Truman Capote was 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." At least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from Capote novels, stories and screenplays.
He was born as Truman Streckfus Persons to a salesman Archulus Persons and young Lillie Mae. His parents divorced when he was four and he went to live with his mother's relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. He was a lonely child who learned to read and write by himself before entering school. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her new husband, Joseph Capote, a Cuban-born businessman. Truman Capote began his regular job as a copy boy at The New Yorker. During this time, he also began his career as a writer, publishing many short stories which introduced him into a circle of literary critics. His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948, stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for nine weeks and became controversial because of the photograph of Capote used to promote the novel, posing seductively and gazing into the camera.
He was born Truman Streckfus Persons, but "Capote" wasn’t a pen name—it came from his stepfather, Joseph Capote, and his name was changed to “Truman Garcia Capote” in 1935.
Truman was classified as a “lonely child,” and before he even entered formal schooling, he used that loneliness (along with his obvious smarts) to teach himself how to read and write. By 11, he was already writing his first short stories.
Capote’s schooling was varied, but rich. After he and his mother moved to New York City from Monroeville, Alabama, he attended a number of high-profile institutions, including the Trinity School, St. Joseph Military Academy, Greenwich High School, and the Franklin School (now called the Dwight School). While finishing up his high school education, Capote worked as a copyboy for The New Yorker, which served as his post-high school proving ground.
The star of his Breakfast at Tiffany’s was originally named “Connie Gustafson” (doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?), which was then changed to “Holiday Golightly” before being edited down to “Holly Golightly.”
It took place backstage at a theater. "I have a very important part to play," he once told Gloria Steinem. "The only trouble is that I’m in a panic because I don’t know my lines… Finally, the moment comes. I walk onstage… but I just stumble about, mortified. Have you ever had that dream?”
In 1972, the magazine hired Capote as their correspondent to cover the Stones’ Exile on Main St. tour. Although Capote headed out on the road with the band, he did not finish the article, later telling Andy Warhol in an interview for the magazine, "I enjoyed [being on tour]. I just didn’t want to write about it, because it didn’t interest me creatively. You know? But I enjoyed it as an experience. I thought it was amusing..."
During his early years, Capote lived with distant relatives in Alabama, including his mother’s relation, Nanny Rumbley Faulk, whom Capote lovingly called “Sook.” Sook made baby Capote his own baby blanket, which he carried around with him even into adulthood. Capote reportedly even had the blanket on the day he died.
After his death, Capote was cremated and his ashes were placed in a mausoleum in Los Angeles’ Westwood Memorial Park. Other celebrities rest nearby, including Mel Torme and Heather O’Rourke. Not all of Capote’s ashes are in Westwood, however, as some of them were given to his beloved friend Joanne Carson and another portion were mixed in with his partner Jack Dunphy’s, which were then scattered in Long Island.
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