Editing Truman Capote (section)

== Personal life ==

=== Sexuality ===
Capote was openly [[homosexuality|gay]]. Although Capote never embraced the [[Gay Rights Movement]], his own openness about homosexuality and his encouragement for openness in others made him an important player in the realm of gay rights.<ref>{{cite news |last=Grzesiak |first=Rich |year=1987 |title=My Significant Other, Truman Capote |url=http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226220505/http://www.axiongrafix.com/capote.html |archive-date=February 26, 2012 |access-date=February 26, 2012}}</ref> In his piece "Capote and the Trillings: Homophobia and Literary Culture at Midcentury", Jeff Solomon details an encounter between Capote and [[Lionel Trilling|Lionel]] and [[Diana Trilling]] – two New York intellectuals and literary critics – in which Capote questioned the motives of Lionel, who had recently published a book on [[E. M. Forster]] but had ignored the author's homosexuality. Solomon argues:{{Blockquote|When Capote confronts the Trillings on the train, he attacks their identity as literary and social critics committed to literature as a tool for social justice, capable of questioning both their own and their society's preconceptions, and sensitive to prejudice by virtue of their heritage and, in Diana's case, by her gender.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Solomon|first=Jeff|title=Capote and the Trillings: Homophobia and Literary Culture at Midcentury |journal=Twentieth Century Literature |date=Summer 2008 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=129–165 |jstor=20479846 |doi=10.1215/0041462X-2008-3001}}</ref>}}

=== Relationships ===
One of his first serious lovers was [[Smith College]] literature professor [[Newton Arvin]], who won the [[National Book Award]] for his [[Herman Melville]] biography in 1951 and to whom Capote dedicated ''Other Voices, Other Rooms''.<ref name="Clarke">{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375702419&view=excerpt |title=Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-375-70241-9 |format=excerpt |access-date=August 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208192142/http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375702419&view=excerpt |archive-date=December 8, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Barry Werth |title=The Scarlet Professor: Newton Arvin: A Literary Life Shattered by Scandal |publisher=Doubleday |year=2001 |location=New York |pages=61–66, 108–13}}</ref>

Capote spent over two decades partnered with [[Jack Dunphy]], a fellow writer. In his book, ''"Dear Genius&nbsp;..." A Memoir of My Life with Truman Capote,'' Dunphy attempts both to explain the Capote he knew and loved within their relationship and the very success-driven and, eventually, drug- and alcohol-addicted person who existed outside of their relationship.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunphy |first=Jack |author-link=Jack Dunphy |url=https://archive.org/details/deargeniusmemoir00dunp |title="Dear Genius&nbsp;..." A Memoir of My Life with Truman Capote |date=June 1987 |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]] |isbn=978-0-07-018317-9 |location=New York}}</ref> Their separate living quarters allowed autonomy within the relationship and, as Dunphy admitted, "spared [him] the anguish of watching Capote drink and take drugs".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Diliberto |first=Gioia |date=October 15, 1984 |title=Truman Capote's Lover Jack Dunphy Remembers "My Little Friend" |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088891,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618033255/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088891,00.html |archive-date=June 18, 2013 |access-date=September 10, 2013 |magazine=People |volume=22 |issue=16}}</ref> Their relationship ultimately became platonic after Truman's story "La Côte Basque, 1965" was published in ''Esquire'' in 1975, but their lives remained intertwined.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=February 29, 2024 |title=Truman Capote Had a Troubled Love Life. But 'Feud' Tells a (Slightly) Different Story. |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a60028426/feud-capote-vs-the-swans-truman-lovers-relationships/ |access-date=August 16, 2024 |website=Esquire |language=en-US}}</ref> Dunphy was named the chief beneficiary in Capote's will.<ref name=":0" />

In 1973, Capote met John O'Shea, a married banker from Long Island, who became his business manager and lover.<ref name=":0" /> They had a toxic relationship as both men were heavy drinkers. Reportedly, O'Shea would become verbally and emotionally abusive when intoxicated.<ref name=":1" />

Capote was often seen with his companion Bob MacBride, a computer engineer for [[IBM]] and  sculptor.{{Sfn|Colacello|1990|pp=357, 400}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jeffers |first=Juliette |date=February 6, 2024 |title=Truman Capote and Andy Warhol Hit the Turtle Bay Health Club |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/truman-capote-and-andy-warhol-hit-the-turtle-bay-health-club |access-date=August 16, 2024 |website=Interview |language=en-US}}</ref> In the book ''[[The Andy Warhol Diaries]],'' Capote's friend Andy Warhol referred to MacBride as Capote's boyfriend and mentioned that MacBride had left his wife and children in a June 1978 diary entry.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Warhol |first1=Andy |url= |title=The Andy Warhol Diaries |last2=Hackett |first2=Pat |date=1989 |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-51426-2 |location=New York, NY |pages=120, 146, 210}}</ref> Their relationship was a "bond of brothers rather than of lovers" according to MacBride.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=Gerald |url= |title=Capote: A Biography |date=1989 |publisher=Cardinal |isbn=978-0-7474-0352-4 |location=London |pages=442, 508}}</ref> They met at a bookstore in 1972, but Capote distanced himself from MacBride after he met O'Shea.<ref name=":2" /> Capote rekindled his relationship with MacBride in 1978.<ref name=":3" />

=== Public persona ===
Capote was well known for his distinctive, high-pitched voice and odd vocal mannerisms, his offbeat manner of dress, and his fabrications. He often claimed to intimately know people whom he had never met, such as [[Greta Garbo]].{{Citation needed|reason=Garbo visited Capote's apartment on at least one occasion, according to Jack Dunphy's letters (see Talk Page)|date=June 2024}} He professed to have had numerous liaisons with men thought to be heterosexual, including, he claimed, [[Errol Flynn]]. He traveled in an eclectic array of social circles, hobnobbing with authors, critics, business tycoons, [[philanthropists]], Hollywood and theatrical celebrities, royalty, and members of [[Upper class|high society]], both in the U.S. and abroad. Part of his public persona was a longstanding rivalry with writer [[Gore Vidal]]. Their rivalry prompted [[Tennessee Williams]] to complain: "You would think they were running neck-and-neck for some fabulous gold prize." Apart from his favorite authors ([[Willa Cather]], [[Isak Dinesen]], and [[Marcel Proust]]), Capote had faint praise for other writers. However, one who did receive his favorable endorsement was journalist [[Lacey Fosburgh]], author of ''[[Closing Time: The True Story of the Goodbar Murder]]'' (1977).