Truman Streckfus Persons was a novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor, born on 30th September 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana USA, with many of his novels, short stories and plays written under his stepfather’s surname – hence Truman Capote – being recognized as literary classics, including the 1958 novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the true crime novel “In Cold Blood” (1966). His work led to at least 20 film and television adaptations. He passed away in 1984.
Have you ever wondered how rich Truman Capote was? According to sources it has been estimated that Truman Capote’s overall net worth was $10 million, accumulated through an extraordinarily successful writing career, during which he published more than 30 editions and became one of the 20th century’s best known writers. His career spanned four decades, during which his popularity and net worth increased significantly.
Truman Capote Net Worth $10 Million
Truman Capote was born into a family of odd parents, who largely neglected their son, often leaving his upbringing to other people, meaning that Capote spent most of his childhood with his mother’s relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. This is where he made friends with young Harper Lee, who would also later become a famous writer. After his parents’ divorce, Truman moved with his mother and stepfather Joe Capote to New York, and in 1935 his name was changed to Truman Garcia Capote. During schooling, he was a mediocre student as he did well in courses that he was interested in, but paid barely any attention to those he didn’t like. He went to a private boy’s school in Manhattan from 1933 to 1936, where he showed his talent for story-telling and writing. Capote’s family then moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where Truman started attending Greenwich High School. As his family life became worse due to his mother’s alcoholism, Capote didn’t do well in school, and after the family returned to Manhattan, he had to repeat 12th grade at the Franklin School.
He was still in his teenage years when he got his first job as a copyboy for “The New Yorker” magazine, in which he tried to get his stories published but with no success. Truman eventually left this job to fully dedicate his time to writing. His first successes were short stories, such as “Miriam” which was published in Mademoiselle in 1945, and in 1946 winning the prestigious O. Henry Award. Soon, a few of his other stories were published, such as “A Tree of Light”, “My Side of the Matter” and “Jug of Silver”, which launched his literary career and established his net worth. Two years later, his first novel, “Other Voices, Other Rooms” was published to mixed reviews, but eventually sold well. His collection of short stories, “A Tree of Light”, repeated the success of his novel, and he soon published a book containing his travel essays, entitled “Local Color”. Not long after, in the fall of 1951, his second novel, “The Grass Harp” was also published, and was soon adapted for stage.
In the early ‘50s, Truman started writing film scenarios for films such as “Stazione Termini”, “Beat the Devil” and Henry James novel adaptations “The Turn of the Screw” and “The Innocents”. It was in 1958 that he scored perhaps his greatest success, with “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the film version of which was released three years later, starring Audrey Hepburn. In 1965, after years of working on it, Capote published his non-fiction novel “In Cold Blood”, which was based on a true story that he and Harper Lee had witnessed. The novel became an instant best-seller, and truly brought Truman acknowledgement and increased wealth. However, he soon took to drinking and taking tranquilizers, which escalated over the years. His last major work, a collection of non-fiction and fictional pieces, “Music for Chameleons”, was published in 1980.
Privately, Truman’s life-long friend was writer Harper Lee, and the character of Idabel from novel “Other Voices, Other Rooms” was based on her. His partner for a number of years was Jack Dunphy. After suffering from two bad falls, Capote died on 25th August 1984 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, apparemtly also from complications of liver disease.
