reviews. In 1990, Bruce Payne played a Kowalski-esque character in the music video for Neil Young's song Over and Over, which was directed by Julien Temple. The real Stanley Kowalski An actual Stanley Kowalski lived in St. Louis. He was born in 1893 or 1895, served in the U.S. Army in World War I, and died in 1933. He was a shoe-worker. For several years Tennessee Williams worked as a clerk at Continental Shoe in St. Louis. The article “In Search of Stanley Kowalski,” by Stephen Werner goes into detail about what can be known about the real Stanley Kowalski. Several biographies on Williams describe a close relationship between Williams and Kowalski. However, the known details about Kowalski make this seem unlikely. While working at Continental Shoe, Williams did develop a close friendship with Eddie Zawadzki. Eddie at the time was dating his future wife. It must be pointed out that there is not the remotest indication that the "real" Kowalski bore any brutish similarity to the character that made Marlon Brando a star. Indeed, Stanley is closer to Williams' own father, "a traveling salesman ... a loud, outgoing, hard-drinking, boisterous man who bordered on the vulgar, at least as far as the young, sensitive Tennessee Williams". References Werner, Stephen A., “In Search of Stanley Kowalski” St. Louis Cultural History Project (Summer 2022). Notes Characters in plays Fictional domestic abusers Fictional rapists Drama film characters Theatre characters introduced in 1947 Literary characters introduced in 1947 Fictional World War II veterans Fictional salespeople Marlon Brando Male literary villains Male film villains Male characters in literature Male characters in theatre Male characters in film Fictional Polish-American people