The Real-Life Stories Of Truman Capote's 'Swans' And The Actors Who Play Them

Author Truman Capote found popularity as a fiction writer with the 1958 publication of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but it was his 1965 work "In Cold Blood" that catapulted the author to celebrity status among Manhattan's elite. Most famously, he was at the center of a bevy of beautiful socialites that he referred to as "swans."

These elegant, graceful women took the diminutive man with the big personality behind the velvet ropes of their lives, including him in their luxurious lifestyles that included parties, private planes, and coveted spots on the guest lists of the most fashionable openings and events in the city. More than that, Capote was given an all-access pass to the gossip, scandal, and backstabbing that was as much a part of the women's lives as couture and caviar. 

Being privy to such knowledge proved to be more than the author could handle, and he spilled the tea in "La Côte Basque 1965," a chapter of his unfinished book "Answered Prayers" that ran in Esquire in 1975 and 1976. That decision proved to be Capote's swan song as he was cast out of the lives of Babe Paley, C.Z. Guest, Ann Woodward, Lee Radziwill, Joanne Carson, and Slim Keith forever. Ryan Murphy is telling the story in "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans," the second installment of his "Feud" anthology. Although the release date is pending, iconic actors Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny, Demi Moore, Calista Flockhart, Molly Ringwald, and Diane Lane are swan-diving into their respective roles.

In Vanity Fair's "The Best Dressed Women of All Time" video series, correspondent Amy Fine Collins refers to Babe Paley as an "American goddess" and "the ultimate trophy wife." With her impeccable style and grace, the goddess moniker may be accurate, but trophy wife? Yes, she was famously married to an even more infamous high-powered womanizer, but Paley had come into her own long before William Paley entered the picture. 

For the nearly 10 years leading up to her marriage (her second one, by the way), the glamorous socialite whom Time christened the second best-dressed woman in the world in 1941 had parlayed her eye for fashion into a career at Vogue. Over the years, "Mrs. Paley" became only one of her many distinctions that also included being a member of the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame since 1958 and being named "Super-Dresser of Our Time" in 1975. 

As seemingly perfect as Paley's life may have appeared to outsiders, those closest to her, including Capote, knew that things weren't always as they seemed. She was often tabloid fodder and was betrayed by her husband's not-so-discreet indiscretions. The worst betrayal, however, came at the hands of Capote, to whom she had shared her most intimate secrets, which he then revealed to the world through "La Côte Basque 1965." The fallout from the publication of Paley's secrets was swift, and she died from lung cancer in 1978 without ever speaking to Capote again. 

If the swans were the Spice Girls, C.Z. Guest would be Sporty. Born Lucy Douglas Cochrane, Guest was an avid equestrian and horticulturist who possessed a natural, outdoorsy type of beauty synonymous with East Coast breeding. Former publisher of Women's Wear Daily, John Fairchild, said it best when he described her as a ”Southampton, Long Island American, Ivy League blond" per her The New York Times obituary. Hers was a clean, simple, classic style that landed Guest on many a best-dressed list and in the New York Dress Institute's Fashion Hall of Fame.

Guest was the only swan that Capote didn't rake over the coals in his infamous story, but ironically, she may have had the most colorful past. Before settling down with steel tycoon Winston Frederick Churchill Guest in 1947, she sowed her wild oats as a Broadway showgirl before heading to California to try her hand at acting but had more luck dating actors. 

Per The New York Times, ”My ambition was to be a successful enough actress to get myself thrown out of the Social Register,” she once said. That mission was almost accomplished when Guest posed for artist Diego Rivera, wearing nothing but a smile. The portrait hung in a bar in Mexico before reportedly being purchased by her then-fiance's family. In later years, Guest went on to pursue a variety of interests, including fashion design and writing, like her dear friend Capote who penned the intro to her first book, "First Garden." 

It was the shot heard 'round the world when Ann Woodward killed her husband, William "Billy" Woodward Jr. in 1955. It was also the catalyst for one of the biggest societal scandals when Truman Capote used it as the plot in "La Côte Basque 1965," and implied that the murder was no accident. That "fictional" accusation put into motion a string of events that ended in Woodward's death and Capote's exile from Manhattan's elite. And who says the pen isn't mightier than the sword? 

One of the more sordid swans, Woodward was not born into high society. She got there the good old-fashioned way. Born Evangeline Crowell in Pittsburg, Kansas, and later moved to the Big Apple where she worked as a model, radio actor, and dancer at Fefe's nightclub under the stage name Ann Eden. It was there that she met and began a relationship with the very married William Woodward Sr., who eventually set her up with his son, Billy. 

By all accounts, theirs was not a happy marriage, and Billy was rumored to be gay. However, Woodward claimed that on that fateful night, she mistakenly thought her husband was an intruder. A jury believed her, and Woodward tried to move on, but it's rumored Capote's story was too much for her. Devastated, the former showgirl and mother of two died by suicide at age 57. 

Growing up in California, Mary Raye Gross probably didn't imagine that she would become the iconic figure Slim Keith, a pillar of New York high society who counted Babe Paley and Truman Capote, along with countless celebrities and A-listers, among her closest friends. She is also credited for giving Lauren Bacall her on-screen break when she brought the actor to the attention of her first husband, the Hollywood director Howard Hawks. 

Keith rose to her great societal heights not by birthright but by beauty, brains, and a knack for marrying up. In her book "Memories of a Rich and Imperfect Life," Keith admits to being impressed by Hawk's wealth, saying, "He was not only handsome, charming and successful, he was exactly the package that I wanted. The career, the house, the four cars, the yacht — this was the life for me."

Keith dated many famous men, including Clark Gable, and would marry two more times, once to agent Leyland Hayward and finally to Sir Kenneth Keith, a wealthy British banker and aristocrat. This union resulted in the bestowing of the title "Lady Keith," which added to her elite status. Nicknamed "Slim" for her height and skinny limbs, the former model was a fashion designer's dream. She knew what looked good on her frame, and she favored what she described in her book as a "scrubbed-clean polished look." Like her fellow swans, Keith banished Capote from her world after his less-than-flattering portrayal of her was published. 

As the younger sister of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lee Radziwill was no stranger to the public eye. Although she and her older sister shared beauty, grace, poise, style, and an inimitable presence, they were very different people. Onassis found fame and public adoration as the young, beautiful widow of one of America's most popular presidents. Radziwill found fame and public scrutiny as a socialite, wannabe actor, and fashion icon. 

Constantly moving in the shadow of her older sister, Radziwill told The New York Times, "Perhaps the most depressing part was that whatever I did, or tried to do, got disproportionate coverage purely because of Jackie being my sister. But you learn to deal with the scrutiny, even the lies, as long as it's not malicious."

Radziwill lived a glamorous life, attending fabulous parties, and dating some of the world's most eligible and wealthy men. Although she was married three times, she said it was her friends that brought her happiness. Those included a glittering assortment of people from Andy Warhol to Truman Capote, the latter of whom encouraged her aspirations to act by adapting the film "Laura" for television and then insisting that she star in it. Critics panned her performance, and a review in The New York Times said, "In 1968 the best thing about 'Laura' is the theme song" (via Town & Country). Just like that, Radziwill's acting career was over. 

Of all the swans, Joanne Carson may have the biggest claim to Truman Capote fame: He died in her California home. However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Capote actually considered her home his getaway, where he would hole up for months at a time. The former wife of late-night king Johnny Carson had a close relationship with Capote, whom she first met at a dinner party in 1966. The duo hit it off, and Carson is one of the only swans who didn't disown the author after his fictional tell-all was published, even though it did reference a story she had shared with him about one of her husband's indiscretions. 

So why did she continue to associate with Capote after he had been cast out of society? She told the Los Angeles Times it was because of his loyalty during her divorce. "Everyone moved toward Johnny, because that was where the power was," said Carson. "But Truman stood by me like a rock." 

Capote left his friend with many treasures following his death, and she auctioned them for animal charities in 2006. One of the most prized items was an essay he'd written for her the day before he died, titled, "Remembering Willa Cather." It was never finished but did appear in an issue of Vanity Fair. Carson said she held no ill will against the writer and blamed herself for divulging her secrets to him. "Truman loved celebrity," she said. "He crashed and burned because of the bitchiness of New York."