Gore Vidal Biography (1925-)

Born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, October 3, 1925, at the United States MilitaryAcademy, West Point, NY; raised in Washington, DC; son of Eugene Luther (Director of Air Commerce under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and an aviation expert) and Nina (Gore) Vidal. Addresses: Home--Ravello, Salerno, Italy. Agent--(For acting) William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, NewYork, NY 10019; (for writing) Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd.,Beverly Hills, CA 90212-1825. Contact--Greenberg, Glusker, Fields, Claman &; Machtinger, 1900 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Birth Details: October 3, 1925; West Point, New York, United States

Famous Works

Credits; Film Appearances
Roma (also known as Fellini's Roma), United Artists, 1972.
Gore Vidal: The Man Who Said No (documentary), 1983.
Senator Brickley Paiste, Bob Roberts, Paramount/Miramax, 1992.
Professor Philip Hayes Pitkannan, With Honors, Warner Bros., 1994.
Himself, The Celluloid Closet, Sony Pictures Classics, 1995.
Director Josef, Gattaca, Columbia, 1997.
Congressman Page, Shadow Conspiracy, Buena Vista, 1997.
Credits; Television Appearances; Specials
Himself, Paris Live! The French Revolution Bicentennial, Arts andEntertainment, 1989.
America at Risk: All the President's Women, syndicated, 1992.
Memory & Imagination: New Pathways to the Library of Congress,PBS, 1992.
Dick Cavett with Gore Vidal, PBS, 1992.
"Amelia Earhart," The American Experience, PBS, 1993.
"Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage," American Masters, PBS, 1994.
In Search of Oz, Arts and Entertainment, 1994.
"Gore Vidal's Gore Vidal," A&E Stage, Arts and Entertainment,1995.
Host, Urban Heartlands: Gore Vidal's Washington, D.C., The DisneyChannel, 1996.
On-camera commentator, Thomas Jefferson, PBS, 1997.
Credits; Television Appearances; Movies
Minister, Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid, TNT, 1989.
Credits; Television Appearances; Series
Host, Hot Line, 1964.
Invention, The Discovery Channel, 1990.
The Great Depression, PBS, 1993.
Credits; Television Appearances; Episodic
Appeared frequently in television and radio talk shows.
Writings;Screenplays
The Catered Affair (adaptation of the teleplay Wedding Breakfast by Paddy Chayefsky), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956.
I Accuse!, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1958.
(With Robert Hamer) The Scapegoat, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959.
(With Tennessee Williams) Suddenly, Last Summer (adapted from theplay by Tennessee Williams), Columbia, 1959.
The Best Man (adapted from the play), United Artists, 1964.
(With Francis Ford Coppola) Is Paris Burning? (based on the novelby Dominique Lapierre; also known as Paris brule-t-il?), Paramount, 1966.
The Last of the Mobile Hotshots (adapted from The Seven Descents of Myrtle by Tennessee Williams), Warner Bros., 1970.
(Uncredited) The Sicilian, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1970.
(With others) Caligula, Analysis Film, 1980.
(With others) The Palermo Connection (also known as DimenticarePalermo), LIVE Home Video, 1990.
Writings;Teleplays
"Dark Possession," Studio One, CBS, 1954.
"Smoke" (adapted from the story by William Faulkner), Suspense, CBS, 1954.
"Barn Burning" (adapted from the story by William Faulkner), Suspense, CBS, 1954.
"A Sense of Justice," Philco Television Playhouse, NBC, 1955.
"The Turn of the Screw" (based on the story by Henry James), Omnibus, CBS, 1955.
"The Blue Hotel" (adapted from the novel by Henry James), Danger,CBS, 1955.
"Stage Door" (adapted from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber), The Best of Broadway, CBS, 1955.
"Summer Pavilion," Studio One, CBS, 1955.
"Visit to a Small Planet," Goodyear Television Playhouse, NBC, 1955.
"A Farewell to Arms" (adapted from the novel by Ernest Hemingway), Climax, CBS, 1955.
"The Death of Billy the Kid," Philco Television Playhouse, NBC, 1955.
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (adapted from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson), Climax, CBS, 1955.
(As Edgar Box) Portrait of a Ballerina (adapted from his novel Death in the Fifth Position), CBS, 1956.
"Honor," Playwrights 56, NBC, 1956.
"The Indestructible Mr. Gore," Sunday Showcase, NBC, 1959.

"Dear Arthur" (adapted from the drama by Ferenc Molnar), Ford Startime, NBC, 1960.
Dress Gray (based on the novel by Lucian K. Truscott IV), NBC, 1986.
Vidal in Venice (documentary), WNET, 1986.
Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid (adapted from his teleplay The Deathof Billy the Kid), TNT, 1989.
Writings;Stage Plays
Visit to a Small Planet: A Comedy Akin to a Vaudeville, produced at Booth Theatre, New York City, 1957, published by Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1957.
The Best Man: A Play of Politics, produced at Morosco Theatre, NewYork City, 1960, published by Little, Brown, 1960.
On the March to the Sea: A Southron Tragedy (adapted from the teleplay Honor), produced at Hyde Park, New York City, 1960, then Bonn, Germany, 1961.
Three Plays (contains Visit to a Small Planet, The Best Man: APlay of Politics, and On the March to the Sea: A Southron Tragedy), published by Heinemann, 1962.
(Translator and editor of English translation) Freidrich Duerrenmatt, Romulus: A New Comedy, produced at Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1962, published by Dramatists Play Service, 1962.
Weekend, produced in New Haven, CT, then at Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 1968, published by Dramatists Play Service, 1968.
An Evening with Richard Nixon and ..., produced at Shubert Theatre, New York City, 1972, published by Random House, 1972.
Writings;Essays
Rocking the Boat, Little, Brown, 1962.
Sex, Death, and Money, Bantam, 1968.
Reflections upon a Sinking Ship, Little, Brown, 1969.
Homage to Daniel Shays: Collected Essays, 1952-1972, Random House,1972, published as On Our Own Now, Panther, 1976.
Matters of Fact and of Fiction: Essays, 1973-1976, Random House, 1977.
The Second American Revolution and Other Essays, Random House, 1982.
Armageddon? Essays, 1983-1987, Deutsch, 1987.
At Home: Essays, Random House, 1989.
A View from the Diner's Club: Essays, 1987-1991, Deutsch, 1991.
Screening History, Harvard University Press, 1992.
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire, Odonian Press, 1992.
United States: Essays, 1952-1992, Random House, 1992.
Writings;Novels
Williwaw (also published in paperback as Dangerous Voyage,Amereon), Dutton, 1946.
In a Yellow Wood, Dutton, 1947.
The City and the Pillar, Dutton, 1948, revised edition published as The City and the Pillar Revised, 1965.
The Season of Comfort, Dutton, 1949.
A Search for the King: A Twelfth-Century Legend, Dutton, 1950.
Dark Green, Bright Red, Dutton, 1950.
The Judgment of Paris, Dutton, 1952, revised edition, Little, Brown, 1965.
Messiah, Dutton, 1954, revised edition, Little, Brown, 1965.
Julian, Little, Brown, 1964.
Washington, D.C., Little, Brown, 1967.
Myra Breckinridge, Little, Brown, 1968.
Two Sisters: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir, Little, Brown, 1970.
Burr, Random House, 1973.
Myron, Random House, 1974.
1876, Random House, 1976.
Kalki, Random House, 1978.
Creation, Random House, 1981.
Duluth, Random House, 1983.
Lincoln, Random House, 1984.
Myra Breckinridge and Myron, Random House, 1986.
Empire, Random House, 1987.
Hollywood: A Novel of America in the 1920s, Random House, 1990.
Live from Golgotha: The Gospel According to Gore Vidal, Random House, 1992.
The Smithsonian Institution, Random House, 1998.
The Golden Age, Doubleday, 2000.
Writings; As Pseudonym Edgar Box; Mysteries
Death in the Fifth Position, Dutton, 1952.
Death before Bedtime..., Dutton, 1953.
Death Likes It Hot, Dutton, 1954.
Three by Box: The Complete Mysteries of Edgar Box(contains Death in the Fifth Position, Death before Bedtime..., and Death Likes It Hot), Random House, 1978.
Writings; Other
A Thirsty Evil: Seven Short Stories, Zero Press, 1956.
Three: Williwaw and A Thirsty Evil: Seven Short Stories and Julian theApostate, New American Library, 1962.
(Editor) Best Television Plays, Ballantine, 1965.
An Evening with Richard (recording; based on the play An Evening with Richard Nixon and ...), Ode Records, 1973.
(With others) Great American Families, Norton, 1977.
(Author of introduction) Edith Wharton Omnibus, Doubleday, 1978.
(With Robert J. Stanton) Views from a Window: Conversations with GoreVidal, Lyle Stuart, 1980.
(Author of introduction) The Collected Stories of Paul Bowles, Black Sparrow Press, 1983.
(Author of foreword) Logan Pearsall Smith, All Trivia, Ticknor &; Fields, 1984.
(Author of introduction) Tennessee Williams, The Collected Stories, New Directions, 1985.
(Author of introduction) Fritz Peters, Finistere, Seeker Press, 1985.
(Editor) Henry James, The Golden Bowl, Penguin, 1985.
Vidal in Venice, Summit Books, 1987.
(Author of foreword) Alfred Chester, Head of a Sad Angel: Stories, 1953-1966, edited by Edward Field, Black Sparrow Press, 1990.
(Author of foreword) Marion E. Rodgers, editor, Impossible H. L. Mencken: A Selection of His Best Newspaper Stories, Doubleday, 1991.
(Author of introduction) Don Bachardy and James P. White, editors, Where Joy Resides: A Christopher Isherwood Reader, Farrar, Straus, 1991.
(Author of foreword) Robert McAlmon, Miss Knight and Others, edited by Edward N. Lorusso, University of New Mexico Press, 1992.
Palimpsest: A Memoir, Random House, 1995.
The Essential Vidal, Random House, 1998.
The Smithsonian Institution, Random House, 1998.
Contributor to numerous periodicals, including New York Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, and Nation.
Other Works
Adaptations: Vidal's novel Lincoln was adapted for television asGore Vidal's Linoln, NBC, 1988.

Further Reference

Books:

Baker, Susan, Gore Vidal: A Critical Companion, Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1997.
Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 45, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1995.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 152: American Novelists since World War II, Gale, 1995.
Kaplan, Fred, Gore Vidal: A Biography, New York, Doubleday, 1999.

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