Tennessee Williams On Marlon Brando | The Dick Cavett Show

Tennessee Williams talks about his latest production, writers in the south of America and the talent of Marlon Brando!
Date aired - 4/7/1972 - Tennessee Williams
#TennesseeWilliams
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Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.
His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.
Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.
#thedickcavettshow

[@normadesmond6017]

He was a genius. He wrote some of the greatest plays in theatre history. He was also a tormented soul, as so many of the biggest artists. But his work will remain forever among the best ever written

[@blanchefan]

Amen!

[@johnnypastrana6727]

T. Williams is the greatest playwright that America ever produced...end of story. Nobody else comes close.

[@jadezee6316]

@@johnnypastrana6727 nonsense....ever hear of Eugene O'Neill

[@haskellbob]

@@jadezee6316 We're not dealing with objective truth here.

[@LG-dj9qr]

@@jadezee6316 Very different writers. Certainly room for both.

[@pepelemoko01]

So grateful to Mr. Dick Cavett, to allow us culturally staved individuals, to look back from the 2020s , at such a renown figure in American literature.

[@simonpeter5032]

This is velvet, not velveteen, a gentleman must know the difference.

[@verdis23rdoperaunballoinma39]

Poor man Tennessee Williams was starting to have a gall bladder attack with those itching hands and feet but didn't know what the symptoms meant during this interview!

[@andreaandrea6716]

Yes!! I love Dick Cavett. What a fabulous interviewer.

[@andreaandrea6716]

@@verdis23rdoperaunballoinma39 Ooooh, how interesting... (Thanks).

[@andreaandrea6716]

@Mookie Spindlehurst Yes, that must be true. He was SO good, so engaging... (and obviously had a good sense of himself, thus didn't need to constantly bring the attention back to himself. ... But then also shared bits about his life).

[@jadentrez]

I like how Tennessee refers to the drunks/bums outside the theater as "resting people." Shows the rather elegant compassion he always had for outcasts.

[@kamuelalee]

Love that "resting people" line!

[@patricias5122]

Lovely comment. What an astonishing writer Tennessee Williams was. I wonder if he could exist today.

[@telebob5983]

Great observation, not altogether unlike Kerouac or, perhaps Nicholas Ray in that quality.

[@MrCrowebobby]

@@telebob5983 I would hardly consider Kerouac a genius, but could be wrong.

[@telebob5983]

@@MrCrowebobby Which is your right and prerogative. In Jack's lifetime and since his death almost exactly 50 years ago, his genius has been the subject of much doubt, scorn and bitter debate. And while I'm the first to acknowledge that genius, please note I said nothing about it as such in my comment to which you replied. I merely tried to give Jack his due in that he--like Ten and Nick Ray--has a special and genuine compassion for the forgotten and downcast in our society which is reflected time and again in the art of all three.

[@Sameoldfitup]

“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams.......................

[@michaelbentt3018]

Whew.....Genius

[@bovnycccoperalover3579]

Actually yes!

[@patriceodom2553]

❤

[@degsbabe]

So true. Its very hard to live in the 'pinpoint' present. Nearly always drifting backwards. Especially as you get older. And the memories build up behind.

[@steveconn]

The artistic meeting of Williams and Brando gave us the greatest theater in history. Once-in-a-lifetime moment.

[@williamstdog9]

EXACTLY!! Well said and I could not agree more!!

[@laraegodwin6008]

No , i would say that Vivien Leigh was the greatest and i believe that Tennessee Williams would agree with me !

[@lampad4549]

there are better plays out there.

[@urbanapache2]

@@lampad4549 And better comparisons.

[@oliverholmes-gunning5372]

I never got to see him do it live (I was born about 50 years too late for that, unfortunately), but the movie version of Streetcar is one of my all-time favourites. Brando and Leigh are perfect in that movie...

[@lancelotdufrane]

What a interesting man... people used to actually behave as themselves, instead of a formula of what they think is expected. Incredible talent. His plays/films are timeless.

[@lukeingram7655]

So very true, I think this had a lot to do with the relatively low influence that media appearances had on people back in this era. If a guest acted strange, said something unusual, etc people just shrugged and forgot about it ....today every comment is tweeted, blogged and basically put on record forever

[@carolinalopes7640]

@@lukeingram7655 such a lie. tennessee was a writer, you cant compare here with celebrities. Famous ppl used to be just as plastic as today, even more. fake names and everything, all made up by tbe industry!

[@ingeabrahamsen4684]

What an interesting observation, and so very true. I have sometimes wondered about all the colorful, excentric, or flamboyant characters e.g. so vividly described in Dickens novels. How would they survive in todays socially controlled society? And would they even exist? Our time is loosing the presence of genuine and authentic people, individual thinkers, and original minds. The power of social media and a much more collective influence is killing individuality. People of the time, are so influenced by all the politically and socially current standards of correctness. And so very cautious about saying all the right things, and howling with the pack (they wish to follow) that they have forgotten how to think for themselves. They all use the same expressions, and copy the popular dresscode and mannerisms, so they can send the right signals to the outside world. And when it comes to politicians, actors, musicians etc. the pressure is without mercy. Mistakes are not tolerated. One wrong word, and the press and social media will hunt them down till they drop. Sadly, people get increasingly more and more uniformed, boring and less original. And that is, in my opinion, a great loss.

[@101......]

@@ingeabrahamsen4684 So in other words "second-hand human beings"? Though I didn't come up with the term, Jiddu Krishnamurti did (from one of his books- _Freedom from the Known_ ).

[@ingeabrahamsen4684]

@@101...... Thank you for bringing Jiddu Krishnamurti to my attention. I shamfully admitt that I was not aware of his teachings. But now, that I have formed an idea, I get the expression of "second rate people". And the concept is perhaps not so far from my own, it seems. I'm lamenting the loss (in our time) of what I would call "authentic people" and original thinkers. I have noticed, that several of our most celebrated, artists, writers, philosophers, scientists and politicians grew up under curcumstances with limited outside influence. Witch to some degree allowed them to become individuals. Due to the enormous power from to days social medias, the press, and the so called influencers, they can set the standards and disseminate the popular trends and opinions in no time. And people hurry up to be among the first to copy them and adopt their opinions as their own. I dont suppose, contemporary people are herd-animals in a larger scale than earlier. But the world has become so much smaller. And because of that, people are becoming less individual and independent, and more harmonized and collectively thinking. And I fear this could lead to a loss of originality and divercity in society. Cultural, political and spiritual. And in terms of new inventions and progress. We need those special brains.

[@DrMJC13]

Tenness Williams... eloquent, kind, amusing and all time classic

[@jubalcalif9100]

My sentiments exactly.

[@micaonyx5301]

I love how he is like if you're going to interview me talk about me. When you interview Brando them you can talk about him.

[@deedouglas636]

Genius playwright...I could listen to him speak for hours!

[@jubalcalif9100]

My sentiments exactly.

[@asalane20]

I love the tones and cadences of this man's voice

[@jubalcalif9100]

His voice in indeed mesmerizing.

[@stacyblue1980]

Love him so much. Tennessee. Cavett too. Cavett brought on so many people who were out of the box. My heart to Mr. Williams. As a Southern woman, I will always hold him dear.

[@tuntematon_co]

I feel sad that we really don't have much in the way of these grand, larger than life characters anymore.

[@FD347]

It's sad we don't have this type of interviewer on TV any longer. I guess he's too cerebral.

[@WilliamViets]

Dick cavett is still alive

[@ryanmctarnaghan7342]

Jeff Goldblum!

[@brendangray]

What a good observation. 🙂

[@DanBlabbers]

We have Kylie Jenner you know

[@beckmurray799]

“No no but he’s endlessly interesting to people” (Brando) “Oh yes but so am I” I love this man 🤣

[@lizclegg7556]

"Brando doesn't need any publicity does he?" "Well, he's endlessly interesting to people" "Well so am I" Williams has already told Cavett a lot about Brando and Cavett is supposed to be interviewing Williams!

[@tvdok]

Cavett has a smarmy way of attempting to extract "dirt" on others from every guest that I have seen him interview. I think he is obsessed with trying to trash Brando.

[@suraya1224]

@5:15: Cavett: "Brando is endlessly interesting." Williams: "Well, so am I." He vy nicely pointed out Cavett's rudeness.

[@mattpopemusic]

What's wrong with Cavett wanting to know what Williams makes of Brando? He's interested in Williams' take because Williams is bound to have a particular take; he's not implying he's boring by asking about someone else.

[@ancientname]

I enjoy Tennessee's speaking voice. I like how he was like "let's get back to my play."

[@watershedbarbie9685]

Maybe too controversial. Don't know what year this was.

[@Tmanaz480]

Seems like he'd be good at narration.

[@donlitos]

"More Brandy in Your Coffee Mr. Williams?" Man, that dude dared to do it all his way. Brilliant

[@kakstin]

Judging by his voice/expression, I'm not sure he was entirely sober for the interview. :-)

[@chestermarcol3831]

@@kakstin - He was most definitely NOT.

[@MaxRyan777]

He was such a wit and a charmer! Bet he was a hoot to be friends with. Still holds his place among the best or our playwrights of our time.

[@avicennitegh1377]

Everything about him is compelling from the physical appearance, behaviour, quicksilver mind, sensitivity and self-defense. I've never seen him before.

[@silviageorge7600]

One of the greatest playwrights of all time.

[@jubalcalif9100]

Indubitably.

[@davidkennerly]

Celebrities used to just go on talk shows in the sixties and seventies completely blasted. It's amazing how many of them were just out of their minds drunk. Cavett probably got that the most of any hosts of the period. Norman Mailer comes to mind but also Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and, of course, Truman Capote. There was also drugs, of course.

[@philjamieson5572]

I think Williams is a great US writer. I taught Drama and Theatre Studies for 30 years, and his influence seems to be everywhere throughout 20th century stage on both sides of the pond. Thanks for putting this on.

[@colapickett]

Just wondering what your take is on Vonnegut saying that Hamlet is the only perfect story.

[@mrmtn37]

I can't help it I love the broken ones The ones who Need the most patching up The ones who Never been loved And maybe i see a part of me in them The missing peice always trying to fit in The shuttered heart Hungry for a home No you are not alone

[@ktkeena2518]

S

[@2degucitas]

Are you quoting Williams?

[@aaronyandell2929]

@@2degucitas It's a from 'the Glass Menagerie', one of his plays. A personal favorite.

[@jadezee6316]

every play williams ever wrote was about himself and how he imagined he would be/act in certain circumstances......and it goes without saying that homosexuality was always......the main focus of his work.....

[@mrmtn37]

@@jadezee6316 From the perspective of Mr. Williams I agree. Though one must consider empathy bears fruit regardless of such trivial choices, moreover what one does in the spaces they feel safest, or in their minds eye, deprives me of nothing, sends no harm, nor precludes my own personal choices with judgements or demands, Frankly speaking as I see and experience the world it has become ever more clear that art cannot be experienced without ownership. Not in a physical sense but, intrinsically own what we are presented with. When we do this we learn about ourselves in languages that supercede our conscious mind. As a hetero male self actualized eyes wide open I read the poem as it pertains to me. I am disposable, misunderstood, labeled. I am broken.

[@velvetbrewer1540]

He is a amazing beautiful person. Just love him. From the south. We love Marlon Brando he's a fantastic person .

[@SexySkoChick]

I 💖 Brando too! 😳 a girl from the North 😏

[@JoeyMayo]

What a delight to see and hear a genius of his stature. I believe Mr. Williams is the greatest playwright that America has ever produced.

[@patricias5122]

I agree, Joe. Look at the lines he casually tosses out here, the "resting" people.

[@seanohare5488]

I disagree I say Eugene 0 Neill

[@srldwg]

​@@seanohare5488I have for forgotten what he wrote. Did he write "Death of a Salesman"?

[@barflytom3273]

@@srldwg That was Arthur Miller.

[@reviewguru5387]

Elegant kindness in speech and theatre

[@toniacollinske2518]

Well, that was painful. Still superb to see him.

[@teresahernandez1059]

Much more interesting than todays writers.

[@th2k864]

Watching this it strikes me that Brando at some point started to talk in real life as if he were doing a kind of impression of Tennessee Williams. Don Corleone is somewhat of a slowed down less nasal version.

[@barneybrudenell8838]

th2k brilliant observation

[@damianop100]

th2k Yes, what a fascinating observation. I think you're right. Both men, Tennessee and Brando, what a couple of very odd ducks. I love both of them.

[@2696ize]

Interesting observation.

[@rtg1960]

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

[@mellow5123]

And they were both doing their best Truman Capote.

[@jbt6007]

DC: "Brando was endlessly interesting" TW: "So am I"

[@BanjoLuke1]

This is very welcome. You go to some provincial theatre and see an English cast making a good effort to mimic a Southern drawl on a Williams drama - and you enjoy the play and have a nice dinner.... But the playwright is a million miles away. Or dead. Or both. These little snippets are simply priceless. This man is as strange as his plays. I'm so glad to have seen/heard this clip.

[@shangrila73eldorado]

His major works were poetic masterpieces -- Streetcar, Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth...His later work was more experimental and I'd like to explore them more...Night of the Iguana...Small Craft Warnings, which was playing on 4th Street near the Bowery hahaha...(Cavett was being a bit cheap with the publicity)...When I lived in New Orleans, the ghost of Tennessee loomed larger than life in the French Quarter...He inhabited every street, every boudoir, every old bar that opened up onto the street with doors flung wide open to the world. Wherever there was a man laughing or sipping on a Brandy Alexander, there loomed large the ghost of Tennessee

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

I see who Marlon modeled his character's voice after on Reflections in a Golden Eye.

[@docmalthus]

Yes! I never realized that but it's true.

[@ritchski1]

Underrated Brando film

[@darenkelly1386]

"There's somethin' to be said about the life of an enlisted man" Great ensemble. It's only fault for me was that Huston and his d.p. (Ozzie Morris?) decided to process the film with a golden glow about it...as if we were seeing through the little Asian houseboy's cat's eyes. I thought that was unnecessarily distracting.

[@Gorboduc]

This show should have been called Dick Cavett Asks People About Brando.

[@simisuperstar4794]

Legend! The greatest American playwright ever!

[@captainamericaamerica8090]

T WILLIAMS, WAS THE GREATEST EVER.🐐🐐🐐🐐🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

[@seamac206]

August Wilson

[@ernestkovach3305]

Wrong! Arthur Miller on line 1.

[@simisuperstar4794]

Ernest Kovach 😂

[@seanohare5488]

No Eugene 0 Neill was

[@showtunestarpower]

I remember seeing Williams in SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS when it was running on the Upper East Side. He played the role of a doctor, I believe. That run must have been shortly after the run he's talking about. Cavett has to work really hard in this interview.

[@chasepalumbo2929]

He said “these people are a hostile audience”😂😂😂

[@tiagoribeiro885]

One of the greatest playwriters ever.

[@jubalcalif9100]

Indeed.

[@juliestrom412]

I think he seems like a man with a very kind nature. The audience did sound at times a bit like hyenas. He left us a legacy of greatness not easily paralleled.

[@timirish2563]

A lot of tourists used to clutter up the audience at the Cavett show. Tickets were free and there was always room for more people. I am positive there were many people in the crowd who had no idea who Tennessee Williams was and the great works he had created. There has never been much free stuff for rubes to do in New York. There's even less now.

[@mattpopemusic]

I'm sorry but genius as he was TW was wrong about the laughter. That wasn't hostile laughter, that was in fact probably sympathetic laughter which Williams, defensive because he didn't feel like he was having his way of things, misconstrued. He was rubbing his hands, which the audience member who laughed probably interpreted as a callback, and thought they were laughing with him as opposed to at him.

[@yellowburger]

OMG! Tennessee Williams is Marlon Brando is disguise.

[@grantbennett333]

Yes that's correct ✔️.....

[@Jmjdit]

he's Blanche more like it

[@SexySkoChick]

@@Jmjdit YEP! speaking of which I read something somewhere one time where it said Marlon irl was MORE like Blanche then his famous character Stanley 😳 Kowalski

[@jadezee6316]

i cant imagine enjoying the company of this man..if he is the person we see here....

[@JoYa4eva]

I, on the contrary, would have loved his company. He was clearly a broken soul...

[@ronmackinnon9374]

(1:58) 'I hope I wouldn't be Ohio Williams.' 😁

[@charlychips]

I love this man!!!!

[@pammathers2134]

Getting to see and hopefully know something of the greats that I have read and loved thru these old Dick Cavett clips. Saw it sometimes in my teens but filling in the blanks!

[@graham6132]

I think there was also this other writer who came out of the south, I believe his name was Samuel Clemens . . . or something to that effect.

[@JamesRundeFilm]

Honestly, Hannibal, MO is more Midwest...it's north of St. Louis

[@lindamaemullins5151]

Yep 👍

[@michaelerickson985]

In fact, the writer to which you are referring is named Samuel Clemens. He went by the pseudonym of Mark Twain.

[@ellefleming5113]

Love his southern lilt

[@hedgepig1258]

One can see where Blanche DuBois came from. Those remarks to the audience. Chastising them for their ‘cruel laughter’. The quick shifts of kind and cruel remarks. Incredible watching.

[@ME-gz8yi]

He was TEASING the audience!!

[@mattpopemusic]

@@ME-gz8yi I hope so, because that wasn't cruel laughter.

[@fortunatoofamontillado1059]

Leonardo DiCaprio would do a great job playing Williams on film

[@guitarman7573]

He's got that pug face like DiCaprio

[@hypocriteorchestra]

He already did a great job portraying him in Django...

[@wetdroidedition2549]

I disagree

[@ramonalejandrosuare]

DiCaprio is looking a lot like Orson Welles without the major weight.

[@marklentine8793]

LOLOLOLOL

[@elizabethhestevold1340]

Facinating Man. Tennessee Williams. Writer.🙏🌅🇩🇰🇺🇸😍

[@mellow5123]

What a character.

[@suraya1224]

Being from MA, I like knowing that he spent a summer on the Cape, Truro, MA @4:55. I wonder if he went to Longnook Beach...😄

[@bagofhammers7479]

Tennessee is hammered

[@simiancinema2022]

What a wonderful human being.

[@afvet5075]

I agree with Tennessee about the audience being hostile and arrogant. Laughing because he was scratching his fingers instead of listening and looking at his face and what he was saying. Such a deep thought process. Never wasting a sentence and using simple words that you can relate to. Truman Capote is the same but with more of an intelletual vocabulary. Both Southern men which people think are stupid hillbillies which they are not.

[@briangoldy8784]

My Mother born in Richmond, Virginia.1920's. People from the South in this generation. Spoke with this wonderful southern twang, I Loved it!

[@CaramelAntics]

Oh his drawl is lovely and makes me miss home

[@vasp99]

Gore Vidal always called Williams The Magnificent Bird.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

A dodo? Turkey vulture? Kookaburra? Marbled Murillette? Hootie Owl?

[@jaykpjohnson]

I'm always amazed by Dick Cavett's skill as an interviewer. As Tennessee Williams started to close up as he noticed the 'hostile' laughter, DC picked up on it and diffused any tension with genuine, thoughtful compliments. Then the walls came back down, TW opened back up, and they were able to have a deeper conversation about craft, influences, etc. DC really was one of the greatest, you can learn so much from these clips

[@XX-gy7ue]

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS was/is FANTASTIC !

[@bobrand3895]

One of the greatest American author ever hands down

[@jan-christinejohnson8852]

No pun intended ;-)

[@DixiePokerAce]

My grandmother used to sit and drink coffee with him in New Orleans. They were friends.

[@andreaandrea6716]

"Zowie!" (as in "wow")

[@2degucitas]

How did that come to be? Was your grandmother also a writer or from an important family?

[@mrmtn37]

Cafe Du Monde? Tipitinas?

[@Stephensorrentino]

He could have used a cup before this appearance 😳

[@adonaiyah2196]

@@andreaandrea6716 wtf are you doing

[@janeporter818]

Thanks for posting! 💓💓💓

[@wehaveasituation]

The Bird, as Gore Vidal referred to him, is boiled as British beef. What a trip. The play he's attempting to promote here was a bomb.

[@alexakrivos]

"that hostile laughter .." haha

[@mattpopemusic]

which it wasn't.

[@MarciaMatthews]

“Why is the south so rich in writers?” “Not many playwrights…people have more to write about in the South.”

[@reelincoln7747]

Love Williams

[@CajunLady333]

That's hostile laughter out there in the audience. Great call by the playwright, Tennessee Williams.

[@patricias5122]

Yes! I thought so, too. That took courage.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

me too.

[@Reymundodonsayo]

patricia S people who are real suffer the crowds hostility the audience are sheeple as is intended

[@CajunLady333]

@@Reymundodonsayo It's a shame that people like to be mean. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. If people practiced this commandment, we would have more peace and love.

[@kakstin]

He may have said it with a grin, but that doesn't make it untrue.

[@Trombonology]

Williams' voice and speaking idiosyncrasies are uncannily like those that Brando created for his role as Major Weldon Pendleton in _Reflections In A Golden Eye_ , which was based on the Carson McCullers novel of the same name. I have to wonder if Brando intentionally modeled this characterization, at least in part, after Williams.

[@martian9999]

...once seen, one never forgets how Brando/Pendleton looked on a horse. And now you make me wonder how Williams looked when he rode.

[@Trombonology]

@@martian9999 If we could only see him!

[@bronson1392]

The other way round

[@darenkelly1386]

I think Brando obviously modelled Maj Penderton on Tennessee. His soliloquy re "Life of Men among Men" in Refelctions is reminiscent of Blanche's remembrance of her young beau at the Moonlake Casino.

[@ImYourHuckleberry_29]

Def Brando did it based on Williams.

[@maryuline2585]

So many people loved the Dick Cavett show along with the Jack Paar, MervGriffin, Mike Douglas and similar TV shows. They had on incredible guests like Orson Wells, Betty Davis,, Tennessee Williams, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix and on and on especially Dick Cavett. The shows and the guests were honest and themselves. Apparently non scripted because they would say things that I don't think you could say now. We will never see shows like these again.

[@MothGirl007]

A thousand times better than anything we have today.

[@bama1usaf]

He was born in Columbus Mississippi, which basically in the middle portion of the state a couple miles from Alabama.

[@lizclegg7556]

When Dick Cavett says that John Osborne was influenced by Tennessee Williams, and Tennessee Williams responds "Why, it made him angry you mean", I don't think Dick Cavett (nor the audience) understood the joke Tennessee Williams was making.

[@normanduke8855]

Cavett is, well...stupid.

[@kennethjay4888]

Nope - it went right over his head. Cavett is one of the most over-rated interviewers in the history of the business. So often makes me cringe.

[@patrickhicks9880]

he was delightful

[@patrickkingston183]

Oh my! Tough interview.

[@mitchellspindell589]

Williams is an asshole.

[@chestermarcol3831]

Williams was absolutely bombed during this interview (and the itching was probably a symptom of severe liver damage)

[@lanceaugust]

He drank every day. Today alcoholism is more widely recognized than it was in 1972.

[@amandajstar]

'Drinking every day' is by no means alcoholism. People that don't drink seem to have absurd suspicions of it.

[@lanceaugust]

The liver has over 500 functions. Regular alcohol use is terrible for your health. It is horrible for mental health: early onset demetia, chronic depression just to name a few. Tennessee’s itching of his hands and feet are a symptom of fatty liver disease resulting from alcoholism.

[@amandajstar]

@@lanceaugust Well, you don't have to drink anything, but there's lots of evidence that wine in particular is very good for health. In fact red wine is positively recommended.

[@deathbeforedecaf7755]

Red wine has benefits but it doesn't if you consume it daily. It can lead to liver disease, breast cancer, heart disease etc

[@brucekuehn4031]

Life can directly lead to death

[@StephanieJ777]

Thank you for posting, I love Dick Cavett!!💞💞

[@masongratton12]

Leo DiCaprio should be TW in a biopic

[@RM-sr5xd]

My theory on why great writers, musicians and athletes come from the South is that don't have much else to do, so we get good at what we have.

[@EoinLenihan]

Leonardo DiCaprio is a good physical fit to play Williams in a biopic.

[@OctPSfever]

What do think about Marlon Brondo' biopic? Leo is too tall to play TW, 5'6".

[@laurencemyers-j6y]

tennessee himself told me robert downey jr should play him@@OctPSfever

[@tantamountzenith1695]

Oh dear - I understand him! When you're from the South you can't explain it, you just are. Pass the biscuits please.

[@pinkcameo5423]

What would this interview have been like if Williams hadn't been tipsy? (Allegedly) I love how he didn't want to play the talk show game and kept deflecting the Brando questions yet still gave Brando his due credit. And love how he accused the audience of being hostile. It was the funniest interview I've seen in ages.

[@vantheman1238]

To write one great play/film but to write Cat on a Hot tin roof and Street cat named desire and night of the iguana........wow in fact double wow

[@andreaandrea6716]

I CAN!! I can explain why so many great writers come out of the South. The Northern States are Germanic, Polish Swedish, etc. these are cultures that are about EFFICIENCY. The South was settled by the English, Irish, the Spanish and French ... look at the literature that comes out of Ireland and England. And then, the richness of the colloquialisms! The South is about form ... more about taking time with communication. The Art of Conversation. And less about efficiency/machinery/things working properly... (I'd say it's sociological, at least in part). Anyway, my opinion. If anyone else has more to add... !

[@christschool]

But the great composers come out of the Germanic states. I believe great writing comes from great hardship and the South has always had much more hardship than the rest of the country.

[@andreaandrea6716]

@@christschool Wait... which great composers? (I'm guessing you're not referring to the Great American Songbook?) The South is certainly more tortured...

[@christschool]

@@andreaandrea6716 Beethoven and Mozart to start.

[@andreaandrea6716]

@@christschool They aren't from the States. They're German and Austrian.

[@christschool]

@@andreaandrea6716 True, they aren't US citizens. I was responding to this that you wrote: "The Northern States are Germanic". My point is that it has less to do with ancestral nationality than it does with local culture and conditions.

[@lorihugo4814]

Wow, seems just as quirky as Truman Capote. Interesting interview.

[@nuqwestr]

No, Tennessee comes first, so if at all, Capote is like Williams.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

More weird than quirky. At least Capote was understandable.

[@burgesssam]

so that's what Tennessee Williams is like

[@bawoman]

There are plenty of documentaries and interviews online in which you get to see him as he is. They arent to be missed if youre a fan. He was a treasure.

[@JeffRebornNow]

Wait. Don't judge Tennessee by this drunk interview. Dick did another show with him, filmed in New Orleans. He was sober in that and much more interesting. It's on KZbin.

[@letslia213]

My first time seeing him too!!!!!!!!

[@steventrosiek2623]

Tennessee Williams was a real handsome man.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

What's up with that beard though 🤔

[@jonaspereira007]

This guy had the most impressive guests.

[@kamuelalee]

Strange interview with TW but awesome to see him interviewed by Cavett.

[@susantuttle1160]

Thanks for posting this! I saw "Small Craft Warnings" in London during this time--woefully lacking in what his plays were lauded for--poetry, grace, human suffering, love, connection with the ethereal. Also, Mr. Williams's itchy extremities most likely caused by ascites, which is non-absorbed salts caused by liver failure.

[@timkat649]

LOVE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS MOVIES AND BOOKS

[@gabrielabarros2036]

He is so amazing

[@ConradSpoke]

I like to see the timetable of his prior 48 hours of drug intake.

[@hijodelaisla275]

I heard an explanation for why the South produced writers, playwrights and speakers of Tennessee Williams' generation. When the Industrial Revolution was dominating life in the North, the South was primarily agricultural. This meant a lot of down time with not a lot of money to spend. People refined the art of conversation and storytelling in order to keep themselves entertained. I still see evidence of it today in the South.

[@patricias5122]

They're not producing great writers in the South like they used to.

[@barflytom3273]

@@patricias5122 They are not producing great writers anywhere like they used to.

[@ROCKINGMAN]

I like Dick Cavett's interviews and him too. I now realise how much people have changed, generally. They have picked up an over inflated impression of themselves today and have this loud, crude way compared with the more attractive subtle attitude of people of, what I call the halcyon days of TV. Tennessee Williams - very interesting interview and man.

[@lizclegg7556]

Tennessee Williams in this interview is intelligent, sensitive, honest, witty, ironic and quite charming, and it all seems to go completely over Dick Cavett's head.

[@TR3790]

If he's drunk, he's still 10x more interesting than Cavett.

[@clintonsmith5163]

So you can read Cavet's mind, then?

[@jadentrez]

Cavett was always astute. But he had a tight schedule, where one day he had John Lennon and Yoko Ono, or Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, or Katherine Hepburn or Orson Welles, or Marlon Brando or Richard Burton or Laurence Olivier, and so on. It's kind of hard to keep up with all these extraordinary people all the time. He had some truly remarkable people on his show, and I think his gift is he stepped back and let them be themselves.

[@simiancinema2022]

I think he gets it, even if he doesn't always demonstrate it.

[@dclaet1135]

Nothing ever went over Cavett's head. Very sharp man.

[@johnryman-f3c]

Years ago I sat next to Mr Williams on a small plane from Key West to Miami, he gave a vibe of don't talk to me". and I didn't...He gave me his ticket stub with his signature..as we got off. At the hotel in Miami, a maid stole it...

[@scottlaux6934]

Interesting tormented man. Cavett was such a thoughtful grntleman.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

I think Dick is one of the great interviewers of all time but this was an off day. It's like he didn't know what to do or ask and totally blew that great play down on 4th Street, Small Craft Warning. (It is quite good, btw.)

[@TR3790]

Cavett can be good but many times he seems to be reading off a list of prepared questions.

[@normanduke8855]

I always found him abominable. He had superb guests, however.

[@poetcomic1]

No it is not very good and Night of the Iguana was the last of his great plays.

[@watershedbarbie9685]

Maybe too controversial for the times. Boo, Dick Cavett.

[@poetcomic1]

@@watershedbarbie9685 Small Craft Warnings is Williams Lite with roles and poetic language that is a faint shadow of the great plays. It is sad.

[@userjeffe]

Tennessee Williams looks like a very clean man.

[@davidcaton6010]

Smashed

[@Anthony-hu3rj]

Brando and Cavett were from Nebraska, and Johny Carson grew up in Iowa, 40 miles from Nebraska. (I did not know that.)