Truman Capote
Truman GarcÃa Capote (
pronounced ) (
September 30,
1924 –
August 25,
1984) was an
American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics. He is best known for
In Cold Blood (1966) and the
novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958). At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
Truman Capote was born
Truman Streckfus Persons in
New Orleans, Louisiana, to salesman Archulus "Arch" Persons and attractive 17-year-old Lillie Mae Faulk. When he was four, his parents divorced, and he was sent to
Monroeville, Alabama, where he was raised by his mother's relatives. As a lonely child, Capote taught himself to read before he entered the first grade in school. He began writing when he was eight years old, and he claimed to have written a book at age nine. When he was ten, his short story, "Old Mr. Busybody," won a children's writing contest sponsored by the
Mobile Press Register. When he was 11, he began writing seriously in daily three-hour sessions.
In 1933, he moved to
New York City to live with his mother and her second husband, Joseph Capote, who adopted him and renamed him
Truman GarcÃa Capote in 1935. Capote attended the
Trinity School. In 1939, the Capotes moved to
Greenwich, Connecticut, and Truman attended
Greenwich High School, where he wrote for both the school's literary journal,
The Green Witch, and the school newspaper. Back in New York in 1942, he graduated from the
Dwight School, an Upper West Side private school where an award is now given annually in his name.
When he was 17, Capote ended his formal education and began a two-year job at
The New Yorker. Years later, he wrote, "Not a very grand job, for all it really involved was sorting cartoons and clipping newspapers. Still, I was fortunate to have it, especially since I was determined never to set a studious foot inside a college classroom. I felt that either one was or wasn't a writer, and no combination of professors could influence the outcome. I still think I was correct, at least in my own case."
Between 1943 and 1946, Capote wrote a continual flow of short fiction, including "A Mink of One's Own," "Miriam," "My Side of the Matter," "Preacher's Legend," "Shut a Final Door" and "The Walls Are Cold." These stories were published in both literary quarterlies and quality slick magazines, including
The Atlantic Monthly,
Harper's Bazaar,
Harper's Magazine,
Mademoiselle,
The New Yorker,
Prairie Schooner and
Story. Interviewed in 1957 for
The Paris Review, Capote was asked about his short-story technique, and he responded::Since each story presents its own technical problems, obviously one can't generalize about them on a two-times-two-equals-four basis. Finding the right form for your story is simply to realize the most
natural way of telling the story. The test of whether or not a writer has divined the natural shape of his story is just this: After reading it, can you imagine it differently, or does it silence your imagination and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is something nature has made just right.
In 1943 Capote wrote his first novel,
Summer Crossing [
1] about the summer romance of Fifth Avenue socialite Grady O'Neil with a parking lot attendant. Capote later claimed to have destroyed it, and it was regarded as a lost work. However, it was retrieved in 1966 by a house sitter Capote hired to watch his Brooklyn apartment, resurfaced in 2004 and was published by Random House in 2005.
Other Voices, Other Rooms
In June 1945,
Mademoiselle published his short story "Miriam" which won an
O. Henry Award (Best First-Published Story) in 1946. In the spring of 1946, Capote was accepted at
Yaddo, the 400-acre artists and writers colony at
Saratoga Springs, New York.
"Miriam" attracted the attention of publisher
Bennett Cerf, resulting in a contract with Random House to write a novel. With an advance of $1,500, Capote returned to Monroeville and began
Other Voices, Other Rooms, continuing to work on the manuscript in
New Orleans, Saratoga Springs and
North Carolina, eventually completing it in
Nantucket, Massachusetts. Capote described the symbolic tale as "a poetic explosion in highly suppressed emotion." The novel is a semi-autobiographical refraction of Capote's Alabama childhood. Decades later, writing in
The Dogs Bark (1973), he looked back:
Other Voices, Other Rooms was an attempt to exorcise demons, an unconscious, altogether intuitive attempt, for I was not aware, except for a few incidents and descriptions, of its being in any serious degree autobiographical. Rereading it now, I find such self-deception unpardonable.
The story focuses on 13-year-old Joel Knox following the loss of his mother. Joel is sent from New Orleans to live with his father who abandoned him at the time of his birth. Arriving at Skully's Landing, a vast, decaying mansion in rural Alabama, Joel meets his sullen stepmother Amy, debauched transvestite Randolph and defiant Idabel, a girl who becomes his friend. He also sees a spectral "queer lady" with "fat dribbling curls" watching him from a top window. Despite Joel's queries, the whereabouts of his father remain a mystery. When he finally is allowed to see his father, Joel is stunned to find he is paralyzed and near speechless. He runs away with Idabel but catches pneumonia and eventually returns to the Landing where he is nursed back to health by Randolph. The "queer lady", beckoning from the window, turns out to be Randolph in an old Mardi Gras costume. Gerald Clarke, in
Capote: A Biography (1988) described the conclusion::Finally, when he goes to join the queer lady in the window, Joel accepts his destiny, which is to be homosexual, to always hear other voices and live in other rooms. Yet acceptance is not a surrender; it is a liberation. "I am me," he whoops. "I am Joel, we are the same people." So, in a sense, had Truman rejoiced when he made peace with his own identity.
|
This much-discussed 1947 Harold Halma photo on the back of Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) was a key factor in Capote's rise to fame during the 1940s. |
When
Other Voices, Other Rooms was published in 1948, it stayed on the
New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks, selling more than 26,000 copies. The promotion and controversy surrounding this novel catapulted Capote to fame. A 1947 Harold Halma photograph of Capote was used to promote the book. Gerald Clarke, in
Capote: A Biography (1988), wrote, "The famous photograph: Harold Halma's picture on the dustjacket of
Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) caused as much comment and controversy as the prose inside. Truman claimed that the camera had caught him off guard, but in fact he had posed himself and was responsible for both the picture and the publicity." Much of the early attention to Capote centered around this photograph, which was widely discussed at the time. According to Clarke, the photo created an "uproar" and gave Capote "not only the literary, but also the public personality he had always wanted."
When the picture was reprinted along with reviews in magazines and newspapers, some readers were amused, but others were outraged and offended by what they saw as a suggestive pose. The
Los Angeles Times reported that Capote looked "as if he were dreamily contemplating some outrage against conventional morality." The novelist
Merle Miller issued a complaint about the photo at a publishing forum, and the humorist
Max Shulman satirized it by adopting an identical pose for the dustjacket of his collection,
Max Shulman's Large Economy Size (1948). Random House featured the Halma photo in their "This is Truman Capote" ads, and large blowups were displayed in bookstore windows. Walking on Fifth Avenue, Halma overheard two middle-aged women looking at a Capote blowup in the window of a bookstore. When one woman said, "I'm telling you: he's just young," the other woman responded, "And I'm telling you, if he isn't young, he's dangerous!" Capote delighted in retelling this anecdote.
Random House followed the success of
Other Voices, Other Rooms with
A Tree of Night and Other Stories in 1949. In addition to "Miriam," this collection also includes "Shut a Final Door." First published in
The Atlantic Monthly (August, 1947), "Shut a Final Door" won an O. Henry Award (First Prize) in 1948.
After
A Tree of Night was published, Capote traveled about Europe, including a two-year sojourn in Sicily. This led to a collection of his European travel essays,
Local Color (1950), indicative of his increasing interest in writing nonfiction. In the early 1950s, Capote took on Broadway and films, adapting his 1951 novella,
The Grass Harp, into a 1952 play (later a 1971 musical and a 1995 film), followed by the musical
House of Flowers (1954). For John Huston, he wrote the screenplay
Beat the Devil (1953). Traveling through the Soviet Union with a touring production of
Porgy and Bess, he produced a series of articles for
The New Yorker that became his first book-length work of nonfiction,
The Muses Are Heard (1956).
Friendship with Harper Lee
Capote was a lifelong friend of his
Monroeville neighbor
Harper Lee, and he based the character of Idabel in
Other Voices, Other Rooms on her. He in turn was the inspiration for Dill Harris in her 1960 bestseller
To Kill a Mockingbird. In an interview with Lawrence Grobel, Capote recalled his childhood, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee, Harper Lee's mother and father, lived very near. Harper Lee was my best friend. Did you ever read her book,
To Kill a Mockingbird? I'm a character in that book which takes place in the same small town in Alabama where we both lived."
It was rumored that Capote had written portions of her novel; some said he
ghosted the entire novel. At least one person — Pearl Kazin Bell, an editor at
Harper's — believed the rumor was true. However, Capote would likely have been much more aggressive in claiming credit for the novel's Pulitzer Prize had he been the real author, since he never achieved a Pulitzer for his own work. His persona was far more flamboyant than hers, and their writing styles reflect this difference. A
July 9,
1959 letter from Capote to his aunt indicates that Harper Lee did indeed write the entire book herself [
2].
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories (1958) brought together tales of personal loss: "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar" and "A Christmas Memory." A first edition of this book is valued at $3000. For Capote,
Breakfast at Tiffany's was a turning point, as he explained to Roy Newquist (
Counterpoint, 1964)::I think I've had two careers. One was the career of precocity, the young person who published a series of books that were really quite remarkable. I can even read them now and evaluate them favorably, as though they were the work of a stranger... My second career began, I guess it really began with
Breakfast at Tiffany's. It involves a different point of view, a different prose style to some degree. Actually, the prose style is an evolvement from one to the otherâ€"-a pruning and thinning-out to a more subdued, clearer prose. I don't find it as evocative, in many respects, as the other, or even as original, but it is more difficult to do. But I'm nowhere near reaching what I want to do, where I want to go. Presumably this new book is as close as I'm going to get, at least stylistically.
In Cold Blood
The "new book,"
In Cold Blood, was inspired by a 300-word article that ran on page 19 of
New York Times on Monday, November 16, 1959. The story carried the dateline of
Holcomb, Kansas, November 15, and described the unexplained murder of the
Clutter family in rural Holcomb:
Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family SlainA wealthy wheat farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged. The father, 48-year-old Herbert W. Clutter, was found in the basement with his son, Kenyon, 15. His wife Bonnie, 45, and a daughter, Nancy, 16, were in their beds. There were no signs of a struggle and nothing had been stolen. The telephone lines had been cut. "This is apparently the case of a psychopathic killer," Sheriff Earl Robinson said. Mr. Clutter was founder of The Kansas Wheat Growers Association. In 1954 President Eisenhower appointed him to the Federal Farm Credit Board, but he never lived in Washington... The Clutter farm and ranch cover almost 1,000 acres [4 km²] in one of the richest wheat areas. Mr. Clutter, his wife and daughter were clad in pajamas. The boy was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt. The bodies were discovered by two of Nancy's classmates, Susan Kidwell and Nancy Ewalt... Two daughters were away. They are Beverly, a student at Kansas University, and Mrs. Donald G. Jarchow of Mount Carroll, Ill.
Fascinated by this brief news item, Capote traveled with Harper Lee to Holcomb and visited the scene of the massacre. Over the course of the next few years, he became acquainted with everyone involved in the investigation and most of the residents of the small town. Rather than taking notes during interviews, Capote committed conversations to memory and immediately wrote quotes as soon as an interview ended. His memory retention for verbatim conversations was tested at 94%. Harper Lee lent Capote considerable assistance during his research for
In Cold Blood. During the first few months of his investigation, she was able to make inroads into the community by befriending the wives of those Capote wanted to interview.
In Cold Blood was serialized in
The New Yorker in 1965 and published in hardcover by Random House in 1966. The "non-fiction novel," as Capote labeled it, brought him literary acclaim and became an international bestseller. A feud between Capote and critic
Kenneth Tynan erupted in the pages of
The Observer after Tynan's review of
In Cold Blood implied that Capote wanted an execution so the book would have an effective ending. Tynan wrote::We are talking, in the long run, about responsibility; the debt that a writer arguably owes to those who provide himwith his subject matter and his livelihood... For the first time an influential writer of the front rank has been placed in a position of privileged intimacy with criminals about to die, anddone less than he might have to save them. The focus narrows sharply down on priorities: does the work come first, or does life? An attempt to help (by supplying new psychiatric testimony) might easily have failed: what one misses is any sign that it was ever contemplated.
The film
Capote (
2005) highlighted Capote's conflict between his self-absorbed obsession with finishing the book and his compassion for his subjects.
In Cold Blood brought Capote much praise from the literary community, but there were some who questioned certain events as reported in the book. Writing in
Esquire (1966), Phillip K. Tompkins noted factual discrepancies after he traveled to Kansas and talked to some of the same people interviewed by Capote. In a telephone interview with Tompkins, Mrs. Meier denied that she heard Perry cry and that she held his hand as described by Capote.
In Cold Blood indicates that Meier and Perry became close, yet she told Tompkins she spent little time with Perry and did not talk much with him. Tompkins concluded::Capote has, in short, achieved a work of art. He has told exceedingly well a tale of high terror in his own way. But, despite the brilliance of his self-publicizing efforts, he has made both a tactical and a moral error that will hurt him in the short run. By insisting that "every word" of his book is true he has made himself vulnerable to those readers who are prepared to examine seriously such a sweeping claim.
Celebrity
Capote stood at just over 5'2" (159 cm) and was openly gay in a time when it was common among artists, but rarely talked about. One of his first serious lovers was Newton Arvin, a professor of literature at Smith College and winner of the National Book Award for his biography of Herman Melville.
Capote was well known for his distinctive, high-pitched, lisping voice, his offbeat manner of dress and his fabrications. He claimed to know intimately people he had in fact never met, such as
Greta Garbo. He professed to have had numerous liaisons with men thought to be heterosexual, including, he claimed,
Errol Flynn. He traveled in eclectic circles, hobnobbing with authors,
critics, business tycoons,
philanthropists,
Hollywood stars, theatrical celebrities, royalty and members of high society, both in the U.S. and abroad. Part of his public persona was a long-standing rivalry with writer
Gore Vidal. Apart from his favorite authors (
Willa Cather,
Isak Dinesen), Capote had faint praise for other writers. However, one who did get his favorable endorsement was journalist
Lacey Fosburgh, author of
Closing Time: The True Story of the Goodbar Murder (1977).
A short story published in
Esquire in the
1970s, part of his never completed work
Answered Prayers (published as an "unfinished novel" after his death), alienated most of his celebrity acquaintances, who recognized thinly disguised versions of themselves in the story.
Black & White Ball
On
November 28,
1966, in honor of
Washington Post publisher
Katharine Graham, Capote hosted a legendary masked ball, called the Black & White Ball, in the Grand
Ballroom of
New York City's
Plaza Hotel. It was considered the social event of not only that season but of many to follow. The
New York Times and other publications gave it considerable coverage, and Deborah Davis wrote an entire book about the event,
Party of the Century (2006).
Capote dangled the prized invitations for months, snubbing early supporters like
Carson McCullers as he determined who was "in" and who was "out." In choosing his guest of honor, Capote eschewed glamorous "swans" like
Babe Paley and Marella Agnelli in favor of Katharine Graham. Actress
Candice Bergen was bored at the ball. Capote's elevator man danced the night away with a woman who didn't know his pedigree.
Norman Mailer sounded off about
Vietnam.
Later life
After the success of
In Cold Blood, Capote entrenched himself completely in the world of the
jet set, ostensibly conducting research (unbeknownst to his friends and benefactors) for his tell-all
Answered Prayers. The book, which had been in the planning stages since 1958, was intended to be the American equivalent of
Marcel Proust's
Remembrance of Things Past and a culmination of the "nonfiction novel" format. Initially scheduled for publication in 1968, the novel was eventually delayed at Capote's insistence to 1972. Because of the delay, he was forced to return money received for the film rights to 20th Century Fox.
In the late 1960s, he became friendly with
Lee Radziwill, the sister of
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Radziwill was an aspriring actress and had appeared to deplorable reviews in an engagement of
The Philadelphia Story in Chicago. Feeling that the part simply wasn't tailored to her abilities, Capote was commissioned to write the teleplay for a 1967 TV adaptation of the classic
Otto Preminger film
Laura starring the princess. The adaptation, and Radziwill's performance in particular, received indifferent reviews and poor ratings; arguably, it was the author's first major professional setback as a writer. Radziwill supplanted the older Babe Paley as Capote's primary female companion in public throughout the better part of the 1970s.
Despite the assertion earlier in life that one "lost an IQ point for every year spent on the West Coast," he purchased a home in
Palm Springs and began to use
cocaine on a regular basis. This resulted in bitter quarreling with the socially retiring
Jack Dunphy (with whom he shared a
non-exclusive relationship from 1948 until his death). They were separated during much of the 1970s. In the absence of Dunphy, Capote began to frequent the bathhouse circuit in New York, often seducing working-class, sexually unsure men half his age. The dearth of new material and other failures (including a rejected screenplay for Paramount's 1974 adaptation of
The Great Gatsby) was counteracted by Capote's frequenting of the talk show circuit, where his inebriated, candid apperances became the stuff of cliche.
In 1972, with Lee Radziwill in tow, Capote accompanied
the Rolling Stones on their 1972 American tour as a
Rolling Stone correspondent. While managing to take extensive notes for the project and visit old friends from the
In Cold Blood days in Kansas City, he feuded with Mick Jagger and ultimately refused to write the article. The magazine eventually recouped its interests by publishing a 1973 interview of the author conducted by
Andy Warhol. A collection of earlier works appeared that year, yet the publication date of
Answered Prayers was pushed back once more. In 1974 he was commissioned by Katharine Graham to cover a murder trial in the Washington area but exaggerated an illness and abandoned the project. In letters dating back as early as 1971, the publisher wrote of concern for Capote, who seemed content to her in his deteriorating and debauched state. Friends were appalled later that year when manipulative John O'Shea, the latest of the working-class boyfriends, attempted to take total control of Capote's literary and business interests.
By 1975, public demand for
Answered Prayers had reached a critical mass, with many speculating that Capote had not even written a single word of the book. He permitted
Esquire to publish three long chapters of the unfinished novel throughout 1975 and 1976, slightly surpassing
Breakfast at Tiffany's in length if taken as one work. While the first part, "Mojave," was received favorably, "La Cote Basque 1965" and "Unspoiled Monsters" alienated Capote from his established base of middle aged, wealthy female friends, who were fearful that the intimate and often sordid details of their ostensibly glamorous and carefree lifestyles would be exposed to the public. Based upon the dysfunctional personal lives of William S. and
Babe Paley, arguably Capote's best friends, the issue featuring "La Cote Basque" sold out immediately upon publication. "Unspoiled Monsters" contained a thinly veiled attack against
Tennessee Williams, whose friendship with Capote had already been strained at this juncture.
Capote was further demoralized in 1978 when Radziwill provided testimony on behalf of perpetual nemesis
Gore Vidal in a defamation lawsuit stemming from a drunken interview Capote gave
Playboy in 1976. In a retaliatory move, Capote appeared on Stanley Siegal's talk show in a talkative, inebriated mood and revealed salacious personal details about the erstwhile princess and her sister. While the public ate up the gossip in spades, resulting in a sizeable ratings increase for the otherwise lowly Siegal program, the nature of the appearance only exacerbated Capote's reputation as a drunken caricature of his former self.
In an ironic twist of fate, Warhol (who had made a point of seeking out Capote when he first arrived in New York) took the author under his wing. He often partied with the author at
Studio 54 and gave him steady short feature workfor
Interview magazine. Out of this creative burst came the short pieces that would form the basis for the bestselling
Music for Chameleons (1980). To celebrate this unexpected renaissance, he underwent a
facelift, lost weight and experimented with hair transplants. Nevertheless, Capote was unable to overcome his reliance upon drugs and liquor and had grown bored with New York by the turn of the 1980s.
After the revocation of his driver's license (the result of speeding near his Long Island residence) and a hallucinatory seizure in 1980 that required hospitalization, Capote became fairly reclusive. These hallucinations continued unabated throughout the decade, and scans revealed that his brain mass had perceptibly shrunk. On the rare occasions when he was lucid, he continued to hype
Answered Prayers as being nearly complete and was reportedly planning a reprise of the Black and White Ball to have been held either in Los Angeles or a more exotic locale in South America. Capote died, according to the coroner's report, of "liver disease complicated by
phlebitis and multiple drug intoxication" at the age of 59 on
August 25,
1984, in the home of his old friend
Joanne Carson, ex-wife of late-night TV host
Johnny Carson, on whose program Capote was a frequent guest. He was interred in the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in
Los Angeles, leaving behind his longtime
companion, author
Jack Dunphy, with whom he had reconciled in the late 1970s. Dunphy died in
1992, and in
1994 both his and Capote's
ashes were scattered at Crooked Pond, between
Bridgehampton and
Sag Harbor on
Long Island, close to where the two had maintained a property with individual houses for many years. He also maintained the property in
Palm Springs, a condominium in Switzerland that was mostly occupied by Dunphy seasonally, and a primary residence at the United Nations Plaza in New York City.
Capote twice won the
O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize and was a member of the
National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Capote's childhood experiences are captured in the 1956 memoir "A Christmas Memory," which he adapted for television and narrated. Directed by Frank Perry, it aired on
December 21,
1966, on
ABC Stage 67 and was later incorporated into Perry's 1969 anthology film
Trilogy (aka
Truman Capote's Trilogy), which also includes adaptations of "Miriam" and "Among the Paths to Eden." The TV movie
Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, with Patty Duke and Piper Laurie, was a 1997 remake, directed by Glenn Jordan.
In 1961 Capote's novel
Breakfast at Tiffany's about a flamboyant New York party girl named Holly Golightly was filmed by director
Blake Edwards and starred
Audrey Hepburn in what many consider her defining role, though Capote never approved of the toning down of the story to appeal to mass audiences.
Capote narrated his
The Thanksgiving Visitor (1967), filmed by Frank Perry in Pike Road, Alabama. Geraldine Page won an Emmy for her performance in this TV movie.
In Cold Blood was filmed twice: When Richard Brooks directed the 1967 film with
Robert Blake and
Scott Wilson, he filmed at the actual Clutter house and other Holcomb, Kansas, locations.
Anthony Edwards and
Eric Roberts headed the cast of the 1996
In Cold Blood miniseries, directed by Jonathan Kaplan.
Neil Simon's 1976 murder mystery spoof
Murder by Death provided Capote's main role as an actor, portraying reclusive millionaire Lionel Twain who invites the world's leading detectives together to a dinner party to have them solve a murder. The performance brought him a Golden Globe nomination (Best Acting Debut in a Motion Picture). Early in the film it is alleged that Twain, has "no pinkies." In truth, Capote's little fingers were unusually large.
In
Woody Allen's
Annie Hall (1977), there is a scene in which Alvy (Woody Allen) and Annie (
Diane Keaton) are observing passersby in the park. Alvy comments, "Oh, there goes the winner of the Truman Capote Look-Alike Contest." The passerby is actually Truman Capote (who appeared in the film uncredited).
Other Voices, Other Rooms came to theater screens in 1995 with David Speck in the lead role of Joel Sansom. Reviewing this atmospheric Southern Gothic film in the
New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote::One of the things the movie does best is transport you back in time and into nature. In the early scenes as Joel leaves his aunt's home to travel across the South by rickety bus and horse and carriage, you feel the strangeness, wonder and anxiety of a child abandoning everything that's familiar to go to a place so remote he has to ask directions along the way. The landscape over which he travels is so rich and fertile that you can almost smell the earth and sky. Later on, when Joel tussles with Idabell (Aubrey Dollar), a tomboyish neighbor who becomes his best friend (a character inspired by the author Harper Lee), the movie has a special force and clarity in its evocation of the physical immediacy of being a child playing outdoors.
Capote's short story "Children on Their Birthdays", another look back at a smalltown Alabama childhood, was brought to film by director Mark Medoff in 2002.
With Love from Truman (1966), a 29-minute documentary by David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, shows a
Newsweek reporter interviewing Capote at his beachfront home in Long Island. Capote talks about
In Cold Blood, his relationship with the murderers and his coverage of the trial. He is also seen taking Alvin Dewey and his wife around New York City for the first time. Originally titled
A Visit with Truman Capote, this film was commissioned by National Educational Television and shown on the NET network.
In 1990,
Robert Morse received both a
Tony Award and an
Emmy for his portrayal of Capote in the one-man show,
Tru, seen on the PBS series
American Playhouse in 1992.
Louis Negrin portrayed Capote in
54 (1998), and Sam Street is seen briefly as Capote in
Isn't She Great? (2000), a biographical comedy-drama about
Jacqueline Susann. Michael J. Burg has appeared as Capote in two films,
The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000) and
The Hoax (2006), about Clifford Irving.
Truman Capote: The Tiny Terror is a documentary that aired
April 6,
2004, as part of A&E's
Biography series, followed by a DVD release in 2005.
In
July, 2005,
Oni Press published
comic book artist and writer Ande Parks'
Capote in Kansas: A Drawn Novel, a fictionalized account of Capote and Lee researching
In Cold Blood.
Director
Bennett Miller made his dramatic feature debut with the
biographical film Capote (2005). Depicting the years Truman Capote spent researching and writing
In Cold Blood,
Capote garnered much critical acclaim when it was released (
September 30,
2005 in the US and
February 24,
2006 in the UK).
Dan Futterman's screenplay was based on the book
Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke.
Capote received five
Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance earned him many awards, including a
BAFTA Award, a
Golden Globe, a
Screen Actors Guild Award, an
Independent Spirit Award, and the 2006
Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
The film
Infamous (2006) which stars
Toby Jones as Capote and
Sandra Bullock as
Harper Lee, is an adaptation of the 1997
George Plimpton book. It not only covers Capote in Kansas but also his gossipy adventures with the New York social set. The film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August 2006 is followed by theatrical release on
October 13. Writing in
The Independent, the respected critic
David Thomson (
Beneath Mulholland,
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film), on
June 25, heralded
Infamous with extreme praise::The best new film I've seen this year is about the writer Truman Capote... I have no reason to attack
Capote, or diminish it. I thought it was a good picture. But this is better... So get ready for
Infamous - unless someone has the wit to find a new title. Understand in advance that the leading arbiters of culture will tell you it's the same thing warmed up, a story you know, a curiosity even. It's none of those. We do not write off this year's
Hamlet because we enjoyed last year's. We might listen to Mahler's
Ninth tonight and in a few months' time. You do not really know this story in advance, for a very good reason: you have not been moved by it yet. You have been intrigued, entertained - all good things. In
Infamous, among other things, you have Gwyneth Paltrow's breakdown and the fact that one of the killers took 30 minutes to die after he had been hanged. People collapse slowly. You will be surprised. [
3]
Capote (2005) film soundtrack by Mychael Danna. Reading by Capote.
A Christmas Memory LP. Reading by Capote.
House of Flowers Columbia 10" LP. Reading by Capote.
House of Flowers Broadway production. Saint Subber presents Truman Capote and Harold Arlen's
House of Flowers, starring Pearl Bailey. Directed by Peter Brook with musical numbers by Herbert Ross. Columbia 12" LP, Stereo-OS-2320. Electronically reprocessed for stereo.
In Cold Blood (1966) RCA Victor Red Seal monophonic LP, VDM-110. Reading by Capote.
In Cold Blood Random House unabridged on 12 CDs. Read by Scott Brick.
The Thanksgiving Visitor (1967) United Artists LP UAS 6682. Reading by Capote.
*
Infamous trailer*
Capote reading "A Christmas Memory"*
Capote biographer Gerald Clarke interviewed by CBS Radio's Don Swaim (1988)*Garson, Helen S.
Truman Capote: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston ; Twayne, 1992.
*
Hill, Patti. "Truman Capote: The Art of Fiction No. 17," Paris Review 16, Spring-Summer 1957*Inge, M. Thomas (1987)
Truman Capote Conversations. University Press of Mississippi. Interviews with Capote by Gerald Clarke,
David Frost, Eric Norden, George Plimpton,
Gloria Steinem, Jerry Tallmer,
Eugene Walter,
Andy Warhol,
Jann Wenner and others. ISBN 0878052747
*
Krebs, Albin. "Truman Capote Is Dead at 59; Novelist of Style and Clarity," New York Times (August 28, 1984)*Plimpton, George (1997)
Truman Capote, In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. Published by Nan A. Talese (imprint of
Doubleday). Collection of first-hand observations about the author. Basis for the film
Infamous (2006).
*Walter, Eugene, as told to Katherine Clark, foreword by George Plimpton (2001)
Milking the Moon: A Southerner's Story of Life on This Planet. Crown. Actor-novelist-raconteur Walter, who first met Capote when they were children, recalled several anecdotes about Capote as a child and adult.
*
Abstract of Truman Capote*
Books and Writers*
Capote (2005), film website*
Find A Grave*
Gerald Clarke on Capote*
Minnesota Public Radio: Public readings of "A Christmas Memory"*
Review: The Complete Stories of Truman Capote (2004)*
Review: The Dogs Bark (1973)*
Truman Capote: A Black + White Tribute*
Truman Capote: His Life & Works*
Truman Capote Papers*
"Truman's Aunt: A Bio in Cold Blood" by Dannye Romine
