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| Stanley Kowalski | |
|---|---|
 Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski from the stage version ofA Streetcar Named Desire (1948). | |
| First appearance | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Created by | Tennessee Williams |
| Portrayed by | |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Spouse | Stella Kowalski |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Blanche DuBois (sister-in-law) |
| Nationality | Polish-American |
| ||
|---|---|---|
Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character inTennessee Williams' playA Streetcar Named Desire.
Stanley lives in theworking-classFaubourg Marigny neighborhood ofNew Orleans with his wife,Stella (née DuBois), and is employed as a factory partssalesman. He was anArmy engineer inWorld War II, having served as aMaster Sergeant. He is a controlling, hard-edged man, with no discernible capacity for empathy, forgiveness, or patience, and no apparent family ties of his own, although he once mentions a cousin. He also has a vicious temper and fights with his wife, sometimes leading to instances ofdomestic violence, which mirror those of the older married couple who live upstairs, the Hubbells. Near the beginning of the play, Stanley announces that Stella is pregnant.
Stanley's life becomes more complicated when Stella's sisterBlanche shows up at their door for a seemingly indefinite "visit". He resents thegenteel Blanche, who derides him as an "ape", and calls him a "Polack". She flirts with him but attempts behind his back to get Stella to leave the marriage, intensifying his resentment. She poses a threat; in his mind to both his regimented, hedonistic lifestyle and his marriage and concomitant control of his wife. He determines to eliminate this perceived threat and take his revenge.
Stanley starts asking questions from a seedy street merchant, Shaw, who knew Blanche in her old life. Stanley already knows Blanche is staying with the Kowalskis because she ishomeless; her family's ancestral mansion, Belle Reve, has been mortgaged. He learns from Shaw that she was paid to leaveMississippi to quell gossip about her many affairs, which she began after her husband, aclosetedhomosexual, committed suicide. Overjoyed to have the upper hand, Stanley tells Mitch about Blanche's past, which causes Mitch to end the budding relationship which would have seen Blanche leave the Kowalski household and marry Mitch and replace his dying mother as the object of his love. Stanley's cruelty infuriates the hapless Stella.
That night, Stella goes to the hospital to give birth. Stanley goes out and gets drunk in celebration, and returns home. He finds a similarly drunk Blanche, lost in fantasies of soon-to-be happy times, benefit of Shep Huntleigh.
Mitch, possibly emboldened himself with some liquor, had earlier visited after Stanley and Stella left, and told Blanche that she was not good enough to meet his mother but demanded some sexual attention as that is all she is apparently good for. She told him to get out or she'd scream fire, and he left.
Stanley drunkenly fondles Blanche, who rejects him and affectsin high dudgeon. He traps her in the bedroom and easily disarms her after she breaks a bottle to use as a weapon. She collapses and the scene ends with her impending rape. This final assault on what she had left of her dignity sends Blanche over the edge into anervous breakdown. Blanche tells Stella but Stanley lies to his wife and denies Blanche's claim. Weeks later, Stella has Blanche committed to amental institution at Stanley's insistence.
In the original play, Stella refuses to allow herself to believe Blanche (with the support of Eunice Hubbell) and stays with Stanley, although she seems to need to convince herself. In the1951 film adaptation, however, due to the demands of the censors, Stella leaves him and takes their child. Most later film and television versions restore the original ending.
When developing the character, Williams frequently changed what Stanley's ethnicity would be. Originally the story was set inChicago and he was written as anItalian American named Lucio.[1] Another draft, set inAtlanta, had the character named Ralph and be anIrish American.[2] In order the draft names were: Lucio, Stanley Landowski, Jack, Ralph, Ralph Stanley, and Ralph Kowalski, prior to the final one.[1]
No copies of the play drafts mention what Kowalski's line of work is. According to author Joseph W. Zurawski, Stanley appeared to be an office worker instead of a blue collar worker.[1]
He was most famously portrayed byMarlon Brando oppositeJessica Tandy's Blanche in the play's initialBroadway production and, several years later, oppositeVivien Leigh with hisOscar nominated performance in the1951 film adaptation.
Others who later played the role include:Anthony Quinn, who succeeded Brando on Broadway and played opposite Tandy's successor,Uta Hagen;James Farentino (oppositeRosemary Harris) on Broadway in 1973;Treat Williams (oppositeAnn-Margret) in the1984 TV movie;[3] andAlec Baldwin (oppositeJessica Lange), both on Broadway in 1992 and in the1995 TV movie.[4]
In 1976Rip Torn played Stanley opposite his wifeGeraldine Page as Blanche in aChicago production that was described as raw, dangerous and threateningly realistic, pushing the Streetcar script to the farthest reaches of urban violence and unabated naturalism.[5]
Aidan Quinn andChristopher Walken both played the role oppositeBlythe Danner's Blanche in two different stage productions. The three actors and both productions, however, received mixed to middling reviews.[6]
In 1990,Bruce Payne played a Kowalski-esque character in the music video forNeil Young's songOver and Over.[7]
The name is used for lead characterDetective Stanley Kowalski, portrayed byCallum Keith Rennie, in the 1994–1999 television seriesDue South; in the series, the character's ex-wife isStella Kowalski.
