TRUMAN CAPOTE, American author died (b. 1924) an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a "non-fiction novel" and was co-written by an uncredited Harper Lee, Capote’s childhood friend. Lee modeled the character of Dill on Capote, known then as Truman Persons. A recent memoir by Chicago Tribune reporter, Marja Mills, The Mockingbird Next Door, quotes childhood friend of Capote’s, Harper Lee calling him “a psychopath.”
At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays. Capote, all of 5 feet 4 inches tall and openly gay in a time when it was common among artists, but rarely talked about, was well known for his distinctive, high-pitched voice and odd vocal mannerisms, his offbeat manner of dress and his fabrications. One of his first serious lovers was Smith College literature professor Newton Arvin, who won the National Book Award for his Herman Melville biography.
Capote often 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 and 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 ("Truman Capote has tried, with some success, to get into a world that I have tried, with some success, to get out of."). He famously commented on Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, "[It] isn't writing at all -- it's typing"
The wisdom of Truman Capote
All literature is gossip.
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Fame is only good for one thing - they will cash your check in a small town.
Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.
I don't care what anybody says about me as long as it isn't true.
Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.
Love is a chain of love as nature is a chain of life.
Mick Jagger is about as sexy as a pissing toad.
My major regret in life is that my childhood was unnecessarily lonely.
No one will ever know what 'In Cold Blood' took out of me. It scraped me right down to the marrow of my bones. It nearly killed me. I think, in a way, it did kill me.
Sometimes when I think how good my book can be, I can hardly breathe.
The quietness of his tone italicized the malice of his reply.
Well, I'm about as tall as a shotgun, and just as noisy.
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