American playwright and screenwriter William Inge was BOTD in 1913. Born in Independence, Kansas, he studied at the University of Kansas, working as a labourer and latterly as a teacher in Missouri. He began his writing career as a newspaper drama critic. Encouraged to write by his friend Tennessee Williams, he scored a huge success with his 1950 debut play Come Back Little Sheba, a drama about an unhappily married alcoholic in a small town. A hit on Broadway, it was filmed in 1952, winning its lead actress Shirley Booth a Oscar. Inge won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1952 play Picnic, later adapted into an Oscar-winning film. His 1955 play Bus Stop was also a Broadway success, and was filmed starring Marilyn Monroe in one of her better dramatic roles. He won an Oscar in 1962 for his film screenplay for Splendour in the Grass, starring Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood as young lovers driven insane by sexual repression. Inge remained in the closet for most of his life, only addressing gay themes and characters in his final three plays, which were not successful. Depressed at the fading of his career, he committed suicide in 1973, aged 60.