TRUMAN CAPOTE

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924, and died in California in 1984.  He wrote both fiction and non-fiction short stories, novels and novellas, travel writing, profiles, reportage, memoirs, plays and films. 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) and the lighter novel The Grass Harp (1951; play, 1952). Capote also earned acknowledgment when his short story A Christmas Memory (1956) was turned into a TV movie.  A Christmas Memory is considered by many, a holiday tradition, ranking with It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story.

Capote's so-called nonfiction novel In Cold Blood (1966; film, 1967) was based on a 6-year study of the murder of a rural Kansas family by two young drifters. It created a sensation and enhanced its author's reputation.  In the small mid-western town of Holcomb , Kansas , a family is murdered. Capote saw the write-up in the paper and decided to visit the town and find out what happened. He began his research before the murderers were captured. He was there when they were brought in to jail. He lived in the town; he gained the trust of the townspeople and the murderers. At least enough trust so that they spoke candidly in front of him (he had a little help from his childhood friend, Harper Lee [author of To Kill a Mockingbird], who also interviews townspeople).

The book was a commercial success, but Capote was never the same after. He spent six years of his life on this project, and much of it was nerve-racking. While imprisoned, Perry and Dick considered him a true friend and wanted his help to get a pardon. Capote felt torn by his affections for the two and by the knowledge of the horrific murders they had committed.

Although never assumed by the critics at the time, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was to become one of the most famous and influential works Capote ever wrote.  Capote had a difficult time coming up with an ending and it took him longer than he expected to finish it.  When he did finish it, the Hearst Corporation tried to omit his use of four-letter words and the way that Holly made her living from sex. Capote refused to change a word.  Later in life, Capote said that Holly Golightly was his favorite character. Along with the book’s publishing came what Capote called the Holly Golightly Sweepstakes.  Many women he knew, and some he did not tried to claim that she was the inspiration for his character.

 Three years after Capote finished the story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was released by Paramount Pictures (1961).  Capote had originally picked Marilyn Monroe to play the role of Holly Golightly, but Paramount chose Audrey Hepburn. Capote adored Marilyn (one of his best biographical pieces is written about her in The Dogs Bark).  Capote was heartbroken that Marilyn Monroe wasn’t cast, but was more upset with the changes Paramount made in the screen version of his novel, in particular, the change of the ending.  Instead remembering Holly and not knowing where she is, the narrator ends up convincing Holly to stay in New York with him and makes her realize that, like her and her cat, they belong to each other.  This totally changed the theme of the story.  In the story, Holly is always traveling-searching for a place where she belongs.

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