A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947
play written by American playwright
Tennessee Williams which received the
Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on
Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was directed by
Elia Kazan and starred
Jessica Tandy,
Karl Malden,
Marlon Brando, and
Kim Hunter. The London production opened in 1949 with
Bonar Colleano,
Vivien Leigh, and
Renee Asherson and was directed by
Laurence Olivier. The drama
A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is generally considered to be Williams' greatest.