Truman Capote, b. New Orleans, La., Sept. 30, 1924, d. Aug. 25, 1984, was a Southern Gothic novelist, journalist, and celebrated man-about-town. He was widely hailed as a stylist after publication of his earliest writings. These include his novel of alienated youth, Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948), the Gothic short stories in A Tree of Night (1949), and the lighter novel The Grass Harp (1951; play, 1952). The novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958; film, 1961) introduced the charming, hedonistic Holly Golightly as a heroine. Childhood reflections formed the basis of two short stories that were adapted for television: "A Christmas Memory" (1956) and "The Thanksgiving Visitor" (1968). Capote's so-called nonfiction novel In Cold Blood (1966; film, 1967) was based on a 6-year study of the murder of a rural Kansas family by two young drifters. It created a sensation and enhanced its author's reputation. Capote wrote about the jet set in The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places (1973). Answered Prayers, an unfinished novel, was published posthumously in 1987