Thomas Lanier Williams III (1911-1983), born in Columbus, Mississippi, and known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter.

Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. After college, Williams moved to New Orleans, a city that would inspire his writing.

On March 31, 1945, The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway and two years later A Streetcar Named Desire earned Williams his first Pulitzer Prize. His subsequent work from this period included Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth. Many of his plays were adapted for film starring the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Ava Gardner, Geraldine Page, Paul Newman and Vivien Leigh.