Truman Garcia Capote (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, short story writer, journalist/nonfiction writer, and playwright, among other things. Named Truman Streckfus Persons at birth, he was renamed after his mother's marriage to stepfather Joseph Capote.
While he was born in the Big Easy, much of his childhood and youth were spent in Alabama. Here he met fellow future author (Nelle) Harper Lee, and his childhood self serves as the basis of the character Dill Harris in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
A heavy drinker, Capote died of alcohol-related liver disease a month shy of his 60th birthday, while visiting his close friend Joanne Carson (second ex-wife of Johnny Carson) in Los Angeles.
Capote was portrayed on stage by Robert Morse in the 1989 one-man play Tru, and on screen by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005) and Toby Jones in Infamous (2006). Both films take the composition of In Cold Blood as their subject. He is also a main character in Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, which recounts his falling-out with his New York socialite friends, played by Tom Hollander.
Works by Truman Capote with their own page on TV Tropes:
Tropes associated with Truman Capote and his work:
- Adam Westing: He has a pivotal, albeit brief, role in the Murder Mystery spoof Murder by Death despite being a flamboyant personality but not really an actor at all. The character winds up being "Truman Capote" but given another name.
- Vampiric Draining: The short story "Master Misery" implies that "dream collector" Mr. Revercomb is consuming the psyches of the people he pays.
