Once the hottest writer in town,Truman Capotealso was a master at self destruction.
Cut to The Bistro, Beverly Hills circa 1973.
Cradling his cocktail, Capote was at once amiable and petulant.
Truman CapoteGetty
Capote, always theatrical, finally turned to strangers at the next table.
What should I do to him?
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The strangers smiled.
Order another martini, said one.
Better make it a double.
Thats the way he reacted decades earlier when he and I had our stressful encounter.
In his heyday, Capote occupied a uniquely broad presence in film, TV and pop culture.
His profile onCBS This Morninglast weekend reminded us of his powerful influence on New Yorks social scene.
Capote had even become a semi-regular on Johnny CarsonsTonight Show.
But Capotes lasting impact was as a writer a craft that would ultimately destroy him.
Unexpectedly, I was to play a minor role in his demise.
In fact, Capote the working writer was direct and business-like, a wandering fact-gatherer.
He could drop into Holcomb, Kansas, and comfortably gain trust among suspects and eyewitnesses.
But there were problems.
Merrick felt Redford was a decade too young for the role, his dark past lacking credibility.
Redford tended to agree, so Evans next courted Warren Beatty for the lead.
Beatty declined, insisting that Evans himself was the right casting for the role.
Tempted, Evans decided to keep his day job.
Merrick and Evans also had conflicting ideas on directors but agreed on questions of style.
Set in the roarin 1920s, Gatsbys world was on a spending spree.
Truman Capote understood that era, indeed still lived in it.
I was a lone dissenter on his hiring.
Friends in the publishing business had warned me that Capote seemed committed to drinking, not writing.
Meanwhile, the concept of a CapoteGatsbywould run aground at The Bistro in Beverly Hills.
When I confronted Capote, he gave me a benign smile.
How could I give a shot to improve on Fitzgerald?
Hes the best so why would I rewrite him?
Then you acknowledge having simply retyped a few chapters?
And you will, of course, still pay me for my work.
Of course, I said.
After all, you are a brilliant typist.
One who deserves another drink.
I signaled the waiter.
