Truman Capote

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, L.A., on September 30, 1924. He was a Southern Gothic novelist, journalist, and celebrated man-about-town. He was widely hailed as a stylist after publication of his earliest writings. These include his novel of alienated youth, “Other Voices, Other Rooms” (1948), the Gothic short stories in “A Tree of Night” (1949), and the lighter novel “The Grass Harp” (1951; play, 1952). The novella “Breakfast at Tiffany's” (1958; film, 1961) introduced the charming, hedonistic Holly Golightly as a heroine. Childhood reflections formed the basis of two short stories that were adapted for television: "A Christmas Memory" (1956) and "The Thanksgiving Visitor" (1968). Capote's nonfiction novel “In Cold Blood” (1966; film, 1967) was based on a six-year study of the murder of a rural Kansas family by two young drifters. Capote wrote about the jet set in “The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places” (1973). “Answered Prayers,” an unfinished novel, was published posthumously in 1987. He died on August 25, 1984.