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Truman Capote Biography

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Truman Capote was one of the greatest writers and personalities of the 20th century. He debuted on the literary and social scene of the 1940s with lush stories of decadent and tragic characters, published in monthly women's magazines like Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle. With the release of his first novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms" in 1948, he catapulted to fame and, at just 23 years-old, standing a mere 5 feet 3 inches tall with a child-like appearance and effeminate voice, Truman quickly became the talk of the town, and he reveled in the attention.

He moved in the same circles as the great writers of his era - Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Paul Bowles - and boasted "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee as a close friend. But what set him apart was his ability to reel society women into his confidence and merge the worlds of the literary, the privileged, and the political as was witnessed at his ‘party of the century', the Black and White Ball in 1966.

Truman's foray into the world of non-fiction with the ground-breaking novel "In Cold Blood", a seven year investigation into the Clutter family murders in a small Kansas town, won rave reviews and paved the way for true crime as entertainment.

By the mid 1970s, his fall from grace had begun as he turned on his confidantes and offered up their private lives in thinly veiled stories published in Esquire magazine. Drugs and alcohol took a heavy toll on his appearance and personality and by the early 1980s, he seemed less like the social charmer he once was and more like an embittered has-been. He spent the last few years of his life in and out of hospitals and finally died from liver disease at the age of 59 in 1984.

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AWARDS & HONORS

  • O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories for "Miriam" (1946)
  • O. Henry Award Prize Stories, First Prize for "Shut a Final Door" (1948)
  • O. Henry Awards Prize Stories, Third Prize for "The House of Flowers" (1951)
  • National Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature (1959)
  • Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Motion Picture Screenplay for "The Innocents" (1962)
  • Inducted as a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1964)
  • Edgar Allan Poe Award, Best Fact Crime, for "In Cold Blood" (1966)
  • Emmy Award for the television adaptation of "A Christmas Memory" (1967)
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INTERESTING FACTS

  • Biographies about Truman attest that he could read before he started school and he took to carrying around a small dictionary with a pencil and notepad at the age of five or six.
  • Capote had a little known hobby of decoupaging snakebite kits with pictures, words, and phrases from magazines. There was a theory that he created the boxes to help him deal with a childhood fear of snakes.
  • Truman received poor grades in school and was often truant, and uncooperative, as he seemed less interested in following rules and more interested in starting his career as a writer.
  • One of Capote's short stories appeared in Seventeen magazine in 1964.
  • Truman was parodied in the third issue of the satire magazine Mad.
  • Capote appeared in the 1976 comedy film "Murder by Death" and made an uncredited appearance in the 1977 Woody Allen film "Annie Hall".
  • Truman Capote didn't approve of the taming of his novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for a screen adaptation and had wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the starring role.
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NOTABLE WORKS oF LITERATURE

  • "Other Voices, Other Rooms" (1948)
  • "A Tree of Night and Other Stories" (1949)
  • "The Grass Harp" (1951)
  • "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1958)
  • "In Cold Blood" (1966)
  • "Music for Chameleons" (1980)
  • "Answered Prayers: The Unfinished Novel" (1987)
  • "Summer Crossing" (2005)
  • "Portraits and Observations: The Essays of Truman Capote" (2007)
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NOTABLE WORKS oF STAGE & SCREEN

  • "Beat The Devil" (screenplay) (1953)
  • "House of Flowers" (Broadway musical) (1954)
  • "The Innocents" (screenplay) (1960)
  • "A Christmas Memory" (teleplay) (1967)
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NOTABLE STAGE & SCREEN PORTRAYALS

  • "Infamous": a film starring Toby Jones as Truman Capote, based on George Plimpton's 1997 book "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career" (2006)
  • "Capote": a film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote, based on George Clarke's 1988 book "Capote: A Biography" (2005)
  • "The Truman Capote Talk Show": A one-man theatre production starring Bob Kingdom (1994)
  • "Tru": A one-man play starring Robert Morse (1990); recreated in 1992 for television.
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SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES

  • "Capote: A Biography" by Gerald Clarke (1988)
  • "Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career" by George Plimpton (1997)
  • "Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote" edited by Gerald Clarke (2004)
  • "Truman Capote, Enfant Terrible" by Robert Emmet Long (2008)
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Truman Capote Timeline

  • 1924
    Truman Streckfus Persons is born on September 30th in New Orleans, Louisiana to Arch Persons and Lillie Mae Faulk.
  • 1930
    He is left with his maternal relatives in Monroeville, Albama, where he befriends the girl next-door, Harper Lee (who would later write "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and forms a close bond with his older cousin Nanny Rumbley Faulk, or "Sook".
  • 1932
    His mother, having divorced Arch Persons the previous year, weds Cuban textile broker Joseph Garcia Capote, and Truman joins them in New York where they live rather well on his new stepfather's executive salary.
    The following year, Truman enrolls at the elite Trinity School, where over the next few years he is taunted by classmates and molested by a schoolteacher. He also begins writing poems and stories that exhibit a talent far beyond his years.
  • 1935
    His stepfather adopts him and his name is legally changed to Truman Garcia Capote. His mother has also changed her name from the provincial "Lillie Mae" to the more citified "Nina".
  • 1936
    Capote's mother sends him to St. John's Military Academy in Ossining, New York, in a failed attempt to help the effeminate boy with the child-like voice and mannerisms toughen up. He is further harassed and sexually assaulted at the academy and returns to Trinity the following year.
  • 1939
    Capote moves with his family to the Millbrook section of Greenwich, CT where he attends the local high school. He writes for the school newspaper and carries on a romantic relationship with a classmate.
  • 1942
    Capote moves back to New York City with his family in June, and repeats his senior year at the Franklin School (renamed the Dwight School). While attending school, he takes a part-time job as a copyboy at The New Yorker magazine, and then quits, retreating to Alabama to write full-time. He returns to New York and the magazine within a matter of weeks.
  • 1944
    He is fired from The New Yorker and returns to his family in Alabama where he immerses himself in writing "Summer Crossing", then abandons it to write "Other Voices, Other Rooms". The following year he retreats further south to New Orleans to continue writing.
  • 1945
    Mademoiselle magazine publishes his short story "Miriam" in June and Harper's Bazaar publishes another short story "A Tree of Night" in the October issue. That same month, Truman signs a contract with Random House for his first novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms."
  • 1946
    Capote retreats to Yaddo, a writer's colony in Saratoga Springs, NY, in May to work on his novel where he has a romantic relationship with college professor Newton Arvin that lasts for several years.
  • 1948
    Other Voices, Other Rooms is published and spends nine weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The homosexual overtones of the story and Truman's seductive photo on the book's jacket are the talk of the town.
  • 1949
    "A Tree of Night" , a collection of Capote's short stories, is published in early in the year. Truman returns from Europe in February with writer and new boyfriend Jack Dunphy, with whom he will go on to share a life-long partnership.
  • 1952
    Capote adapts his novella "The Grass Harp" into a play, and the Henry James novel "Turn of The Screw" into the movie "The Innocents".
  • 1958
    Breakfast At Tiffany's is rejected from Harper's Bazaar for it's sexually liberated characters, but is picked up by Esquire magazine and then published as a book later in the year.
  • 1959
    Capote travels to Holcomb, Kansas with Harper Lee to investigate the Clutter family murders. While there, he befriends the townspeople and even the accused murderers, visiting and interviewing them extensively over the next 7 years.
  • 1966
    After excerpts are published the previous year in The New Yorker, Truman's highly anticipated book "In Cold Blood", about the Clutter family murders, is published in January. In celebration of the book's release and success and in honor of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, Truman hosts the star-studded "Black and White Ball" at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on November 28th. Dubbed the "Party of the Century", it is attended by the biggest names of high society, Hollywood, and politics and receives international media coverage.
  • 1972
    Capote is commissioned to adapt "The Great Gatsby" into a screenplay, but the film studio later rejects the finished product. He follows the Rolling Stones on tour as a correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine and brings along Jackie Kennedy's sister, actress and socialite Lee Radziwell.
  • 1975
    When Esquire publishes excerpts from Capote's yet to be released and much hyped book, "Answered Prayers", Truman is criticized for his thinly veiled and revealing portraits of his socialite friends. The book in its entirety is published in 1986, two years after Truman dies.
  • 1979
    At 54, Capote's battles with drugs and alcohol have ravaged his physical appearance. In an effort to "clean up" his look, Truman gets a face-lift, hair plugs, and dental work.
  • 1980
    Capote's book "Music For Chameleons" is published and spends 16 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
  • 1981
    Capote is hospitalized on August 1st after suffering a convulsive seizure and spends about a month in the hospital. Upon his return home on September 15th, he suffers another attack and is taken back to the hospital. Over the next three years he is in and out of hospitals, thought he continues drinking and taking pills.
  • 1984
    Truman Capote dies of liver disease complicated by phlebitis, an inflammation of the veins, and multiple drug intoxication, at the home of Johnny Carson's ex-wife, Joanne Carson on August 25th.
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