Truman Capote

13 Stories

A Classic Fictional Name Was a Last-Minute Switch

Truman Capote made it 'Holly Golightly' in manuscript, which is now up for auction

(Newser) - Even those who haven't read Breakfast at Tiffany's or seen the movie starring Audrey Hepburn might be familiar with her character's name of Holly Golightly. But what only diehard fans might know is that author Truman Capote originally named the character Connie Gustafson—only to scratch the...

Harper Lee Reveals What Ruined Friendship With Capote

In 2006 letter, she calls her longtime friend a 'compulsive' liar

(Newser) - In the soon-to-be published contents of a decade-old letter, Harper Lee accused her "oldest friend," Truman Capote, of being an inveterate liar who destroyed their friendship with his jealousy. Wayne Flynt, an Alabama historian and longtime friend of Lee's in his own right, is publishing a book...

Killer's Long-Lost Manuscript Has Twist on Famous Murders

Richard Hickock says he and his partner were paid for the 'In Cold Blood' killings

(Newser) - The Wall Street Journal is out with a fascinating story about one of the most famous murder cases in US history. The newspaper has discovered that Richard Hickock, one of two killers hanged for the In Cold Blood murders chronicled by Truman Capote, wrote his own never-published manuscript about the...

You Can Buy Truman Capote's Ashes
You Can Buy
Truman Capote's Ashes
Aug 23, 2016 9:21 AM CDT

You Can Buy Truman Capote's Ashes

But why would you want to

(Newser) - Have $4,000 to $6,000 burning a hole in your pocket and really weird taste in souvenirs? Consider bidding on Truman Capote's ashes when they go up for auction Sept. 23 and 24 in LA. Capote left the ashes to his friend, and Johnny Carson's wife, Joanne...

In Cold Blood Notes May Contradict Capote's Story

Judge rules they can finally be released

(Newser) - The son of a Kansas law enforcement officer who helped investigate the 1959 killings that inspired the book In Cold Blood can publish his father's field notes —which he says substantially contradict the account found in Truman Capote's literary masterpiece. In a ruling made public yesterday, Shawnee...

Capote's Remains Invited to NYC Party

But 'risk of theft was too high' at after-party for Broadway premiere

(Newser) - Breakfast at Tiffany's almost had a very high-profile guest mark its opening on Broadway last week: author Truman Capote himself. Producers wanted to fly in Capote's ashes for the after-party, the New York Post reports. They were even willing to pay for first-class airfare for the remains, which...

Files Suggest Capote Fudged In Cold Blood Facts

For one thing, lead Kansas investigator didn't act on tip immediately

(Newser) - Newly surfaced files call into question Truman Capote's assertion that his In Cold Blood classic, about the murder of a farm family in Kansas in 1959, was a stickler for accuracy, reports the Wall Street Journal . In the book, for example, Capote writes that Kansas Bureau of Investigation officials...

Bodies of In Cold Blood Killers Exhumed in Old Case

Florida police think they might have killed family there, too

(Newser) - The bodies of the two men executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family that became infamous in Truman Capote's true-crime book In Cold Blood were exhumed today in an effort to solve the slaying of a Florida family weeks later. Bone fragments were collected from the skeletal...

Cops Eye In Cold Blood Killers in Fla. Murder Mystery

Exhumation could provide missing link to '59 slayings

(Newser) - After sniffing out 587 suspects, police are edging closer to solving a 52-year-old Florida murder mystery. The likely culprits: the murderous duo featured in Truman Capote's landmark book, In Cold Blood, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. Sarasota detective Kim McGath now believes Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, who notoriously killed...

Martinis, Vinegar: Famed Writers' Favorite Snacks

Authors look to everything from sherry to popsicles for inspiration

(Newser) - Some of history's greatest writers have relied on "food for thought." For Truman Capote, a daily regimen of coffee, tea, sherry, and martinis was his path to creative greatness. Others kept it simpler: Marcel Proust relied on espresso, while Jesus Land author Julia Scheeres swears by the...

Truman Capote's Brooklyn Home on Sale for $18M

The place he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany 's

(Newser) - The Brooklyn townhouse where Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's and other notable works is on sale for $18 million. The building, on the market for the first time in 70 years, is expected to break sales records as one of the most expensive townhouses in the borough, Sotheby's International...

Celebs: What I'd Have Said on the Moon
 Celebs: What I'd Have 
 Said on the Moon 
GLOSSIES
Jul 18, 2009 5:44 AM CDT

Celebs: What I'd Have Said on the Moon

(Newser) - With Monday marking the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, Esquire digs up celebs’ takes on what they’d have said if it had been them instead of Neil “One Giant Leap” Armstrong:
  • Muhammad Ali: Bring me back a challenger, ‘cause I’ve defeated everyone here on
...

Scammer: I Forged Author Signatures

'Autographed' first editions brought big bucks in eBay fraud

(Newser) - A man who made more than $300,000 by selling "autographed" first editions of books that actually contained forged signatures pleaded guilty to fraud in a Philadelphia court today. Forrest Smith's offerings on eBay included books by Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Anne Rice, Tom Wolfe, and Tom Clancy,...

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