Books: “Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams’s Greatest Creation” by Nancy Schoenberger

In late-1930s Hollywood, English-born Vivien Leigh beat out every American actress for the part of Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind.” But her role as Blanche du Bois, in both the play and movie version of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” has an even juicier backstory.

In “Blanche,” Nancy Schoenberger discusses not only how Leigh and six other actresses interpreted one of Tennessee Williams’ most complex characters but also how the role shook them up plenty.

Blanche, Schoenberger reports, was loosely based on an amalgam of Williams’ troubled sister Rose; the Southern women he had grown up with; and Tennessee himself. In the play, Blanche, who is the neurotic DuBois sister, “lost” Belle Rive, the family mansion in Mississippi, and was subsequently left penniless. She is forced to live with her sister Stella, and Stella’s husband Stanley Kowalski, in a cramped New Orleans tenement.

Blanche, who is haughty, pretentious and has a checkered past, looks down on Stanley (played by Marlon Brando) as a sexy, lower-class “animal” not worthy of Stella. Stanley meanwhile regards Blanche as a threat to his marriage’s existence. As those who have seen “Streetcar” innumerable times (raises hand) know, an unhappy ending ensues.

Schoenberger feels that of all these actresses, Leigh got the part exactly right, having captured Blanche’s frailty and mental illness. But she believes Ann-Margret, who played the role in a 1984 teleplay, brought out the character’s sexiness. She also reports that NYT critics hated Jessica Lange in the 1994 Broadway revival but liked her in the film version.

The author pores over each actress for the particular strength or weakness they brought to the part—Jessica Tandy (the original lead who was eventually dumped by Elia Kazan for not being “sexy”’enough); Patricia Clarkson (who brought a Southern sense of humor); Jemma Jackson (a Black Blanche du Bois); and most recently Cate Blanchett, who also won an Oscar for her Blanche-like character in “Blue Jasmine,” Woody Allen’s 2013 film.

Not only was Blanche a tough role to play, but doing it night after night on stage—or performing it in a teleplay—had a deleterious effect on each of the actresses. Leigh eventually went mad, and Ann-Margret plunged into depression for months.

Why do we care about who was the best Blanche? Some of the greatest words in American drama—“the kindness of strangers” and “Della Robbia blue”—are found in “Streetcar.” This book pays homage to those who got them right.