaries and notebooks of, xiii, 11, 20–21, 29, 31, 48, 55, 57, 65, 68, 78–79, 80, 82, 88, 92, 114, 115, 139, 175, 180–81, 183, 201, 214, 240, 246, 261, 271, 279, 280, 283, 284–85, 303, 324–25, 329, 345, 349, 354, 361, 365, 366, 588, 621n
divided self of, 35, 99, 148–49, 311, 443, 533, 563, 601, 636
drama as chosen genre of, 34, 621n
drinking by, 225, 236, 279–80, 282, 285, 289, 324, 346, 349, 390, 447, 473, 494, 511, 568–69
emotional neediness of, 81, 88, 375, 377, 601
fame of, 66–67, 149–50, 151–52, 155, 172, 375, 377
finances of, 71
first homosexual experience of, 80
as “ghost,” 554, 555, 625n, 714n, 715n
guilt felt by, 96, 357, 365, 366, 367–68, 379–80, 401, 458, 544, 564
heterosexual experience of, 79
homophobic attacks on, 534
homosexuality of, 79, 82–83, 521, 532–34
last days of, 583–86
loneliness of, 80–81, 120–21, 139, 236, 283, 311, 420
and loss of audience, 475, 477, 482, 496, 545
love associated with loss by, 282–83
memoir of, see Memoirs (Williams)
mental breakdowns of, 56–57, 474
morbid shyness of, 54–55, 82, 92, 169, 631n
as outcast, 221, 223–25, 242, 254
paintings by, 278, 571, 572
paranoia of, 345, 379–80, 388, 406, 417, 431, 495–96, 497, 512, 515, 517–18, 520, 557, 585
physical illnesses of, 56, 81, 105–6, 114, 279, 282–83, 284, 572, 633n, 669n
plays as emotional biographies of, xiv, 33, 208–9, 254, 255, 263, 269, 631n–32n
prescription drug abuse by, 236, 279–80, 285, 314, 324, 349, 396, 420, 431–32, 447, 474, 478, 496, 501, 502, 507, 509, 510–11, 585, 587, 588, 704n
psychoanalysis of, 345, 346–47, 348–56, 369, 370, 371, 372–73, 375, 377, 378, 395, 402, 474, 494, 684n
in quest for redemption through art, 19–20, 29, 60, 66, 96–97, 183, 332–33, 376, 446, 564, 602
in reconnection with outside world, 521
Rockefeller Fellowship of, 366
Romanticism of, 29, 66
as self-described monster, 377
self-envy of, 490, 520
self-invention of, 65–66
self-loathing of, 236, 285, 311, 330, 377, 378, 415, 485–86, 554
senescence of, 534–35, 580
sensuality linked with impurity by, 54, 74
sexuality/creativity conundrum of, 99, 119, 636n
sexually repressed youth of, 19, 54, 77, 78
sexual promiscuity of, 30, 71, 76, 78, 82, 83–89, 94–95, 153–54, 244
sexual theology of, 96, 99
Shubert Theatre memorial for, 588–89
sixties depression (“Stoned Age”) of, 477, 482–85, 490–91, 494–97, 506, 508, 514
spiritual and emotional exhaustion of, 329–30, 376, 377, 394–95, 397, 446, 482–84, 528
and struggle between creativity and self-destruction, 285, 443–44, 488–89, 564
“Tennessee” chosen as first name by, 18
two funerals of, 589–90, 591
will of, 528, 590–92, 593–94
writing habits of, 33–34, 35, 640n
writing as escape from family for, 58–59
writing as self-cannibalization of, 288–89, 329–30, 371, 376, 377–78, 395, 415, 438, 447, 485–86, 564, 571, 601–2
writing as survival tactic for, 547
Williams, Thomas Lanier, II, 38, 40
Williams College, 243
Williams Estate:
author first contacted by, 14
New Yorker profile on shenanigans of, 15, 601
see also Rose Williams Trust
Williams family:
background of, 38–39, 49
as prototypes of TW’s characters, 35
Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? (Williams), 506
Wilson, Earl, 567
Winchell, Walter, 222, 275–76
Windham, Donald, 14, 278, 288, 636n
and Pancho’s jealousy, 112–13
and publication of TW’s letters, 546–57, 714n
TW’s letters to, xiii, 11, 31–32, 48, 86, 90–91, 95, 100, 104, 105, 106, 125, 133, 150, 154, 176, 367
TW’s relationship with, 1, 62, 669n
on TW’s sexual promiscuity, 84–85, 87
You Touched Me! and, 1, 714n
Winemiller, Alma (char.), 73–74, 79, 81, 82, 95, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 120, 122, 385
Wingfield, Amanda (char.), 5, 8, 10, 32–33, 51–53, 55, 578
Edwina as model for, 156–57, 355–56, 627n
Taylor on, 7
Wingfield, Laura (char.), 8, 10, 52, 54, 55, 59–60
Rose as model for, 54, 367–69
Wingfield, Tom/Narrator (char.), 2–3, 7, 12, 32, 52, 59–60, 65, 73, 88, 368–69, 578
“Wingfields of America, The” (Williams), 39–40
Winters, Shelley, 437–38, 694n
Wood, Audrey, 3, 235, 343, 400, 406, 482, 485, 492, 497, 509, 510
on Battle of Angels fiasco, 23, 26
Camino Real and, 258
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and, 284, 285, 290–91, 294, 296, 302, 310–11, 312–13
and Dakin’s power of attorney, 517–18
Glass Menagerie and, 1–2, 4, 12–13, 33, 62, 111–12, 187–88
and Liebling’s death, 516–17
Merlo and, 452–53
Night of the Iguana and, 417, 433
Orpheus Descending and, 281, 289–90, 330
Out Cry and, 511–12, 514, 515, 517
and Pancho’s relationship with TW, 110, 111, 112, 125, 169, 639n, 640n
Rose Tattoo and, 176, 193, 195–96, 198, 201–2, 203, 217–18
Selznick and, 126–28, 656n
Streetcar and, 124–25, 134, 136, 137–38, 184–85
stroke of, 571
Summer and Smoke and, 114, 115, 116, 124, 125, 162–63
Sweet Bird of Youth and, 386, 399
as TW’s agent, 2, 16, 30, 74, 111, 468–70, 516, 519–20, 570, 582, 599, 619n, 639n, 640n, 708n
TW’s break with, 512–13, 518, 519–20, 571, 709n
TW’s correspondence with, 2, 29–30, 49, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 95, 105, 109, 114, 133, 134, 137–38, 155, 156, 158, 16
2–63, 173, 176, 195–96, 201–2, 203, 211, 217–18, 235–36, 237, 245, 252, 299, 302, 315, 322, 325–26, 337, 350, 373–74, 381–82, 395, 412, 415–16, 419–21, 425, 429, 460, 466, 467, 468–70, 502, 506, 507–8, 514, 518, 619n, 621n, 623n, 625n, 630n, 656n, 684n, 692n, 707n
TW’s duplicity toward, 516–17
TW’s paranoia about, 512, 515, 517–18, 520
TW’s talent recognized by, 2
Wood, William, 2
World War II, 475
Merlo in, 165–66
TW and, 30–31
V-E day in, 64
Yale Drama School, 243, 262
Yeats, William Butler, 443
York, Michael, 539
“You and I” (Williams), 346
Young, Stark, 32–33, 61–62, 64
You Touched Me! (Williams and Windham), 1, 68, 75–77, 76, 86, 714n
Zeffirelli, Franco, 539–40
Zelda (Mitford), 561
ALSO BY JOHN LAHR
Biography
Honky Tonk Parade: New Yorker Profiles of Show People
The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan (editor)
Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles
Sinatra: The Artist and the Man
Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilisation:
Backstage with Barry Humphries
The Orton Diaries (editor)
Coward the Playwright
Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton
Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr
Criticism
Light Fantastic: Adventures in Theatre
Life-Show: How to See Theater in Life and Life in Theater (with Jonathan Price)
Astonish Me: Adventures in Contemporary Theater
Acting-Out America: Essays on Modern Theatre
Up Against the Fourth Wall: Essays on Modern Theater
A Casebook on Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming (edited with Anthea Lahr)
Novels
Hot to Trot
The Autograph Hound
Plays
Elaine Stritch at Liberty (with Elaine Stritch)
The Manchurian Candidate (adaptation)
The Bluebird of Unhappiness: A Woody Allen Revue (adaptation)
Diary of a Somebody (adaptation)
Accidental Death of an Anarchist (adaptation)
Copyright © 2014 by John Lahr
All rights reserved
First Edition
Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all the copyright notices,
pages 731–39 constitute an extension of the copyright page.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
W. W. Norton Special Sales at [email protected] or 800-233-4830
Photo Research Editor: Ann Schneider
Book design by JAMdesign
Production manager: Julia Druskin
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Lahr, John, 1941– author.
Tennessee Williams : mad pilgrimage of
the flesh / John Lahr. — First edition.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-02124-0 hardcover
1. Williams, Tennessee, 1911–1983. 2. Dramatists,
American—20th century—Biography. I. Title.
PS3545.I5365Z7326 2014
812'.54—dc23
[B]
2014022281
ISBN 978-0-393-24712-1 (e-book)
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
