Gore Vidal, the elegant, acerbic all-around man of letters who presided with an assured relish over what he declared to be the ending of American civilization, died on Tuesday at his house in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, where he moved in 2003, after years of living in Ravello, Italy. He was 86.
The reason was complications of pneumonia, his nephew Burr Steers said by phone.
Mr. Vidal was, at the end of his life, an Augustan figure who supposed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was possibly right. Few American writers have been more versatile or gotten more mileage from their ability. He published some 25 novels, two memoirs and some volumes of stylish, magisterial essays. He also wrote plays, television dramas and screenplays. For a while, he was even a contract writer at MGM. And he could always be counted on for a spur-of-the-moment aphorism, putdown or sharply worded analysis of American foreign policy.
Perhaps more than any other American writer except Norman Mailer or Truman Capote, Mr. Vidal took great enjoyment in being a public figure. He twice ran for office — in 1960, when he was the Democratic Congressional candidate for the 29th District in upstate New York, and in 1982, when he campaigned in California for a seat in the Senate and though he lost both times, he often conducted himself as a sort of unelected shadow president. He once said, “There is not one human trouble that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”
Mr. Vidal was an special actor, appearing, for example, in animated form on “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” in the movie version of his own play “The Best Man,” and in the Tim Robbins movie “Bob Roberts,” in which he played an aging, epicene side of himself. He was a more than special guest on TV talk shows, where his poise, wit, looks and charm made him such a regular that Johnny Carson offered him a spot as a guest host of “The Tonight Show.”
The reason was complications of pneumonia, his nephew Burr Steers said by phone.
Mr. Vidal was, at the end of his life, an Augustan figure who supposed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was possibly right. Few American writers have been more versatile or gotten more mileage from their ability. He published some 25 novels, two memoirs and some volumes of stylish, magisterial essays. He also wrote plays, television dramas and screenplays. For a while, he was even a contract writer at MGM. And he could always be counted on for a spur-of-the-moment aphorism, putdown or sharply worded analysis of American foreign policy.
Perhaps more than any other American writer except Norman Mailer or Truman Capote, Mr. Vidal took great enjoyment in being a public figure. He twice ran for office — in 1960, when he was the Democratic Congressional candidate for the 29th District in upstate New York, and in 1982, when he campaigned in California for a seat in the Senate and though he lost both times, he often conducted himself as a sort of unelected shadow president. He once said, “There is not one human trouble that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”
Mr. Vidal was an special actor, appearing, for example, in animated form on “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” in the movie version of his own play “The Best Man,” and in the Tim Robbins movie “Bob Roberts,” in which he played an aging, epicene side of himself. He was a more than special guest on TV talk shows, where his poise, wit, looks and charm made him such a regular that Johnny Carson offered him a spot as a guest host of “The Tonight Show.”
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