Truman Streckfus Persons is born on September 30th in New Orleans, Louisiana to Arch Persons and Lillie Mae Faulk.
He is left with his maternal relatives in Monroeville, Alabama, where he befriends the girl next-door, Harper Lee (who would later write "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and forms a close bond with his older cousin Nanny Rumbley Faulk, or "Sook".
His mother weds Cuban textile broker Joseph Garcia Capote, having divorced his father the previous year, and Truman joins them in New York where they live rather well on his new stepfather's executive salary.
The following year, Truman enrolls at the elite Trinity School, where over the next few years he is taunted by classmates and molested by a schoolteacher. He also begins writing poems and stories that exhibit a talent far beyond his years.
His stepfather adopts him and his name is legally changed to Truman Garcia Capote. His mother has also changed her name from the provincial "Lillie Mae" to the more citified "Nina".
Capote's mother sends him to St. John's Military Academy in Ossining, New York, in a failed attempt to help the effeminate boy with the child-like voice and mannerisms toughen up. He is further harassed and sexually assaulted at the academy and returns to Trinity the following year.
Capote moves with his family to the Millbrook section of Greenwich, CT where he attends the local high school. He writes for the school newspaper and carries on a romantic relationship with a classmate.
Capote moves back to New York City with his family in June, and repeats his senior year at the Franklin School (renamed the Dwight School). While attending school, he takes a part-time job as a copyboy at The New Yorker magazine, and then quits, retreating to Alabama to write full-time. He returns to New York and the magazine within a matter of weeks.
He is fired from the New Yorker and returns to his family in Alabama where he immerses himself in writing "Summer Crossing", then abandons it to write "Other Voices, Other Rooms". The following year he retreats further south to New Orleans to continue writing.
Mademoiselle magazine publishes his short story "Miriam" in June and Harper's Bazaar publishes another short story "A Tree of Night" in the October issue. That same month Truman signs a contract with Random House for his first novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms."
Capote retreats to Yaddo, a writer's colony in Saratoga Springs, NY, in May to work on his novel where he has a romantic relationship with college professor Newton Arvin that lasts for several years.
"Other Voices, Other Rooms" is published and spends nine weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The homosexual overtones of the story and Truman's seductive photo on the book's jacket are the talk of the town.
A collection of Capote's short stories is published in "A Tree of Night" early in the year. Truman returns to Europe in February with writer and new boyfriend Jack Dunphy, with whom he will go on to share a life-long partnership.
Capote adapts his novella "The Grass Harp" into a play and the Henry James' novel "Turn of The Screw" into the movie "The Innocents".
"Breakfast At Tiffany's" is rejected from Harper's Bazaar for it's sexually liberated characters, but is picked up by Esquire magazine and then published as a book later in the year.
Capote travels to Holcomb, Kansas with Harper Lee to investigate the Clutter family murders. While there, he befriends the townspeople and even the accused murderers, visiting and interviewing them extensively over the next 7 years.
After excerpts are published the previous year in The New Yorker, Truman's highly anticipated book "In Cold Blood", about the Clutter family murders, is published in January. In celebration of the book's release and success and in honor of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham, Truman hosts the star-studded "Black and White Ball" at the Plaza Hotel in New York on November 28th. Dubbed the "Party of the Century" it is attended by the biggest names of high society, Hollywood, and politics and receives international media coverage.
Capote is commissioned to adapt "The Great Gatsby" into a screenplay, but the film studio later rejects the finished product. He follows the Rolling Stones on tour as a correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine and brings along Jackie Kennedy's sister, actress and socialite Lee Radziwell.
When Esquire publishes excerpts from Capote's yet to be released and much hyped book, "Unanswered Prayers", Truman is criticized for his thinly veiled and revealing portraits of his socialite friends.
The book in its entirety is published in 1986, two years after Truman dies.
Capote's battles with drugs and alcohol have ravaged his physical appearance. In an effort to "clean up" his look, Truman gets a face-lift, hair plugs, and dental work.
Capote's book "Music For Chameleons" is published and spends 16 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.
Capote is hospitalized on August 1st after suffering a convulsive seizure and spends about a month in the hospital. Upon his return home on September 15th, he suffers another attack and is taken back to the hospital. Over the next three years he is in and out of hospitals, but he still continues drinking and taking pills.
Truman Capote dies of liver disease complicated by phlebitis, an inflammation of the veins, and multiple drug intoxication, at the home of Johnny Carson's ex-wife, Joanna Carson on August 25th.
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