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One of the grand old liberal belletrists, this essayist and novelist also has a knack for writing best sellers and scripts, including ones for such film classics as "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), and the decidedly less-than-classic "Is Paris Burning?" (1966). His 1968 fictional spoof of Hollywood "Myra Breckinridge" became a notorious 1970 film. Equally adept as a writer of popular historical biographies, campy melodramas and urbane political commentary (a proclivity that led to endless brouhahas with his "bete noir" Norman Mailer), Gore Vidal even took a few jabs at politics, running unsuccessfully, for Congress in New York in 1960 and Senate in California in 1982....

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Filmography

Global Haywire: A Short History of Planet Malfunction - ( - Cast / / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Shrink - ( - Cast / / Lensing/Awaiting Release / )
Obscene - ( - Himself / 2007 / Released / )
The U.S. vs. John Lennon - ( - Cast / 2006 / Released / )
Why We Fight - ( Himself / 2006 / Released / )
Inside Deep Throat - ( Himself / 2005 / Released / Aurum Producciones )
One Bright Shining Moment - ( - Himself / 2005 / Released / )
Gattaca - ( Director Josef / 1997 / Released / )
The Shadow Conspiracy - ( Congressman Page / 1997 / Released / )
The Celluloid Closet - ( Himself / 1996 / Released / )
With Honors - ( Professor Philip Hayes Pitkannan / 1994 / Released / )
Bob Roberts - ( Senator Brickley Paiste / 1992 / Released / Elke )
The Palermo Connection - ( Screenplay / 1990 / Released / )
The Sicilian - ( Screenplay / 1987 / Released / Concorde Filmverleih GMBH )
Roma - ( Himself / 1972 / Released / )
Last of the Mobile Hot-Shots - ( Screenplay / 1970 / Released / )
Myra Breckinridge - ( Novel as Source Material / 1970 / Released / )
Is Paris Burning? - ( Screenplay / 1966 / Released / )
The Best Man - ( Screenplay / 1964 / Released / )
The Best Man - ( Play as Source Material / 1964 / Released / )
Suddenly, Last Summer - ( Screenplay / 1960 / Released / )
Visit to a Small Planet - ( Play as Source Material / 1960 / Released / )
The Scapegoat - ( Writer (adaptation)(- adaptation) / 1959 / Released / )
I Accuse - ( Screenplay / 1958 / Released / )
The Left-Handed Gun - ( Play as Source Material(- from teleplay) / 1958 / Released / )
The Catered Affair - ( Screenplay / 1956 / Released / )

TV Credits
Garbo ( 2005 / Released ): Actor
Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She ( 2005 / Released ): Narrator
Jack & Bobby ( 2004 / Released ): Actor
Thinking XXX ( 2004 / Released ): Actor
Real Time with Bill Maher ( 2003 / Released ): Actor
Family Guy ( 1999 / Released ): Voice
Susan Sarandon: Rebel With a Cause ( 1999 / Released ): Actor
Thomas Jefferson ( 1997 / Released ): Actor
Gore Vidal's Gore Vidal ( 1995 / Released ): Actor
In Search of Oz ( 1994 / Released ): Actor
Amelia Earhart ( 1993 / Released ): Actor
The Great Depression ( 1993 / Released ): Actor
America at Risk: All the President's Women ( 1992 / Released ): Actor
Dick Cavett With Gore Vidal ( 1992 / Released ): Actor
Invention ( 1990 / Released ): Actor
The Simpsons ( 1990 / Released ): Actor
Gore Vidal's "Billy the Kid" ( 1989 / Released ): Screenplay / Actor
Gore Vidal's Lincoln ( 1988 / Released ): Novel as Source Material
Dress Gray ( 1986 / Released ): Screenplay
The Homosexuals ( 1967 / Released ): Actor

Full Biography (Back to top)


One of the grand old liberal belletrists, this essayist and novelist also has a knack for writing best sellers and scripts, including ones for such film classics as "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), and the decidedly less-than-classic "Is Paris Burning?" (1966). His 1968 fictional spoof of Hollywood "Myra Breckinridge" became a notorious 1970 film. Equally adept as a writer of popular historical biographies, campy melodramas and urbane political commentary (a proclivity that led to endless brouhahas with his "bete noir" Norman Mailer), Gore Vidal even took a few jabs at politics, running unsuccessfully, for Congress in New York in 1960 and Senate in California in 1982.

He scripted "Dress Grey" (1986) and the 1989 TNT miniseries "Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid" for TV, the latter adapted from his best-selling novel. Vidal has also tried acting, playing himself in Federico "Fellini's Roma" (1972), and more recently, appearing in "Bob Roberts" (1992) and "With Honors" (1994), playing sympathetic patrician characters--a politician and a professor respectively.


Profession(s):
novelist, essayist, Actor, screenwriter, political commentator, critic, politician
Sometimes Credited As:
Cameron Kay
Edgar Box
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal
Katherine Everard
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Family
father:Eugene Luther Vidal (divorced from Vidal's mother in 1935)
grandfather:Thomas Gore
mother:Nina Vidal (divorced from Vidal's father in 1935)
step-sister:Jacqueline Bouvier (Former First Lady of the USA)

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Education
Phillips Exeter Academy Exeter, New Hampshire
Awards (Back to top)

National Book Award Non-Ficton "United States: Essays 1952-1992" 1993
National Book Critics Circle Award criticism 1982

Milestones (Back to top)

1992 Played major supporting role in "Bob Roberts"
1990 Co-wrote the screenplay for "The Palermo Connection"
1989 Scripted the TNT miniseries "Gore Vidal's 'Billy the Kid'"; also had small role as a minister
1986 Wrote the NBC miniseries "Dress Gray"
1979 Did uncredited work on the script for "Caligula"
1972 Wrote the play "An Evening with Richard Nixon"
1972 First film appearance, "Fellini's Roma"
1970 Adapted "The Last of the Mobile Hot-Shots" from a work by Tennessee Williams
1968 Published controversial book "Myra Breckinridge", a spoof of Hollywood
1968 Penned the play "Weekend"
1966 Co-wrote the script at "Is Paris Burning?"
1964 Wrote film adaptation of "The Best Man"; awarded Cannes Film Festival Critics' Prize
1964 Hosted TV show, "Hot Line"
1960 Unsuccessful bid for New York Congressional seat
1959 Collaborated with Tennessee Williams on the adaptation of "Suddenly, Last Summer"
1959 Contributed to the screenplay for the Oscar-winning Best Picture "Ben-Hur"
1956 Screenwriting debut, "The Catered Affair", based on Paddy Chayefsky's play
1955 TV writing debut, an adaptation of the George S. Kaufman-Edna Ferber Broadway play from the 1930s, "Stage Door"
1955 Enjoyed success with TV presentation "Visit to a Small Planet"; later adapted as a Broadway play (1957) and a film (1960)
1951 Subject of a chapter in John W Aldridge's book "After a Lost Generation: A Critical Study of the Writers of Two Wars" which sharply criticized his work
1948 Third novel, "The City and the Pillar", caused controversy because its hero was a homosexual
1946 Published first novel, "Williwaw"
1943 Served in US Army Reserve Corps in the Aleutian Islands
As a teenager, began writing fiction and poetry
Adopted various pseudonyms in the 1950s after The New York Times banned reviews of his work



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