Tennessee Williams (born Thomas Lanier Williams III; March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) was an American playwright widely regarded as one of the greatest dramatists in American literature. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice — for A Streetcar Named Desire (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) — and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. His works are marked by their lyrical style, exploration of repressed desire, and unflinching portrayals of the American South.