The Iconoclast

Dylan Thomas was quite the literary rebel. He was a poet, but yet one who found success without having a formal college education. Like many writers, he was a heavy drinker. Despite these hurdles Thomas proved to have a wonderful, dramatic Welsh voice and a genius for poetry.

Once, on a tour of America, Thomas was invited to a party at the house of a famous American actor: Charlie Chaplin. Many celebrities were at the party, including a beautiful young woman and actress named Shelly Winters. The intoxicated Thomas stumbled around the party and found himself in conversation with Mrs. Winters. Most of his comments to her were about his admiration of her breasts. He then fumbled his way to the piano trying to teach Charlie Chaplin's son some Welsh drinking songs. Chaplin, enraged, ask the intense red-headed Thomas to leave his party at once. As a parting gift, Thomas urinated on Chaplin's front door.

Thomas lived in a house with his wife, Caitlin, on the cliffs overlooking the ocean in Wales. This is a dangerous area, but being drunk makes it much more likely an accident might occur. Thomas, aware of this, would return home from his drinking expeditions and had to literally crawl on the narrow bridged sidewalk to his house. Unlike many alcoholics that return home and absent mindedly hit on their wives, Thomas would walk through the door and his wife would attack and beat him.

Dylan Thomas did drink himself to death. In New York in 1953, Thomas, who was weak from preparing for his Under Milk Wood performances, was taken to a doctor for an ATCH (cortisone-type) shot. The doctor warned Thomas not to drink, who as also taking sleeping and energy pills. At 2 a.m. the next morning (November 4) Thomas stumbled out of bed and went to have a drink. Drunk, Thomas bragged that he had consumed eighteen straight whiskeys, but such an amount would have killed him. In reality he probably had only four or five, but this was enough to weaken him. A doctor gave him another ATCH shot, and that afternoon after waking, he was given a shot of morphine. He was taken to the hospital and remained in a coma until his death on the ninth of November. He had contracted pneumonia while in a coma.

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