David Susskind Archive: Truman Capote Tells All (1979) | Full Documentary
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- čas přidán 9. 03. 2023
- #friendship #socialcircle #kingsofdocs
An extensive interview originally broadcast in Feb. 1979. Host David Susskind and Truman Capote discuss the icon's history, his writing, his social persona and impact. More than an interview, the wide-ranging conversation between longtime friends delves into topics you are unlikely to see elsewhere.
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I had a flower shop on 51st. on first ave during that tome frame.
Mr. Capote and his male friend at the time would often stop by to pick up flowers....or have them delivered to his apt. at the UN Plaza.
He was always very very kind to me and never expected special treatment as many famous & rich often would expect that I serviced.
@@FunnyImpala-jn6wk new york now is horrible! it’s
lost its
edge & gone to disney world! eek!
A lot of southern writers of that time were like that. Hunter Thompson was said to to the perfect southern gentleman when meeting fans.
he seemed like a guy who will avoid conflict at all costs.
Nice story - thanks.
In 1972 or 73 not sure my mother was a waitress for him and a couple others she said he over the course of dinner asked her a few questions about kids , her life just simple things as she came to the table now this was over 50 yrs ago when they left she found 2 ten dollar bills and a hundred dollar bill where he was sitting .nice man .
That's incredible!
David Susskind was being a jerk toward Truman Capote, but he handled this interview like a champ. He acted completely unbothered by Susskind’s rudeness and sometimes had hilarious answers.
I agree with your comment!
David Susskind is a name that was always kind of known and familiar when I was in my growing-up years.
I never really watched an interview, at the time... didn't realize how bad he was, Yikes.
Haha.
Recently watched him interview Mary Tyler Moore (in that special her husband put together) - mr. Susskind seemed desperate to pick a fight with her over whether women should - like, cook for their families and - exist, and stuff.
It was super weird! LOL. How did he get a job as a TV journalist...?
😂😂😂lol i was like dude calm down it ain’t that serious
David was being unnecessarily confrontational, and asking silly questions about Studio 54 and plastic surgery, for the first 17 1/2 minutes....
Yea whats up with him? I think hes pissed off at Capote for some reason. TC probably snubbed him at some party once, probably too drunk to even remember anything about it 😅. Or maybe Suss couldn't get into 54? He seems a little prickly about that, droning on and on.
Ok, as I watch on i realize he's pissed at Capote for several things. After this interview he was no doubt pissed at him for one more reason.😅 Despite trying desperately to embarrass and belittle Truman throughout the interview Susskind only succeds in making himself more unlikable.
@@michaelknight4041 Vincent Canby, writing for the NYT, took pleasure in humiliating Susskind over his late 60s Lee Radziwell version of “Laura” (a project Capote pressured him to direct) by noting that it was such a critical flop that Johnny Carson would always taunt him by playing the famous “Laura” theme when he introduced Susskind as a guest on the Tonight Show. That’s classic cringe comedy but Susskind hated to be the object of Johnny’s public scorn. David blamed Truman for this….
I will only say that Truman Capote helped me through a difficult Christmas this year. I only just discovered his story, A Christmas Memory. I watched several different versions of it and also listened to Truman personally narrate the story. I made some life long friends of the characters, and was distracted from otherwise difficult life circumstances that kept me from being with family. I will always remember this Christmas as the one I spent recuperating alone surrounded by the new friends I came to know through his literary creations. Next year, though, I hope to spend Christmas with the family I am missing now.
What a wonderful story
I'll read that next year, as you're celebrating with your loved ones.
!q!q!qq!qqq
I read a Christmas Memory every year. I almost know it without the words on the pages - so glad you got such comfort from this wonderful work. Hope you have a great year and the most beautiful Christmas in 2024 back with your family. 😊
Isn’t it wonderful that we can pick up a book and be drawn into a world of words that comfort us in such a way. I will read it and forever think of this post. ❤
The way he speaks about Gore Vidal is hilarious!!😂
Truman never disappoints. He handles Susskind beautifully
RIGHT?
Shows who has the Class,
In the early 80s as a bike messenger I delivered a package to him at UN Plaza, one doorman asked the other, " is the asshole home?"
Susskind?
@@pamcornelius9122😅 👍 Capote is at least a likeable asshole.
Truman lived at UN Plaza. Personally I think Susskind was the bigger asshole 😁
Well earned moniker. Capote was a sociopath who destroyed his friends’ lives.
@@julietteyork6293 I think so too! I cannot believe all these people on here defending this creepy little man. He was a notorious liar. David Susskind knew it and was calling him out on it. Ordinarily, I would say an interviewer giving a guest this hard time would be inappropriate, but not here. he was a brilliant writer, but a horrible self-absorbed person.
Used to love to watch The David Susskind Show, Sunday nights, living in NYC in the 70s-80s. Capote was fascinating. Rest in peace.
Norman Mailer gave Truman Capote the best compliment I've ever heard him offer about a writer. Mailer said, "Truman Capote wrote the best sentences of his generation". Wow!
C.H.
I'm not sure Mr. Mailer was being complementary.
No arguing with that.
Truman coasts beautifully through Susskinds judgements only occasionally a wayward glance. Truman wholly and wonderfully himself.
Dude try to bully Truman, he was not having it. I can say what I want to say lol😂😂😂
OMG, beautifully put! Yes indeed!
This is very interesting. Capote makes no bones about who he is.
Capote was a victim of his own success. If he had stuck to writing after the phenomenal success of "In Cold Blood," instead of pursuing his fantasy of being the darling of New York society, we would have no doubt had more superb books from him. Rest in peace Truman.
It’s hard to write. And it’s lonely. Would u have wanted him to be some kind of of compulsive scribbler like Asimov or so many others. Leave the guy alone and celebrate his accomplishments.
He didn’t regret it, and still had the friendship of a lot of the people he most admired, don’t pity him, he would have hated that most of all ❤
I think the increased drinking really clouded his judgment. Once his chapter on the swans hit the magazine stands everyone around him feared what he would write about them.
"More tears are shed over answered prayers..."
Why would you write when everyone is watching tv
Fascinating that after he was pressed for an answer, the first person he named that he loved was Barbara Paley.
Love Truman Capote. Taught In Cold Blood in all my university courses. He was a master and funny too. A great intellectual and David Susskind was one of the first great television interviewers who asked tough questions and pulled no punches unlike today's candy ass interviewers.....
Truman once said or wrote to an acquaintance of mine that he did this show because he loved Susskind's hair. David was no candy-ass, not in the way you mean it.
Did David Suskind ask everyone he interviewed the tough questions? No celebrity would sit for a no holds barred interview like this today. Everything is scripted now.
loved that book too, being a true crime lover and that one being kind of a pioneer of its genre.
God you said it! Can you imagine this kind of encounter on Conan O'Brien or anywhere else? They're all so insufferably GLIB.
After basically scoldingg Truman for gossiping through his writings, Susskind happily sits there dishing the dirt happily encouraging the man.
No matter what....the man was a genius.
Truman, one of the best southern writers.
Im still enamored with man. As a kid in the 70’s I found him a bit off putting. My granny used to say “I don’t care for his type but the man can write “. Then came the 80’s and I delved into his writings. My gosh. His words hit me like a slap in the face in the most profound way‼️♥️ RIPTrumanCapote
I came here after seeing Capote VS. The Swans. 😊
A late friend of mine lived around the corner in midtown Manhattan. Truman would come over and a few times I
Made him a cocktail “double vodka hold the produce tall fellow”. At this point in the 1970’ he was quite shunned by NY Society but very interesting for an hour
This is actually one of the best interviews EVER. It is very honest without being mean spirited. Capote's incisive wit is spot on. Part of what made Capote such a great writer was his level of observation. My gosh!
Why not focus on Truman Capote's work? Horrible interview.
The interviewer poses so many negatively-inflected, accusatory questions, in fact statements, about Capote's bad behaviour. Invasive, overly personal and nasty.
It's all so combative. Granted Capote's social life sparked scandal and opprobrium but there were so many more interesting topics to discuss. Capote lived in so many places, wrote brilliant books and knew fascinating people.
@@barbarajones9385It is sad that the interviewer missed the chance to actually interview such an interesting character, not mention literary titan, as Capote. But I think the other commenter was referring to his cunning wit and the rather satisfying way that he continually comes off the better here despite Susskind's almost personal obsession with trying to make him look bad. At least thats my feeling.
It seems antagonistic, but it also seems that the interviewer and subject are friends, so maybe this is just banter, in any case, I didn't really enjoy it. I hope Capote wasn't serious about admiring the Shah. (I've read that the Shah was installed by the Eisenhower administration to attend to United States oil interests and that the Shah was murderously ruthless.)
Maybe, but he doesn't say merely "one of the better Capote interviews"; he says "one of the best interviews EVER [sic]". That's rather pushing it. I've listened to or read hundreds of better interviews.
Why not focus on Capote’s work?”
Here’s why, he produced nothing but gossip after In Cold Blood. At this point, Capote the writer was long dead. What remains was the Capote celebrity
People were amazed at how his mind worked.
Observant of his surroundings and very attuned to other’s mannerisms.
A serial Name Dropper.
Must have been a challenging time to be a lifetime Fem type.
Speaking of his childhood growing up in Alabama.
His best friend was a distant relative the equivalent of a cousin, he referred to her as Sook or Sookie.
Truman’s mom never accepted his sexuality and thought her son just needed to link up with the right Doctor to heal and set him free from his gay ailment.
Truman was witty and he enjoyed the company of eccentric, wealthy ladies.
He felt like one of the Girls.
Too bad he croaked at such a young age and was plagued by drugs and alcohol addiction, especially throughout his later year’s.
Truman Compote, a one of a kind, Gone too soon..
Truman (as fucked up as he may have been towards the end): brilliant. Susskind: a worried bore.
perfectly said.
He sounds like a bore & a judgmental a$$ he might have been a tad jealous.
I wonder if Truman left after the interview and went straight to Studio 54?
He had his facelift party there !
Truman never went straight ANYWHERE.....
You can tell that was a time when people spoke their minds without fear.
It is tragic and painful that the very first person to come to his mind as loving was Babe Paley. I'd like to think that out there, somewhere, they've reconciled and gotten back to loving one another, because it seemed very real.
Great writer and personality, one of a kind. I was going to write about my dad's bar-buddy friendship with Truman around the time this video was filmed, it's a funny story. But I'll just say Dad tremendously liked him- he liked "characters"- and always got a kick when Truman was on TV, like in "Murder by Death". Exquisite, lyrical writer and social observer, there will never be another Truman.
I think Breakfast...is the most perfect novella ever written
Truman- such beautiful words!
He will always be unforgettable to me!
“The rich cling together” incredibly observant one of the greatest writers in the world. I can’t wait to read Answered Prayers after seeing this interview.
Of course rich cling together, there is no other way unless you are a great artist of some kind .
Really? ‘The rich cling together’ is what is seen as an ‘incredibly observant’ comment? Geesh.
He never finished his novel "Answered Prayers"
We are all waiting to read Answered Prayers 😂
Been waiting years to see this interview again. A broken man on top of his game, a true artist 🙏🏼
Susskind was very prickish. Capote gave an interesting interview and quite revealing.
Truman Capote trying to portray Studio 54 as wholesome, harmless fun is ludicrous. The rampant drug abuse, sexual depravity and criminal activity of the owners and patrons is legendary. It made Sodom and Gomorrah look tame. The least he could have done is acknowledge the hedonism and his attraction to it, but honesty wasn’t his forté. My opinion of Capote changed after I learned how he betrayed his closest friends. He was a sociopath, which is one of the reasons he was fascinated with murderers.
He was hugely voyeuristic
I just read “ Answered Prayers”, and it is really something! Love Grandma Debbie
David Suskind was a pompous arrogant jerk in this interview. Truman Capote was remarkably tolerant and patient.
Well said!
Reprinted!! Amen!
Poor Truman. One can tell that in this interview and subsequent others that his addictions were overcoming him. He's still one of the best American authors of all time.
He was sober here. He didn't drink or drug in 1979, that's how he was able to write the pieces in Music For Chameleons.
Zero signs of “addictions”during this interview. Possibly one wants others to appear less than grand in order to feed insecurities.
@@JeffRebornNowhis addictions were rampant. And he wrote much of MfC much earlier. Answered Prayers’ scandal killed him, slowly.
Genius is a beautiful gift. If misused, disappears.
Well, he sounds just like my alcoholic uncle, deep in denial. It does not diminish his genius writing for me though. He was brilliant.
Where would you get this level of conversation and guest on TV today? That's right: you won't.
What an amazing interview. There were moments when I thought Truman was going to get up and leave the studio. I must be honest and admit that I did not know who Susskind was, but it became obvious that these two were friends, otherwise neither of them would have permitted the other such liberties, liberties that ended up producing such a great interview.
I use to watch David Susskind Show regularly on tv growing up in NYC, celebrities were use to being ask tougher questions back then and knew how to handle themselves. Not like the sensetive kind we have now who need to be praised all the time.
Suskind isn’t smart enough to be capote’s friend.
@@Calibound8 Spoken like a true know it all who knows nothing.
One of the great literary geniuses of all time.
It’s like all folks can talk about, is drugs and alcohol, about him.
Truman Capote was an intellectual powerhouse, an ingenuous wit, a child prodigy, with great powers of observation.
Reminds me of my gay patients. He seems like a ball of fun.
To be honest? I find it to be the opposite - I cannot find much other than the autopsy results about his "drug use" besides his prescriptions he was on (good god the cocktail is insane by the way) - thats beside the point!
I find everyone seems to either hate the man's guts or find him to be an endlessly fascinating and unique intellectual. I find myself on the latter end I think he's a wonderful personality regardless of how he treated his damn friends for god sake. I just find it truly interesting the amount of modern hatred i've noticed he has garnered. I think those same people would fucking HATE Andy Warhol if only they knew more... lmao
Great! The wink-too funny! Despite his celebrity persona, Truman was a great American author.
TRU sounds like anything BUT an intellectual literary genius. Rather a bore!
@@terryhammond1253 If you think Truman is boorish you should see Kerouac with Buckley! He sounded like a drunken moron. Buckley was laughing at him the entire interview-"So here is your great counterculture messiah."
@@stephencarroll230 Kerouac was expecting a one on one interview. I believe he agreed to do it because he admired Buckley. He was upset to find out he was to be part of a panel with a pre determined boring “beatnik” theme and got drunk. I still thought he was funny and entertaining..and the comment you replied to didn’t say Truman was boorish he said he was a bore. Sheesh.
@@terryhammond1253 you’re just jealous because you never went to Studio 54.
@@terryhammond1253 Read some books.
What a lovely memory- thanks for sharing it❤
I felt like Susskind was acting through this entire interview specifically to get a rise out of Capote.........and Capote knew about it.
At times in this interview, Capote looks like Marlon Brando.
When he cocks his head back looks up slightly I see it too.
Genius! Truman had genius. He answered a question I have won- dered for decades, regarding unanswered prayers. Thank you, Truman. R.I.P. 🙏🏼
Genius at being an in-denial, mean gurl.
I bet his conversations where the best.
Truman Capote was a good friend of my father's and he was a lovely man. I still remember him even though I was just a little kid. David Susskind was being a jerk, trying his best to humiliate him.
The swans felt the same way until he wrote about them. He obviously didn't turn your father into fodder for his books.
I’m rather enjoyed seeing an interviewer confronting the interview subject with direct uncomfortable questions. He wasn’t letting Truman just present a canned narrative.
I found it interesting that Truman was not skirting the accusations or apologizing for his lifestyle.
This beats pre- approved soft ball questions.
This is pretty funny. He says somethings not true then he says something and then he says what he just said wasn’t true, so how would you ever know if he’s lying or not. I saw the movie of him and it was done very well. What a character. What a great interview.
IMO - I just love listening to Truman Capote. He was so witty. If he were alive today, he would have had a very successful social platform, because the world has changed so much.
The theme for Open End (Gateway to the West) still brings chills remembering some of the interviews that went on almost all night. Those days and shows like Firing Line were really America at it's best.
Truman Capote is one of the best writers of the 20th century and so many interviews focus on his vices instead of his writing. Truman was discriminated against and maintained his poise and sense of humor. This man invented a new genre of literature!
Amazing interview ! Truman was on fire .. Susskind taking him on .
he came to the univ of houston once to read from his works, but had to be led away as he was so tipsy.....I ADORE HIM.
I miss celebrity of yesteryear like Truman Capote. The most riveting person one can listen to.
Truman Capote tried to straddle a fine line: being an outsider who'd known rejection, and a social insider partaking of Manhattan's finest circles. But you can't have both, as he found out. After his career began to falter (the death of his mentor, the Random House cofounder-publisher Bennett Cerf, was a huge setback), Capote cannibalized his friendship's with the elite, and he was exiled for the rest of his life.
The 😢😢s a
Touche, Truman for fighting against David Suskind's accusations and bigotry! David should be grateful that he didn't get up and walk away.
What a wonderful interview. I’ve always been intrigued by Truman and love that his story is being told.
What year is this interview and is it before or after his shocking Esquire story C'ote Basque that turned high society against him
Patronising - Truman is wonderful
Cautious discussion between two friends. Had a certain image of Capote. Now know him a bit better. Still don't know him because he hides so much 😅
I would have loved to experience Studio 54
It was amazing, except at the time I didn't realize what a moment in time it was. I just though things were going to just go on like that, didn't see the conservatism of the 80s coming or AIDS coming, it was just a party at the end of the world, "The world being a broke and run down New York City". The hardest part was getting in.
Thanks for posting. Hope the second half comes available.
I made it to 16:27 when Susskind snaps his fingers at Truman as he demands information from him...& I'm done. This isn't an interview, it's an interrogation.
Truman paid a price for being himself. He endured so many of these public floggings, these brutal humourless interrogations by philistines like Susskind. Dull judgmental questions from a dull judgmental man.
Mr Capote triumphs. Middle America was appeased by the public flogging of the fey nonconformist...but when the tv screen goes blank they're all still drowning in Middle America torpor. Meanwhile Truman is already back home, a faded but still luminous bloom in the glorious midnight garden of 1970s NYC.
Nobody gave a flying fuck that he was a nelly. They despised him because he was a despicable human being who used everyone around him for his own ends, even the vile trash who murdered a family for no reason. Get off your soapbox honey. Truman doesn’t need anyone’s help to pity himself. He was already superb at it
A genius, spoken down to by a hack, but the genius knows this hack is easily crushable - no sport in that for a literary giant.
...David Susskind condescending
ATTACK on Truman is so awful even
Susskind's children should be ashamed, considering that he is gone.
Never, ever seen a gory hack job
like this. Terrible.
I agree wholeheartedly! 🙄
Capote realized that he would have to sacrifice his personal life in the present in order to gain immortality in the future.
Bill Paley's sharpened pencils were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a $10K mil. tax write off. What a philanthropist.
Thank you for posting!
I’m doing lights for a one man show all about Capote towards the end of his life. I didn’t even know who capote was until watching this interview. Thanks for posting!
The actor portraying Capote really does look and sound a lot like him, it’s incredible
Tom Hollander.
Tom Hollander in the Hulu series as of late.
I have never seen Capote look or sound better. He is of course known for one of his works, “In Cold Blood,” which I read and saw the film adaptation. It was a riveting work and he was helped by Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He had family in Alabama who were neighbors of Harper Lees family, so they knew each other when they were young. Currently, Hulu is streaming the film, “Feud,” about Truman Capote and some of his socialite friends, Babe Paley, Lee Raziwell, and CZ Guest. They adored him because he was able to tell great stories.
It's Radziwill, he grew up next to Harper Lee, they were childhood friends, Truman's swans were really lonely and isolated even in a crowd type of women who were naive about the machinations of a southern queen....
Great facelift!
He could maul that interviewer so easily but he goes easy on Suskinn...
Really enjoyed the documentary. Thanks
Thank you. Watching from Alaska.
I guess it's human nature to want to confront our heros about their weaknesses and hang-ups. But Capote seemed to be ok with interviewers caging him about his addiction. I wonder if it's just because he was also addicted to admiration and accolades-quite addictive, or because he wanted help? Great clip-Thanks!
All these are Treasures. Thank you.
At first I felt that the interviewer was being harsh, but he knows his subject.
He did a great job. He wasn’t being a jerk. This is a real journalist. Today, those who call themselves journalists, are weak and are not after the truth.
Let the guy breathe David....
Seems like David had him on to clear his own reputation but it backfired on him. Truman could certainly hold his own.
Fantastic Telly.
Why is this dude giving Truman such a hard time? Is that the way interviews went back then???
they.were quite close.so David wanted to stand his ground. Any other interviewer wouldve been stonewalled by Capote
apparently they knew each very well & could butt heads without any problems
Yes! They didn't just kiss celebrity 🐎 like they do now, and that why things were more interesting, people weren't so sensitive and they could hold their own.
Of course they were. Even later. "Britney, you're 17, are you a virgin? How big your breasts are?
"Tina Turner, what are you? You're not just black, you're some mix, but I can't figure it out WHAT you are!"
"Ricky Martin, admit it you're gay!"
etc.
His opinion of the Bouvier sisters certainly changed a couple of years later.
Love Truman
some are outraged at susskind. That's always been his style, actually I found him tame here. Watch him scold WFB jr or Cassius Clay in other videos.
what a great interview - thank you for posting. i never heard of david susskind before but i like his tone, and he appears to be very comfortable with truman. i would have been around 17 when this interview first aired. i used to see people like truman capote on the late night talk show circuit, or sometimes on hollywood squares or matchgame having no idea the wonderful or impressive past lives they led in younger days. they were for the sophisticates or grown-up viewers. they're all gone now. now that i am in my 60's i can really appreciate them and their accomplishments.
This interviewer is a real trip. I realize the interview dates from 1979, but it's like this guy stepped right out of 1950. Such a fussy prude. lol.
“There’s no drinking or sniffing at Studio 54”
😂 his conviction, so Truman! 🤣
This is Truman Capote,he is being mocked. If you hate him,he shouldn’t have been on. Talk about Breakfast at Tiffany’s talk about In Cold Blood. Not eating tiny lambs and partying at Studio 54. Susskin was trying to embarrass Truman. So many questions to ask.You could tell he hated him. Sad,actually. I understand people were furious at him,however,browbeating someone works not at all.
This man was one of a kind he had an IQ higher than most so called intelligent people of our day….such an interesting person RIP
Nice and very entertaining interview.
What a remarkable and talented man. I could listen to him for hours. It's as if his aura is charged with electricity
This isn't an interview. It's a scolding.
A wonderfully combative interview. Interesting to the end.
When Truman died in 1984 Gore Vidal stated "that it was a wise career move,"
I remember this show was on late on Sunday nights. FOX5
Love all Capote's works, though I could never re-read "In cold blood", it was so wrenching. His best writing was about travel, imo, "The dogs bark".
Can't help thinking of another great writer similarly destroyed by success, Tennessee Williams.
Ah yes. Tennessee Williams. 🎉
I can highly recommend a book of his collected stories called Music for Chameleons, particularly "Handcarved Coffins - a nonfiction account of an American crime".
This is brilliant. Love them both. Best interview ever w Truman. David was such a wonderful character.
Why, why, why? Capote handled himself well with this character.
Truman Capote's comment about "...a writer has only their own experience to work from..." and other comments at this point in the interview remind me of the famous interrogation scene in the movie "Basic Instinct" . In that scene Catherine Tramell (played by Sharon Stone) says, "I'm a writer. I use people for what I write. Let the world beware".
“They probably were growing it” 😂😂😂😂
Truman gave a great interview. He was great sober .
David Sussking was not a typically handsome man, but I find him very appealing. He was so masculine and charming. He died the same day as Andy Warhol.
A wonder interview by David Susskind!!!!!!!
Oh, man! Truman threw everyone under the bus! 😂
This is an Interview. Not a documentary.
What a stupid question. He goes to studio 54 because it’s fun. He was a social butterfly.
I think he wanted to hear salicious stories from him .. who wouldn’t !
I'm wondering would he enjoy his new found fame of today? Think he would find it worth observing. ❤ Truman. Also gets me to thinking of F. Scott..