“We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.”

American playwright and screenwriter, 20th century

Tennessee Williams was an American playwright and screenwriter of the 20th century. Thomas Lanier Williams III, he is widely regarded alongside Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller as one of the three leading figures in American drama. He wrote for both the stage and the screen, and his name is most closely tied to modern American theater. His reputation rests on the enduring place his plays hold in the canon of 20th-century drama.