VIDEO: On This Day, February 25- Remembering Tennessee Williams

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of playwright Tennessee Williams, who passed away on this day in 1983.

One of America's greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams wrote fiction and motion picture screenplays, but he is acclaimed primarily for his plays, nearly all of which are set in the South, but which at their best rise above regionalism to approach universal themes. Tennessee Williams drew heavily on his family experiences in his writings.

When The Glass Menagerie hit Broadway in 1945, it not only changed Tennessee Williams' life, it revolutionized American theatre. A Streetcar Named Desire, The Night of the Iguana and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are some of his other masterpieces. Among his many awards, Williams won two Pulitzer Prizes and four New York Drama Critics Circle Awards.

In addition to 25 full-length plays, Williams produced dozens of short plays and screenplays, two novels, a novella, 60 short stories, more than 100 poems and an autobiography. His works have been translated into at least 27 languages, and countless productions of his work have been staged around the world.