Capote tapes
Documentaries

THE CAPOTE TAPES

In 1975, Truman Capote, darling of the New York literary scene and everyone’s favourite bitchy chat-show guest, released the first chapter of his long-awaited novel, Answered Prayers. It was meant to be his masterpiece. Instead, it sparked his downfall. Fifteen years later, George Plimpton, the editor of the Paris Review, began putting together an oral history of ‘the Tiny Terror’ (as Capote had been known). He aimed to interview everybody who’d ever known Capote – and Capote had known everybody. With unique access to the interview tapes on which Plimpton’s biography was based – ranging from Norman Mailer to Lauren Bacall, Lee Radziwill to Gore Vidal – we unpick the glittering rise and fall of America’s most iconic gay celebrity.