Gore Vidal

@Playwrights, Timeline and Life

Famous for his attics and sharp maxims, Gore Vidal was an American writer, essayist, novelist, screenwriter and playwright.

Oct 3, 1925

BisexualAmericanPhillips Exeter AcademyWritersNovelistsPlaywrightsLibra Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: October 3, 1925
  • Died on: July 31, 2012
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Bisexual, Phillips Exeter Academy, Writers, Novelists, Playwrights
  • Known as: Eugene Luther Gore Vidal
  • Universities:
    • Phillips Exeter Academy
    • Sidwell Friends School
    • Phillips Exeter Academy
  • Notable Alumnis:
    • Phillips Exeter Academy

Gore Vidal born at

West Point

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Birth Place

In 1950, he came into a long term affair with Howard Austen. He made public statements stating that he had a strong relationship with Austen because they do not have sex with each other as according to him sex complicates everything.

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Personal Life

Vidal lived both in Italy and California and towards the end of his days he sold his villa in Italy and settled in LA. He died in California in 2012 after suffering from pneumonia. His death was thought to be a loss to ‘culture of the U.S.’.

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Personal Life

Vidal was born in the Cadet Hospital of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, to Eugene Luther Vidal and Nina Gore. His father was an Army Air Corps pilot at the Academy, who also co-founded 3 American airlines.

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Childhood & Early Life

Vidal’s mother used to act in the Broadways; his parents divorced when he was only 10 years old. His mother married two more times after that as a result of which he had four-half siblings and four step-siblings.

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Childhood & Early Life

He was brought up in Washington D.C. and studied in Sidwell Friends School and St. Albans School. Then he went to study in France but came back to the United States at the onset of World War II.

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Childhood & Early Life

He got himself enrolled in the army and became a warrant officer. But in 3 years, he caught hypothermia which caused rheumatoid arthritis and he became a mess officer instead.

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Childhood & Early Life

In 1946, Vidal published his first ever literary work, a novel based on his experiences in the army, ‘Williwaw’. The work was influenced with the World War II and his experiences while doing the Alaskan Harbor Detachment duty.

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Career

In 1948, Vidal published ‘The City and the Pillar’. It caused controversy in the media for its unruffled usage of homosexuality as the main theme of the novel. The main protagonist was a spitting image of James ‘Jimmy’ Trimble III.

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Career

In 1950s, Vidal started writing mystery books under the fake identity of ‘Edgar Box’ because after his controversial novel ‘The City and the Pillar’, New York Times banned his books from being reviewed by the publication.

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Career

In the late 50s, his play ‘Visit to a Small Planet’ was published and turned into Broadway. Another two plays of his were televised ‘A Sense of Justice’ and ‘Honor’. He also contributed to the screenwriting of ‘Ben-Hur’.

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Career

In the late 60s, Vidal wrote novels like ‘Julian’ which was based on the Roman Empire, ‘Washington D.C.’ which was a political novel based on Roosevelt’s era and ‘Myra Breckinrodge’ which was a comedy based on sex and popular culture.

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Career

This talented American writer never got any formal acknowledgement or credits for co-screenwriting ‘Ben-Hur’.

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Trivia