Truman Capote

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Image:TrumanCapote1959.jpg Truman García Capote (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.

Contents

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Biography

Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons in New Orleans, Louisiana, to salesman Archulus "Arch" Persons and Lillie Mae Faulk, a 16-year-old beauty queen. 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 at age eight and claimed to have written a book at age nine. 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 García Capote in 1935. Capote attended the Trinity School where he was given an IQ test as an entrance exam and reportedly scored 215, the highest in the school's history. He later attended the Dwight School in New York, where an award is now given annually in his name, and Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he wrote for the school paper, The Green Witch.

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."

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Other Voices, Other Rooms

In 1945, Mademoiselle published his short story "Miriam," which won an O. Henry Award (Best First-Published Story) in 1946. The award and story 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, New York, and in North Carolina, eventually completing it in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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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."

Image:Truman Capote 1924 1.jpg 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 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 included "Shut a Final Door" (from The Atlantic Monthly), which also won an O. Henry Award (First Prize) in 1949. His 1951 novella, The Grass Harp was adapted as a 1952 play, a 1971 musical and a 1995 film. 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.

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Friendship with Harper Lee

Capote was a lifelong friend of his Monroeville neighbor Harper Lee, and he served as 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, however, that Lee did indeed write the entire book herself. See the NPR Story about this.

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Breakfast at Tiffany's

For Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's was a turning point, as he explained to Roy Newquist (Commentary, 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 other–-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.
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In Cold Blood

The "new book," In Cold Blood, was inspired by a 300-word New York Times article describing the unexplained murder of the Clutter family in rural Holcomb, Kansas:

November 16, 1959
Wealthy Farmer, 3 of Family Slain
A 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 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 percent. 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 him--down to the last autobiographical parentheses--with 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, and--in my view--done 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.

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Celebrity

Capote was openly gay in a time when it was common among artists but rarely talked about. He was as well known for his high-pitched, lisping voice, offbeat manner of dress and fabrications about acquaintances as he was for his literary output. He often claimed to know intimately people he had in fact never met — among them, 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. Although Capote had faint praise for other writers, one who had his approval was Lacey Fosburgh, author of Closing Time: The True Story of the Goodbar Murder (1977). Image:Capoteparty.jpg On November 28, 1966, in honor of publisher Katharine Graham, Capote hosted his legendary masked 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).

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.

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Later life

In later life, Capote became fairly reclusive, most likely as a reaction against the rejection of his former friends. On those occasions when he was seen in public, he frequently exhibited wildly eccentric behavior, due to his alcoholism and addiction to various drugs — both prescription and nonmedicinal — despite several attempts at drug rehabilitation.

Substance abuse caused him to have hallucinations in his final years, and often required hospitalization. He died from an overdose of pills at the age of 59 on August 25, 1984, in the home of 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, California, leaving behind his longtime companion, author Jack Dunphy, with whom he shared a non-exclusive relationship from the time of their first meeting in 1948. 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.

Capote twice won the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

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Capote on film

Capote's childhood experiences are captured in the 1956 memoir "A Christmas Memory," he adapted to television and narrated. Directed by Frank Perry, it aired 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).

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.

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Works about Capote

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 portayed 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 highly fictionalized account of Capote and Lee's time 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.

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Discography

  • 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.
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Published and other works

Year Title Type/Notes
approx. 1943 Summer Crossing Novel; posthumously published 2005
1945 "Miriam" Short story; published in Mademoiselle (magazine)
1948 Other Voices, Other Rooms Novel
1949 A Tree of Night and Other Stories Collection of short stories
1951 The Grass Harp Novel
1952 The Grass Harp Play
1953 Beat the Devil Original screenplay
1954 House of Flowers Broadway musical
1956 The Muses Are Heard Non-fiction
1956 "A Christmas Memory" Short story; published in Mademoiselle (magazine)
1957 "The Duke in His Domain" Portrait of Marlon Brando; published in The New Yorker
1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's Novella
1960 The Innocents Screenplay based on Turn of the Screw by Henry James
1963 The Collected Writings of Truman Capote
1964 A short story appeared in Seventeen magazine
1966 In Cold Blood "Non-fiction novel"
1968 The Thanksgiving Visitor Novella
1971 The Great Gatsby Screenplay based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, rejected by Paramount Pictures
1975 "Mojave" and "La Cote Basque, 1965" Short stories from Answered Prayers; published in Esquire
1976 "Unspoiled Monsters" and "Kate McCloud" Short stories from Answered Prayers; published in Esquire
1980 Music for Chameleons Short story collection
1986 Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel Published posthumously
2005 Summer Crossing Previously lost first novel — published in the 2005-10-24 issue of The New Yorker
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Listen to

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References

  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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 recounts several anecdotes about Capote.
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External links

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