Editing William Inge

{{short description|American playwright and novelist (1913–1973)}}
{{other people}}
{{Original research|date=November 2011}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| image        = Williaminge (cropped and cleaned).jpg
| caption      = Inge in 1954
| birth_name   = William Motter Inge
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1913|05|03|mf=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Independence, Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1973|06|10|1913|05|03|mf=yes}}
| death_place  = Los Angeles, [[California]], U.S.
| education    = [[Independence Community College]]<br>[[University of Kansas]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Vanderbilt University]]
| occupation   = Playwright, novelist
| years_active = 1947–1973
}}

'''William Motter Inge''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|n|dʒ}};<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Inge |title=Inge - Definitions from Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=May 9, 2011}}</ref> May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American [[playwright]] and [[novelist]], whose works typically feature solitary [[protagonist]]s encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broadway productions, including ''[[Picnic (play)|Picnic]]'', which earned him a [[Pulitzer Prize for Drama|Pulitzer Prize]]. With his portraits of small-town life and settings rooted in the American [[Heartland (United States)|heartland]], Inge became known as the "Playwright of the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]".

==Early years==
Inge was born in [[Independence, Kansas]], the fifth child of Maude Sarah Gibson-Inge and Luther Clay Inge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Inge Connell |first=Helene |editor1-last=Bryer |editor1-first=Jackson R. |editor2-last=Hartig |editor2-first=Mary C. |title=William Inge: Essays and Reminiscences on the Plays and the Man |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=Jefferson, NC |page=201 |isbn=9781476616322 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYO8AwAAQBAJ&q=Luther+Clay+Inge+william |access-date=22 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ingecenter.org/william-inge-biography/|title=About William Inge}}</ref> William attended [[Independence Community College]] and graduated from the [[University of Kansas]] in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Drama. At the University of Kansas he was a member of the Nu chapter of [[Sigma Nu]].<ref>[http://www.sigmanu.org/about/famous_sigmanus.php Sigma Nu fraternity - Famous Members of Sigma Nu]</ref> Offered a scholarship to work on a Master of Arts degree, Inge moved to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], to attend the [[Peabody College|George Peabody College for Teachers]], but later dropped out.

Back in Kansas, he worked as a laborer on state highways and as a [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]] news announcer. From 1937 to 1938 he taught English and drama at [[Cherokee County, Kansas|Cherokee County]] Community High School in [[Columbus, Kansas]]. After returning and completing his Master's at Peabody in 1938, he taught at [[Stephens College]] in [[Columbia, Missouri]], from 1938 to 1943.<ref>{{cite web |title=About William Inge |url=http://www.ingecenter.org/aboutinge.html |publisher=Ingecenter.org |access-date=May 9, 2011 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719060057/http://www.ingecenter.org/aboutinge.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Career==
Inge began as a drama critic at the ''St. Louis Star-Times'' in 1943. With [[Tennessee Williams]]'s encouragement, Inge wrote his first play, ''[[Farther Off from Heaven]]'' (1947), which was staged at [[Margo Jones]]' Theatre '47 in [[Dallas]], Texas. As a teacher at [[Washington University in St.&nbsp;Louis]] between 1946 and 1949, he wrote ''[[Come Back, Little Sheba (play)|Come Back, Little Sheba]]''. It ran on Broadway for 190 performances in 1950, winning [[Tony Award]]s for [[Shirley Booth]] and [[Sidney Blackmer]]. (The 1952 film adaptation won both an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] and a [[Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe]] for Shirley Booth. [[Willy van Hemert]] directed a 1955 adaptation for Dutch television, and NBC aired another TV production in 1977.) During his time teaching at Washington University, Inge's struggles with alcoholism became more acute; in 1947, he joined [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] (AA). It was through AA that Inge met the wife of a member of his AA group whose name was Lola and, who through name as well as personal characteristics, was the person upon whom one of the lead characters in ''Come Back, Little Sheba'', "Lola", was based. Even as ''Come Back, Little Sheba'' was in a pre-Broadway run in early 1950, Inge was filled with some doubt as to its success. He expressed in a letter to his sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous, "If ''Sheba'' makes it in [[Hartford]] I guess it will go on to Broadway and if it doesn't I suppose I'll be back in St.&nbsp;Louis. If it does make it to Broadway, I don't know when I'll be back." Inge never had to return to St.&nbsp;Louis.
[[File:LOCInge.jpg|thumb|250px|Portrait of William Inge by [[Carl Van Vechten]]]]

In 1953, Inge received a Pulitzer Prize for ''[[Picnic (play)|Picnic]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=1953 Pulitzer Prizes |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1953 |website=www.pulitzer.org |access-date=May 16, 2019}}</ref> a play based on women he had known as a small child:
:When I was a boy in Kansas, my mother had a boarding house. There were three women school teachers living in the house. I was four years old, and they were nice to me. I liked them. I saw their attempts, and, even as a child, I sensed every woman's failure. I began to sense the sorrow and the emptiness in their lives, and it touched me.

''Picnic'' had a successful Broadway run from February 19, 1953, to April 10, 1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=Picnic |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/picnic-2220 |website=The Internet Broadway Database |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> A [[Picnic (1955 film)|film adaptation]] made in 1955 was directed by [[Joshua Logan]] and won two [[Academy Awards]].

In 1953, Inge's short play ''Glory in the Flower'' was telecast on ''[[Omnibus (US TV series)|Omnibus]]'' with a cast of [[Hume Cronyn]], [[Jessica Tandy]], and [[James Dean]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Jerry |title=The Great American Playwrights on the Screen |date=2003 |publisher=Applause Theater and Cinema Books |isbn=1557835128 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatamericanpla00robe_0/page/268 268]|url=https://archive.org/details/greatamericanpla00robe_0 |url-access=registration |quote=glory in the flower william inge 1953 omnibus. |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref>

In 1955, his play ''[[Bus Stop (play)|Bus Stop]]'' premiered. Inge's inspiration of boy-pursuing-girl came from a similar situation he'd seen on a bus trip to [[Kansas City]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Voss |first=Ralph F. |title=A Life of William Inge: The Strains of Triumph |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |date=1989 |page=73 |isbn=0-7006-0442-1}}</ref> Nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Play,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bus Stop |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/bus-stop-2507/#awards|website=The Internet Broadway Database|access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> it was made into a 1956 [[Bus Stop (1956 film)|film]] starring [[Marilyn Monroe]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |title=The Screen: Marilyn Monroe Arrives; Glitters as Floozie in 'Bus Stop' at Roxy Stork Over Britain Tasteless Melodrama |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE0DD1F3FE03BBC4953DFBF66838D649EDE |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 1, 1956 |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref>

In 1957 he wrote ''[[The Dark at the Top of the Stairs]]'', an expansion of his earlier ''Farther Off from Heaven''. The play was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Dark at the Top of the Stairs |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-dark-at-the-top-of-the-stairs-2661/#awards |website=The Internet Broadway Database |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> and was adapted as a [[The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (film)|film]] in 1960.

His 1959 play ''A Loss of Roses'', with [[Carol Haney]], [[Warren Beatty]], and [[Betty Field]], was filmed as ''[[The Stripper (film)|The Stripper]]'' (1963), with [[Joanne Woodward]], [[Richard Beymer]], and [[Claire Trevor]], and a popular [[Jerry Goldsmith]] score.

''Natural Affection'' had the misfortune to open on Broadway during the [[1962 New York City newspaper strike]], which lasted from December 8, 1962, until April 1, 1963. Thus, few were aware of the play, and fewer bought tickets. It lasted only 36 performances, from January 31, 1963, to March 2, 1963. What theatergoers missed was a drama exploring themes of fragmented families and random violence. As with [[Truman Capote]]'s ''[[In Cold Blood (book)|In Cold Blood]]'', the inspiration for ''Natural Affection'' came from a newspaper account of a seemingly meaningless and unmotivated murder. The play centers on a single mother, Chicago department store buyer Sue Barker ([[Kim Stanley]]). While troubled teen Donnie (Gregory Rozakis), Sue's illegitimate son, has been away at reform school, she has entered into a relationship with Cadillac salesman Bernie Slovenk ([[Harry Guardino]]). With Donnie's unexpected return to her Chicago apartment, conflicts escalate, and Donnie finds himself on an emotional precipice. The closing five minutes of the play introduces a new character, a young woman Donnie meets in the apartment hallway. He invites her into the apartment and, without warning, kills her as the curtains close. The Broadway production, directed by [[Tony Richardson]], benefited from composer [[John Lewis (pianist)|John Lewis]]'s made-to-order background music, which was provided via tape recordings, rather than live performance, and worked in the same fashion as a film score. A highly successful revival of ''Natural Affection'' was mounted in 2005 at Chicago's The Artistic Home. Directed by John Mossman, it was named by the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' one of the year's best productions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theartistichome.org/natural-affection?rq=natural%20affection |title=Natural Affection |publisher=The Artistic Home}}</ref>

Inge's ''The Last Pad'' premiered in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], in 1972. Originally titled ''The Disposal'', the world premiere of ''The Last Pad'' was produced by Robert L. "Bob" Johnson and directed by Keith A. Anderson through the Southwest Ensemble Theatre. The production starred [[Nick Nolte]] with Jim Matz and Richard Elmore (Elmer). The production moved to Los Angeles and opened just days after Inge died by suicide. The original production in Phoenix was proclaimed the Best Play of 1972 by the ''[[Arizona Republic]]'', while the Los Angeles production brought awards to Nolte and helped introduce him to the film industry and catapult his subsequent film career.

''The Last Pad'' is one of three of Inge's plays that either have [[coming out|openly]] gay characters or address homosexuality directly. ''The Boy in the Basement'', a one-act play written in the early 1950s, but not published until 1962, is his only play that addresses homosexuality overtly, while Archie in ''The Last Pad'' and Pinky in ''Where's Daddy?'' (1966) are gay characters. Inge himself was [[Closet(ed)|closeted]].<ref name="glbtq">{{cite news |last=Chipman |first=Jay Scott |periodical=[[glbtq.com]] |url=http://www.glbtq.com/literature/inge_w.html |title=Inge, William Motter |year=2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515173201/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/inge_w.html |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

''[[Summer Brave]]'', produced posthumously on Broadway in 1975, is Inge's reworking of ''Picnic'', as he noted:
:It would be fair to say that ''Summer Brave'' is the original version of ''Picnic''. I have written before that I never completely fulfilled my original intentions in writing ''Picnic'' before we went into production in 1953, and that I wrote what some considered a fortuitous ending in order to have a finished play to go into rehearsal. A couple of years after ''Picnic'' had closed on Broadway, after the film version had made its success, I got the early version out of my files and began to rework it, just for my own satisfaction. ''Summer Brave'' is the result. I admit that I prefer it to the version of the play that was produced, but I don't necessarily expect others to agree. ''Summer Brave'' might not have enjoyed any success on Broadway whatever, nor won any of the prizes that were bestowed upon ''Picnic''. But I feel that it is more humorously true than ''Picnic'', and it does fulfill my original intentions.

About two dozen unperformed plays by Inge began receiving wider attention in 2009. They were available for viewing, but not copying or borrowing, in the collection of his papers at Independence Community College.<ref>Belcher, David. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/theater/06inge.html Out of Kansas, Into the World: A Trove of Inge Plays]", ''The New York Times'', August 6, 2009, C3.</ref> One, a three-act play titled ''Off the Main Road'', was read at the Flea Theater in New York City on May 11, 2009, with [[Sigourney Weaver]], [[Jay O. Sanders]], and [[Frances Sternhagen]] in the cast. Another, ''The Killing'', a one-act play, directed by José Angel Santana, and starring [[Neal Huff]] and J.J. Kandel, was performed at the 59E59 Theater, in New York City, through August 27, 2009. It is not yet known how many of these additional plays are complete. Besides ''Off the Main Road'' and ''The Killing'', six others were performed in April 2009 at the William Inge Theater Festival, in Independence, Kansas. These six were published in ''A Complex Evening: Six Short Plays by William Inge''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=A Complex Evening: Six Short Plays By William Inge |publisher=Independence Community College Press with On Stage Press |location=Independence, KS |date=2009 |isbn=978-0988509702}}</ref>

===Television and film===
In 1961, Inge won an [[Academy Award]] for ''[[Splendor in the Grass]]'' (Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen). He made his film debut as a clergyman in the film.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Bill Inge To Act|date=July 6, 1960|page=3|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety219-1960-07#page/n2/mode/1up|access-date=February 6, 2021|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> [[John Frankenheimer]] directed ''[[All Fall Down (1962 film)|All Fall Down]]'' (1962), Inge's screenplay adaptation of the novel by [[James Leo Herlihy]]. Inge was unhappy with changes made to his screenplay for ''[[Bus Riley's Back in Town]]'' (1965), so at his insistence, the writing credit on the film is "Walter Gage".

During the 1961–62 television season, Inge was the script supervisor of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Bus Stop (TV series)|Bus Stop]]'' TV series, an adaptation of his play. With [[Marilyn Maxwell]] as Grace Sherwood, the owner of Sherwood's Bus Station and Diner in a fictitious [[Colorado]] town, the series presented dramas about the townspeople and travelers who passed through the diner in 25 one-hour episodes. The sixth episode, "Cherie", with [[Tuesday Weld]], [[Gary Lockwood]] and [[Joseph Cotten]], was an abbreviated version of the original ''Bus Stop'' play. [[Robert Altman]] directed eight episodes, and one of these, "A Lion Walks Among Us", led to a Congressional hearing on violence. The episode, which starred [[Fabian Forte]] as a maniacal axe-wielding serial killer, was adapted from [[Tom Wicker]]'s novel ''Told By an Idiot''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Jerry |title=The Great American Playwrights on the Screen: A Critical Guide to Film, TV, Video and DVD |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ciwdL9jp0OoC&pg=PA268 |publisher=Applause |date=May 1, 2003 |access-date=May 9, 2011 |isbn=978-1-55783-512-3}}</ref>

In 1963 Inge met with [[Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS]] to consider a one-hour filmed television drama about a family in a Midwestern town. The series, with six continuing characters, had the tentative title ''All Over Town'', and was planned for the 1964–65 season. Instead, Inge did a play, ''Out on the Outskirts of Town'', which was seen on November 6, 1964, on NBC as part of the ''Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre'' series. It starred [[Anne Bancroft]] and [[Jack Warden]] with Inge taking the role of the town doctor.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hetrick |first=Adam |title="Lost" Inge Play Off the Main Road |journal=Playbill |date=April 18, 2012 |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/lost-inge-play-off-the-main-road-featuring-annalee-jefferies-and-nicole-lowrance-staged-in-ks-april-18-com-189234 |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Paulson |first=Michael |title=Resurrecting Inge's Aching Empathy in 'Off the Main Road' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/theater/resurrecting-inges-aching-empathy-in-off-the-main-road.html |access-date=15 September 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 2015}}</ref> NBC gave the play a repeat on June 25, 1965.

===Novels===
[[File:Luckwyckoff.jpg|right|thumb]]
Inge wrote two novels, both set in the fictional town of Freedom, Kansas. In ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1970),<ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff |date=1970 |publisher=Atlantic Little Brown |oclc=74015}}</ref> high-school Latin teacher Evelyn Wyckoff loses her job because she has an affair with the school's black janitor. The novel's themes include spinsterhood, racism, sexual tension and public humiliation during the late 1950s. Polly Platt wrote the screenplay for the [[Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff|1979 film adaptation]] starring [[Anne Heywood]] as Evelyn Wyckoff. The film was released under several titles: ''The Shaming'', ''The Sin'', ''Secret Yearnings'' and ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff''.

''My Son Is a Splendid Driver'' (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 1971)<ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=My Son Is a Splendid Driver |url=https://archive.org/details/mysonissplendidd00inge |url-access=registration |date=1971 |publisher=Little Brown & Company |oclc=146807}}</ref> is an autobiographical novel that traces the Hansen family from 1919 into the second half of the 20th century. The novel received praise from ''Kirkus Reviews'':
:Mr. Inge's novel, told in the form of a memoir, is a little more extended than ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' and though there's a slackening of structure and splintering of content towards the second half, the first part is immaculate in both design and focus. It features the early years of Joey, the narrator here, and there are lovely scenes, as clear as the summer sunlight, with his family and on visits to assorted relatives. The time lag between Joey and his older brother Jule—his mother's favorite, my son the splendid driver, and an attractive playboy of this midwestern world—will never be reconciled. Even long after Jule's early death from a wanton incidental. Here Act I breaks away from Act II, a whole psychic anatomy of Joey's years as a young man in compressed and fractured incidents—one replayed from Miss Wyckoff and one which seems unnecessary (his parents' [[syphilis]]). Thus Joey grows up impaired, never resolving his relationship with his absentee father or insufficiently loving mother, and ends up with his ''"aloneness like a corridor that has no end"''. Inge has told his story of life and death and all those spaces in between with a gentleness and probity which gives his novel a persistence few writers achieve.

During the early 1970s Inge lived in Los Angeles, where he taught playwriting at the [[University of California, Irvine]]. His last several plays attracted little notice or critical acclaim, and he fell into a deep depression, convinced he would never be able to write well again.

==Death and legacy==
Inge died of suicide by [[carbon monoxide]] poisoning on June 10, 1973, at the Hollywood home he shared with his sister, Helene.<ref>{{cite news |title=Inge's Funeral Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/12/archives/inges-funeral-today.html |access-date=24 April 2017 |work=The New York Times |date=June 12, 1973}}</ref> He was 60 years old. Inge is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in his hometown of [[Independence, Kansas]].<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3rd ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 22980-22981). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

Inge has a star on the [[St.&nbsp;Louis Walk of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/?view=achievement|title=St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees|last=St. Louis Walk of Fame|publisher=stlouiswalkoffame.org|access-date=25 April 2013|archive-date=October 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031162946/http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/?view=achievement|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Beginning with the premiere of ''[[Come Back, Little Sheba (play)|Come Back, Little Sheba]]'' in 1950, Inge became wealthy from the success of his plays and movies. On the advice of his financial advisors, he began to buy works of contemporary art so he could reduce his taxes by donating them to museums. According to his biographer, “He bought only what he liked, but had excellent fortune in choosing what was going to become valuable...” [e.g. works by [[Willem de Kooning|de Kooning]], [[Jackson Pollock|Pollock]], and [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Voss|first=William F.|title=A Life of William Inge: The Strains of Triumph|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|year=1989|isbn=978-0700604425|location=Lawrence, Kansas|pages=117}}</ref> Inge liked the modern art he bought because “in its abstractions and distortions” he saw “a reflection of the distorted times in which he...lived, the times he...tried to portray” in his written work.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Voss|first=Ralph F.|title=William Inge: The Strains of Triumph|publisher=University Press of Kansas|year=1989|isbn=978-0700604425|location=Lawrence, Kansas|pages=226}}</ref> He donated a total of ten contemporary paintings to the [[Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art|Nelson Gallery]] in Kansas City, Missouri.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Modern Art Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum|url=https://www.nelson-atkins.org/collection/modern/}}</ref>

A [[black box theater]] is named for William Inge in Murphy Hall at the University of Kansas.

Inge is a member of the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]], inducted posthumously in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/19/archives/theater-hall-of-fame-enshrines-51-artists-great-things-and-blank.html |title=Theater Hall of Fame Enshrines 51 Artists |work=The New York Times |date=November 19, 1979 |access-date=February 7, 2019}}</ref>

Since 1982, Independence Community College's [[William Inge Center for the Arts]] in his hometown has sponsored the annual William Inge Theatre Festival to honor playwrights.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ingecenter.org/ |title=Home |website=ingecenter.org}}</ref> The William Inge Collection at the college is the most extensive collection of Inge material, including 400 manuscripts, films, correspondence, theater programs, and other related items.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ingecenter.org/ingecollection.htm |title=William Inge Collection |publisher=Ingecenter.org |date=October 25, 1981 |access-date=May 9, 2011 |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719060217/http://www.ingecenter.org/ingecollection.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The March 2008 issue of ''[[The Brooklyn Rail]]'' featured interviews by playwright Adam Kraar of former Inge House resident playwrights [[Marcia Cebulska]], [[Catherine Filloux]], [[Caridad Svich]], Lydia Stryk, and [[Alice Tuan]], relating how Inge's life and work has influenced them.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kraar |first=Adam |title=Channeling Inge: Marcia Cebulska, Catherine Filloux, Caridad Svich, Lydia Stryk, and Alice Tuan with Adam Kraar |journal=The Brooklyn Rail |date=March 2008 |url=http://brooklynrail.org/2008/03/theater/creating}}</ref>

==Works==
'''Plays'''<ref>{{cite web |title=William Inge |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/william-inge-9146 |website=Internet Broadway Database |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref>
*1950: ''[[Come Back, Little Sheba (play)|Come Back, Little Sheba]]''
*1953: ''[[Picnic (play)|Picnic]]''
*1955: ''[[Bus Stop (William Inge play)|Bus Stop]]''
*1957: ''[[The Dark at the Top of the Stairs]]''
*1959: ''A Loss of Roses''
*1962: ''[[Summer Brave]]'' <small>(a reworking of ''Picnic'')</small><ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=Summer Brave |date=1962 |publisher=Dramatists Play Service Inc. |location=New York}}</ref>
*1963: ''Natural Affection''
*1966: ''Where's Daddy?''
*1973: ''The Last Pad''<ref>{{cite news |last=Loynd |first=Ray |title=STAGE REVIEW: 'Pad': Strong Execution of Inge Drama |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-17-ca-2290-story.html |access-date=15 September 2016 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 17, 1990}}</ref>
*''Off the Main Road''<ref>{{cite news |last=Soloski |first=Alexis |title=Off the Main Road review – Inge's lost play loses the audience |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jul/03/off-the-main-road-review-william-inge-williamstown |access-date=15 September 2016 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=July 3, 2015}}</ref>

'''Short plays'''<ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=Eleven Short Plays By William Inge |date=1962 |publisher=Dramatists Play Service Inc. |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-8222-0569-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Inge |first=William |title=A Complex Evening: Six Short Plays By William Inge |publisher=Independence Community College Press with On Stage Press |location=Independence, KS |date=2009 |isbn=978-0988509702}}</ref>
* ''To Bobolink, for Her Spirit''
* ''People in the Wind''
* ''A Social Event''
* ''The Boy in the Basement''
* ''The Tiny Closet''
* ''Memory of Summer''
* ''Bus Riley's Back in Town''
* ''The Rainy Afternoon''
* ''The Mall''
* ''An Incident at the Standish Arms''
* ''The Strains of Triumph''
* 1953: ''Glory in the Flower''
* ''The Killing''<ref>{{cite news |last=Jaworowski |first=Ken |title=A Death Requested, and Other Tales |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/theater/reviews/08shorts.html |work=The New York Times |date=August 7, 2009 |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref>
* ''The Love Death''
* ''The Silent Call''
* ''Bad Breath''
* ''Morning on the Beach''
* ''Moving In''
* ''A Murder''

'''Film and TV'''
*1952: ''[[Come Back, Little Sheba (1952 film)|Come Back Little Sheba]]''
*1955: ''[[Picnic (1955 film)|Picnic]]''
*1956: ''[[Bus Stop (1956 film)|Bus Stop]]''
*1960: ''[[The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (film)|The Dark at the Top of the Stairs]]''
*1961: ''[[Splendor in the Grass]]'' - Reverend Whitman (uncredited)
*1963: ''[[All Fall Down (1962 film)|All Fall Down]]''
* 1963: ''[[The Stripper (film)|The Stripper]]''
*1964: ''Out on the Outskirts of Town'' <small>(a reworking of ''Off the Main Road'')</small><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hetrick |first=Adam |title="Lost" Inge Play Off the Main Road |url=http://www.playbill.com/article/lost-inge-play-off-the-main-road-featuring-annalee-jefferies-and-nicole-lowrance-staged-in-ks-april-18-com-189234 |journal=Playbill |date=April 18, 2012 |access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> - Doctor (final appearance)
*1965: ''[[Bus Riley's Back in Town]]'' <small>(as Walter Gage)</small>

'''Novels'''
*1970: ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff''
*1971: ''My Son Is a Splendid Driver''

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Bryer, Jackson R. and Mary C. Hartig. ''William Inge: Essays and Reminiscences oon the Plays and the Man''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2014.
* Johnson, Jeff. ''William Inge and the Subversion of Gender: Rewriting Stereotypes in the Plays, Novels, and Screenplays''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2005.
* Radavich, David. "William Inge's Dramatic Mindscape". ''South Dakota Review'' 42:3 (Fall 2004): 49–69.
* Voss, Ralph F. ''A Life of William Inge: The Strains of Triumph''. Lawrence, KS: [[University Press of Kansas]], 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-7006-0442-5}}
{{refend}}

==Listen to==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081014095822/http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/848_ramay05.asp ''Natural Affection'' audio scenes and interview]

==External links==
{{portal|Biography|LGBTQ}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name|8219}}
* {{IMDb name|408718}}
*[http://www.ingecenter.org William Inge Center for the Arts], at Independence Community College, in Independence, Kansas.
*[http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.kc.ingewilliammotter.xml William Inge Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121210114636/http://etext.ku.edu/view?docId=ksrlead/ksrl.kc.ingewilliammotter.xml |date=December 10, 2012 }} at the [http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/ Kenneth Spencer Research Library] at the [[University of Kansas]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208102910/http://library.pittstate.edu/spcoll/ndxinge.html William Motter Inge Collection] at [[Pittsburg State University]]
*[https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00730 William Inge Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
*[http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/william-inge.html St. Louis Walk of Fame] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130415221745/http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/william-inge.html |date=April 15, 2013 }}
* [http://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/06/28/william-inge-barbara-baxley New York Public Library Blog about William Inge and Barbara Baxley]

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for William Inge
|list = 
{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1961-1980}}
{{PulitzerPrize DramaAuthors 1951-1975}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inge, William}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1973 suicides]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:American gay writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Kansas]]
[[Category:Novelists from Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Independence, Kansas]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners]]
[[Category:Stephens College faculty]]
[[Category:Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning]]
[[Category:Suicides in Kansas]]
[[Category:University of Kansas alumni]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]
[[Category:Independence Community College alumni]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ novelists]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Kansas]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]