[Music] tennessee williams during the 1940s and 50s this talented tormented writer created some of the most memorable characters on stage and screen audiences were captivated by the macho stanley kowalski in a streetcar named desire and the tempestuous maggie of cat on a hot tin roof like his characters tennessee williams was passionate volatile and wicked a man who agonized over his guilty secrets and struggled to survive another day nervous are going to live forever hot pills are not filled that's right forever on this episode of mysteries and scandals we'll hear about tennessee's urgent need to right and his losing battle with addiction when he eject himself with speed he couldn't sleep at night so he had to get morphine and sleeping pills i asked him why he did that why he at the top of his form franklin and he said well when i don't have this meaning the writing i have this we'll also discover why audiences rejected this world famous writer at a time when williams was most desperate for approval his later plays were so different from the earlier hits nine out of ten of them were were killed by the critics and will reveal the devastating physical consequences created by tennessee's craving for booze and pills they put him in this psychiatric ward and said that he was near death from drugs i have no doubt that he wanted to die because you mentioned it frequently enough i'm aj benzer join me as we wrestle with the demons of a torture genius what drove tennessee william to the brink of despair and was his bizarre death a suicide an accident or murder [Music] [Music] on february 25th 1983 tennessee williams was found dead inside the hotel elysee in new york city headlines reported that the 71 year old playwright mysteriously choked during the night williams biographer lyle leverage this playwright who was in disgrace has become in death more popular than he ever was in his life he was born thomas lanier williams in columbus mississippi on march 26 1911. williams was the second of three children of cornelius coffin and edwina dakin williams theater historian allen hale he came from the dysfunctional family of all time his father was a lusty loud man who had been a military school graduate and his experience with women had been the kind you might get in the army young tom was a shy sensitive kid who nearly died from diphtheria at age five but even after his recovery williams never regained a sense of well-being he was a complete hypochondriac due to his mother i think who was always giving the children pills of one kind or another he was a man who who never really left his family he would be running away from them but he always came back to them in his thoughts he had an escape into his writing that was another world that he could enter although williams showed skill in creative writing he was never much of a student at his father's insistence 21 year old tom left college and went to work as a clerk at the international shoe company in 1932. williams referred to this part of his life as living death were only two great things in his life that mattered right to the very end one was the love of his writing and the love of his sister despite william's affection for his older sister rose he couldn't understand her erratic behavior she became hysterical at times when she fight with her father rose just went further and further downhill in 1936 27 year old rose was diagnosed as schizophrenic and spent most of her adult life in institutions to cope with the family crisis tom retreated further into his writing through high school and college tom earned recognition for his poetry short stories and plays and in 1939 a 28 year old writer created the pen name tennessee williams a few months later tennessee won his first national playwriting contest the prize 100 bucks tennessee was also introduced to a person who turned out to be the most important influence of his career legendary new york literary agent audrey wood she became more like a mother to him she answered his mail and paid his bills and was responsible for a lot of his contracts i'm sure one of those contracts took tennessee to hollywood in 1943. audrey arranged for 32 year old williams to write a script for screen star lana turner he had been living on a couple of bucks and bumming his cigarettes and she said uh you're going to get 250. he said a month she said no darling a week while working at mgm williams pitched an idea to studio executives for a movie the gentleman caller but they rejected that they didn't think anybody'd want to see a movie about a little crippled girl for tennessee williams art imitated life the story of the disfigured girl was inspired by his sister rose who underwent a lobotomy in 1943. dakin williams is the brother of tennessee and rose williams because she was no longer cursing and screaming and flailing about it was calm but she was living in exactly the year 1943 that the lobotomy took place it caused time to stop for her tennessee was devastated by his sister's condition and writing helped him cope williams turned his rejected screenplay idea into a stage play called the glass menagerie tennessee's friend for 40 years jane smith she was his muse you know he he wrote for her he and later years he wanted to write something successful to be sure rose was properly taken care of forever the glass menagerie was william's first masterpiece in 1945 just five days after his 34th birthday menagerie opened on broadway the show won the new york drama critics award for best player of the season unfortunately tennessee was convinced he wouldn't survive long enough to see the completion of his next play a streetcar named desire william's friend director george keithley that was when he'd been told that he had a heart attack i mean that he had a bad heart as he was riding a streetcar and so he hurried to get streetcar done and you could feel the rush of energy tennessee's writing was always charged with emotion but that same passion eventually led williams to a dark lonely fate straight ahead why was tennessee's work too controversial for hollywood and what made williams fear that somebody was out to kill him in 1946 tennessee williams was the toast of broadway but success was bittersweet for the 35 year old playwright william's greatest inspiration was his fragile sister rose who was locked away in a mental institution tennessee's greatest fear was that he was doomed to suffer the same fate as rose well he often said that he wrote to keep from going mad and i think he had that fear all his life in the winter of 47 36 year old williams returned to the great white way riding a streetcar named desire actress kim hunter played the pivotal role of stella on stage and screen december of 1947 we had one of the worst snowstorms blizzards that new yorkers had ever experienced not a bus was running cabs couldn't cars no way could move we had a lineup of people outside the theater waiting to know how many tickets would be available williams won a pulitzer prize for a streetcar named desire subjects like life and death and sex those hadn't been done america was still doing a lot of drawing room comedies so this was very shocking all right let's have a look i once asked tennessee what would you say is the theme of your play and he said well i think basically it's a plea for the understanding of the delicate people [Music] who do you think you are pat queens that certainly was blanche and to a great extent that was tennessee himself being delicate wasn't the only trait tennessee shared with blanche williams also shared his character's taste for younger men journalist irv cups in it he was proud of the fact he was gay and flaunted it whenever he could he said that he was so gay that he once made love to a fire hydrant after looking for love in all the wrong places 36 year old tennessee williams finally met mr wright in 1947 a 25 year old ex-sailor named frank merlo frank merlot was a great anchor in his life really tennessee was very attached to frankie and they did go to sicily and they did have a great and wonderful time and out of that emerged the rose tattoo the rose tattoo opened on broadway in 1951. that same year 40 year old williams saw his play streetcar turn into a movie i always advised my friends to leave before they at the before the five minutes before the end or they're likely to find the whole meaning of the picture contradictory [Music] williams was steaming when the studio bosses started screwing around with streetcar first they changed the ending then they omitted plot points considered too shocking for hollywood you see in the play the character blanche dubois reveals that the young man she married was gay but when the film came out in 1951 her husband was simply referred to as sensitive vivian lee played blanche in the movie and thought the cop-out was ridiculous i remember when vivian read it she said oh my god she said you mean i have to say you disgust me because you're a poet in 1955 williams won his second pulitzer prize for the steamy play cat on the hockton roof but the pressures of success weighed heavily on the 44 year old i started drinking after after captain hopkins rose i discovered suddenly i felt depressed in europe and i wrote david down there but i yeah i discovered i couldn't write without some stimulus if williams was looking for stimulants he certainly found them in hollywood tennessee's screenplay for the 1956 flick baby doll was a comedy about youthful lust and revenge carol baker starred in the title role baker remembers the film's controversial movie poster you have a grown woman curled up in a baby's crib sucking her thumb what kind of a better campaign ad could you have than that actor eli wallach co-starred in baby doll cardinal spellman says any catholic who who goes to see this film is in danger of being excommunicated and when he was asked have you seen the film he said no if the water supply is poisoned i don't drink the water but the boycott only helped sell tickets william's script for baby babydoll was even nominated for an oscar williams took his craft very seriously his writing was deeply personal and he empathized with all of his characters he knew how you felt he knew if you were suffering because he suffered a great deal sure tennessee williams was the top this profession but by 1961 his personal life was on the brink of collapse when we come back drinking drugs alienation and death how did tennessee williams lose everything he held near and dear in 1961 tennessee williams celebrated the opening of his 11th broadway play knight of the iguana the 50 year old playwright enjoyed fame fans and fortune but his relationship with long-time lover frank merlo was on the skids partly because williams couldn't stay faithful williams was as somebody said the last of the solid gold bohemians tennessee and frank split up in the winter of 61. a few months later merlot was diagnosed with lung cancer the couple reunited and tennessee cared for frank until his painful death in 1963. william slipped into a deep depression which he later referred to as his stoned age tennessee relied on alcohol amphetamines and sedatives just to make it through the day i find that wine at night is a he got in the clutches of a so-called doctor feel good that dr max jacobson who would mix up these potions which were supposed to be mostly vitamins but were probably mostly speed by the late 60s tennessee's writing style had evolved but reviewers and audiences weren't ready for the change one critic even commented that williams had committed creative suicide he said i've written my operas why can't i write my chamber music why can't i write some little things each one was personal and special unto itself each play in later years his place just got damned all over the place by the spring of 1969 57 year old williams was depressed disillusioned and completely addicted to prescription drugs dakin williams suggested his brother turned to religion amazingly tennessee was baptized in a catholic church a few days later but no salvation was in sight williams became so disoriented that he was unable to walk more than a few steps without collapsing finally dakin convinced tennessee to check himself into barnes hospital in st louis they told me he said mr williams your brother is dying of acute drug poisoning and so uh i knew i had to keep him in there but the playwright didn't want to stay williams tried to leave so physicians confined him to the hospital cycle so they dried him out from the drugs and it did cause him to have about three heart attacks and he always blamed dakin for that but actually dakin was right dakin saved his life in december of 1969 58 year old tennessee was released from barnes hospital williams was physically weak mentally frayed and spiritually bankrupt even worse the only part of tennessee that seemed dried out was his well of creativity when he said to me at one point i'm a washed-up playwright baby he was paranoid beyond the pale and you could hardly say hello to him without him snapping at you in 1971 williams fell off the wagon and vented his frustration on one of the most significant people in his life the agent who helped build his career audrey wood and tennessee world honor you you [ __ ] you've wanted to get rid of me from the beginning you've been against me from the beginning you're fired throughout the 70s williams alienated himself from loyal friends as he tried to reclaim success but tennessee's hopes were dashed in 1980 when critics ripped apart his play clothes for a summer hotel and he got seriously damaged from the reviews it just broke him he wasn't writing his his health was failing now he would sit on the edge of his bed for hours just sit there i think when his career started to take a deep fall he became very very mournful and very disgusted with himself and almost ready to commit suicide and many people believe that's exactly what williams did on the night of february 24th 1983. coming up did tennessee williams take his own life if so why is tennessee's brother convinced that the 71 year old playwright was murdered [Music] by the early 1980s acclaimed playwright tennessee williams lost both his creative spark and his legion of devoted fans the gifted writer who once shared his poetic insights with millions was now virtually forgotten at age 71 tennessee williams suffered from drug induced paranoia he considered himself all washed up it was as though in a way which was a very appalling feeling that it was over on the night of february 24 1983 tennessee williams retired to his bedroom with a bottle of wine when williams didn't come out the next morning his assistant went to investigate he said i turned around and i was just about to go out of the bedroom he said i looked and i saw him he was wedged between the bed and the night table as soon as the news got out that tennessee williams was dead the media clamored for details the new york city coroner prematurely released the autopsy report which said that williams died after choking on a prescription bottle cap he never could open the caps to bottles and he had all these prescription medicines and so if nobody was there to open them he'd open them with his teeth but tennessee's brother dakin williams has another theory because the little plastic cap was not found in my brother's throat at all but it was found on the top of his tongue and had nothing at all to do with his death so he was obviously murdered dakin claimed that tennessee's death was a setup that someone close to williams killed the playwright over money dr michael baden worked in the medical examiner's office at the time of william's death i agree with tennis williams brother that the bottle top in the mouth is not the cause of death i'm not sure if he's aware of the subsequent toxicology reports showing the extent of the barbiturates that was in his body at the time he died and that was sufficient to cause death tennessee's brother disagrees the autopsy will show that there are bruises levitia on the my brother's thighs where he was held down by a very heavy person bruises are very common in people who take too much drugs because they get disoriented they tend to stumble a lot and bump into things oh no oh no he was murdered the motivation was greed if foul play was involved in tennessee williams death it's never been proven he died of a barbiturate overdose has happened hundreds of times each year in new york city usually deliberately like so many of his tragic plays the turbulent life of tennessee williams ended with high drama tennessee would have laughed his head off how absurd and unreal it all was he had a marvelous love and a great sense of humor it counterbalanced all of the delicate insecurities that he had as well nobody in the right mind would change one word of his dialogue it is perfect it is absolutely perfection he was ahead of his time and some of these times are catching up with some of these plays he took you on a journey an emotional journey and he did it poetically and for that he deserves a medal tennessee williams once wrote that words are a net to catch beauty williams certainly captured beauty in his work but in his life there was nothing to break his fall join me the next time we shine the spotlight on fate fame and misfortune i'm aj benzo i i discovered i couldn't write without some stimulus and did you get over that period of the stimulation are you still needed you do ask them questions times are changing in tinseltown i'm aj benza host of mysteries and scandals beginning monday august 2nd join me at our new time 8 30 p.m weeknights right here on e