Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography [Hardcover]

Dakin Williams (Author), Shepherd Mead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1983

This is a new edition with an afterward by Michael Ritchie dealing with the life and murder of Tennessee Williams

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tennessee Williams' less-famous brother has dastardly plots to sell." -- Miami Herald, August 5, 2000

"The book is a reprinting of Dakin Williams' previous book, "Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography," -- Belleville News Democrat, Feb 18,2000

About the Author

Dakin Williams, brother of the playwright Tennessee Williams, is retired attorney and author living in Collinsville, Illinois. He has uncovered evidence that indicates his brother's death in 1983 was murder and not accidental. A new chapter has been added to the original book co-authored with the late Shephrd Mead that details this evidence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Arbor House; 1st edition (January 20, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877954887
• ISBN-13: 978-0877954880
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lifelong Contest Between Demons and Angels, March 23, 2003

By 

Morton Stelling (Mukilteo, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography (Hardcover)

If you want to understand the making of great literature, I recommend reading this biography of Tennessee Williams. Written by the playwright's brother Dakin and best selling author Shepherd Mead, this book provides an unparalleled look at the details of Williams' personal and professional life -- and the broad context in which he lived it. It makes the case that the creation of literary art is immeasurably complex, incalculably random, and probably painful. A successful author must do infinitely more than "Pass Go and Collect $200".

In this biography we learn of Williams' unbelievable drive to express himself through the written word. With an inborn skill and restless energy, he strove to express his innermost feelings, and he did so with an honesty that stripped naked his tortured soul.

To Williams, life was a contest between the demons and angels that dwell within us all. It was a competition between the noblest human aspirations and the undisciplined indulgence of the basest human urges. But more than this, Williams drew his material from acute yet sympathetic observations of the entire human race, from the mighty to the dregs of society. To this, Williams added a creative use of symbols more powerful in eliciting emotions and comprehension than a mere reconstruction of graphic reality.

Lest one think all of this came easily for Williams, his daily routine usually began with writing at the crack of dawn, fueled by strong black coffee, and proceeded uninterrupted until lunch time. Ideas for plays often began as poems, evolved through one-act plays, and then grew into full fledged films and dramas -- a process that could span even decades and then conclude with new lines written during rehearsal.

One final note: Williams' success also depended on the fortunate and unfortunate happenings of life, happenings beyond a grand plan -- chance meetings with producers, directors, actors and actresses who were perfectly suited -- or incompetent -- for projecting the messages Williams committed to paper. All of us depend at some point on "the kindness of strangers."

If you want to know more about these things, you should read this truly "intimate biography" of Tennessee Williams, one of the world's greatest and most honored dramatists, from his birth in Mississippi as the son of a traveling salesman for a men's clothing company, to the unnatural end of his life in a New York City luxury apartment.

4 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Biography About A Highly Overrated Alcoholic, Barbituate Swallowing Drug Addict!!, November 3, 2005

By 

John Baranyai "Book Nerd And Ex High School G... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography (Hardcover)

This book was written by Dakin Williams who was the brother of Tennesee Williams. Dakin describes his brother's early attempts at trying to achieve Literary Fame , his troubled relationship with his mother and his inner demons which made him succumb to the temption of alcohol and drugs. Dakin is of the belief that his brother was murdered. I gues this is to be expected when you have trouble opening up the plastic top of a bottle of Seconal which leads to a most unique departure from this "Mortal Coil" I give this book 5 stars because no doubt every Literary Critic who loves plays about hysterical, nuerotic, emotionally disturbed and needy characters will love this offfering.