Season premiere of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
Click to viewFEUD: Capote Vs. The Swans tells the story of acclaimed writer Truman Capote, once a confidante to society’s most elite women, whom he nicknamed “the swans.” However, his act of betrayal (publishing their secrets in his short story La Côte Basque, which you can read here) effectively destroyed those relationships, banished him from high society, and sent him into a spiral of self-destruction from which he would ultimately never recover. The first four episodes were directed by Gus Van Sant. Additional episodes were directed by Max Winkler and Jennifer Lynch. All eight episodes were written by Guggenheim fellow and Pulitzer finalist Jon Robin Baitz.
2x1: Pilot
Truman Capote is the toast of New York society; an excerpt published in Esquire magazine threatens to topple him from his precarious perch.
2x2: Ice Water in Their Veins
In the aftermath of the Esquire article, Truman starts on a downward spiral; the Swans form a unified front.
Cast and characters:
Naomi Watts as Babe Mortimer Paley
Barbara Paley, known as Babe, was the youngest of the fabulous Cushing sisters. She worked at Vogue as a fashion editor before marrying her first husband, oil heir Stanley Mortimer. She later married CBS founder William S. Paley just four days after his divorce from Dorothy Hart Hearst was finalized. She was on several best dressed lists and was a fashion icon. On a hot day, she removed her scarf and tied it to the handle of her handbag as she was leaving lunch. Photographs of this launched a trend of scarves on handbags. Cleo Dillon in La Côte Basque was based on Babe.
Diane Lane as Slim Hawks Hayward Keith
When 17 year old Nancy Gross met William Powell at a desert resort, he referred to her as his "slim princess." The nickname stuck and she became known as Slim. She was a socialite known for her Hollywood connections, including discovering Lauren Bacall by showing her picture to producer (and her first husband) Howard Hawks, who based Lauren Bacall's tough, seductive character in To Have and Have Not on Slim. Lady Ina Coolbirth in La Côte Basque was based on Slim.
Chloë Sevigny as C.Z. Guest
Lucy Cochrane got the nickname C.Z. because her younger sibling couldn't pronounce "sissy." Once featured on the cover of Time magazine, C.Z. Guest was a Boston Brahmin and a member of America’s high society. During the wild days of her youth, Diego Rivera painted a nude portrait of her that hung in a bar in Mexico. She was married to British polo player Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (a first cousin, once removed, of Prime Minister Winston Churchill). Ernest Hemingway, who was fascinated by her, was the best man at the wedding.
Demi Moore as Ann Woodward
Ann Woodward was a former showgirl turned socialite. She became a prominent figure in New York high society due to her marriage to banking heir William Woodward, Jr. (she allegedly dated his father first). She was later suspected of murder after she (mistakenly?) shot and killed her husband in 1955. The incident was fictionalized in Capote’s novel Answered Prayers, with him accusing her of intentionally murdering Woodward. Prior to La Côte Basque (an excerpt from Answered Prayers) being published in Esquire, she [Spoiler (click to open)]died by suicide . Ann Hopkins in La Côte Basque was based on her.
Calista Flockhart as Lee Bouvier Radziwiłł
Lee Radziwiłł was a socialite and public relations executive, who was also the younger sister of First Lady Jackie Kennedy. After marrying Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł, she became a princess and had a son named Anthony, who eventually married journalist and future Real Housewives of New York star Carole Radziwiłł. Lee was having an affair with Aristotle Onassis when she introduced him to Jackie, who later married him.
Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson
Joanne Carson was the second wife of Johnny Carson. She met Capote when he was writing a book about the late night TV host. The two become such good friends that he moved into her Los Angeles home in the 1980s and died there. Jane Baxter in La Côte Basque was based on Joanne.
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote
Truman Capote was an esteemed novelist and writer who gained notoriety for his work on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood. As his popularity grew, so did his celebrity status, which was cemented by his high society and Hollywood friends, many of which included the women he would later draw inspiration from for his anticipated follow-up to In Cold Blood.
Joe Mantello as John Dunphy
Capote's partner, John Dunphy, was an American novelist and playwright. He was also a trained ballet dancer who toured with George Balanchine. He and his wife, fellow dancer Joan McCracken, appeared in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma. He was the chief beneficiary named in Truman's will.
Russell Tovey as John O'Shea
Truman met John O'Shea, the middle-aged vice president at a Long Island bank, while visiting a New York bathhouse. The married father of three did not identify as homosexual or bisexual, perceiving his visits as being a "kind of masturbation." They had a decade long relationship which was contentious and volatile, fueled by drugs and alcohol. After Truman made John his manager, John began trying to take control of Truman's business interests, which concerned Truman's friends.
Ella Beatty (daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening) as Kerry O’Shea
Kerry O’Shea is the daughter of John O’Shea, Truman’s longtime lover. Truman later changed Kerry’s name to Kate Harrington. When she became estranged from both her parents, Truman took Kate under his wing as his protégée, introducing her to fashion, modeling, art, and literature.
Jessica Lange as Lillie Mae Faulk Persons CapoteTruman’s mother Lillie Mae married Archelus Persons in hopes of escaping her small town. They divorced when Truman was two years old. Although she fought for sole custody, she locked him in hotel rooms so she could go on dates and left him with relatives for long stretches. When she married her second husband José García Capote, she changed her first name to Nina to seem more sophisticated.
Chris Chalk as James Baldwin
James Baldwin is a celebrated novelist, poet, and activist, coming into his own during the civil rights and gay liberation movements. During his writing career, he had encounters with Capote, who often recounted their run-ins as one-off anecdotes at parties.
Treat Williams as William S. Paley
William Paley founded CBS. He also founded the Paley Center for Media (originally known as the Museum of Broadcasting and later the Museum of Television and Radio). Sidney Dillon on La Côte Basque was based on him.
Pawel Szajda and Yuval David as Albert & David Maysles
The Maysles brothers filmed Karen Gundersen interviewing Truman about In Cold Blood for Newsweek (the video won't embed but you can watch it here). The segment also showed Truman taking Alvin Dewey (the lead investigator in the Clutter family murders) and his wife Marie around New York. Several years later, Lee Radziwiłł hired the Maysles brothers to work on a movie about the Bouvier family. For this project, they interviewed Lee’s aunt Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and Lee’s cousin/Edith’s daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (Little Edie). Lee’s original movie was not completed but the Maysles brothers were so interested in Big Edie and Little Edie that they raised enough money to return and film an additional 70 hours, which became the documentary Grey Gardens.
Of note: two of Capote's main swans, Gloria Guinness and Marella Agnelli, are not listed in the characters for Feud. Pamela Churchill Hayward Harriman (who married Slim Keith's second husband and had a long term relationship with Marella Agnelli's future husband) was one of Capote's lesser swans, and is not on the cast list either.
Gloria Rubio y Alatorre was a Harper’s Bazaar columnist who was described as “the most elegant woman in the world” by Eleanor Lambert (the founder of the Met Gala, New York Fashion Week, and the International Best Dressed List). When Gloria married her fourth husband Loel Guinness in 1951, her daughter Dolores was almost 15 and her new stepson Patrick was almost 19. Four years later, Dolores and Patrick married. Patrick died in a car crash ten years later. Afterward, Dolores fell in love with Patrick’s half-brother, the Aga Khan.
Marella Agnelli was an Italian princess who married Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli in 1953. A few weeks later, photographer Richard Avedon immortalized her long neck in the photo above (the publicity photo for Feud: Capote vs. the Swans with the actresses' necks made longer is an ode to Marella). He said, “The most beautiful woman I ever photographed was Signora Gianni Agnelli.” Christian Dior said he loved the photo so much that it was the inspiration for his new narrow, subtly fitted, elongated ‘ligne H’ - ‘H-silhouette’ - with long torsos and wide necklines. Truman called her the “European swan numero uno.” Oscar de la Renta told Vogue, “She has the best taste in the world - of anyone.”
Some related books for anyone who wants to read more about this season’s subject matter. I haven’t read all of these so I can’t definitively say which ones are good. Feel free to chime in if you’ve read any of these or if there are other books you recommend.
Answered Prayers by Truman Capote, the long anticipated follow up to Truman's critically acclaimed bestseller In Cold Blood, was ultimately published with three stories: Unspoiled Monsters, La Côte Basque, and Kate McCloud, all of which were printed in Esquire in 1975 and 1976 (Answered Prayers was finally published posthumously in 1986). The story Mojave, which also features a depiction of Bill and Babe Paley, was printed in Esquire in 1975 and later published in Capote's Music for Chameleons (1980).
the non-fiction book that the series is based on:
Capote’s Women by Laurence Leamer
fictionalized version of what happened:
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
a non-fiction account of Truman's Black and White Ball:
Party of the Century by Deborah Davis
fictionalized account of Truman and Lee’s friendship:
Such Good Friends by Stephen Greco
non-fiction about Ann Woodward:
Deliberate Cruelty by Roseanne Montillo
fictionalized account of Ann Woodward and her husband's death:
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles by Dominick Dunne
Slim's memoir:
Slim by Slim Keith
non-fiction about Babe and her two sisters:
The Sisters by David Grafton
biographies about Truman Capote:
Capote by Gerald Clark
Truman Capote by George Plimpton
non-fiction about the filming of Breakfast at Tiffany's
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson
1 2