Who was Kate Harrington, Truman Capote's protégé featured in 'Feud' season 2, and what happened to her?

• "Feud" season two shows a softer side to Truman Capote through an unconventional relationship.
• In the late 1970s, the celebrated author brought the daughter of his ex-lover under his wing.
• Capote opened doors for aspiring creative Kate Harrington, who named her daughter after him.

In the fourth episode of Ryan Murphy's "Feud: Capote vs. The Swans," Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) finds an unexpected visitor at his door: Kerry O'Shea (Ella Beatty), the daughter of his former lover, John O'Shea (Russell Tovey).

When Capote tells her that he's cut her temperamental, abusive father out of the picture and she won't find him there, Kerry surprises him further. That's not what's brought her there; the aspiring writer tells him, "I need you to help me. I need someone to learn from."

Capote agrees to take O'Shea under his wing, thus beginning their mentee-mentor relationship, which would last until the celebrated author's death at age 59 in 1984.

In reality, however, Capote and O'Shea — whom Capote remodeled into Katy Harrington — began their relationship under slightly different circumstances. Here's everything you need to know about O'Shea/Harrington and where she is now.

Truman Capote treated Katy Harrington as his adoptive daughter and protégé

Harrington opened up about her relationship with Capote on camera for the first time in "The Capote Tapes," a 2019 documentary film that explores Capote's final years and what became of his unfinished last novel, "Answered Prayers."

She recalled she met Capote for the first time when she was 13 in her family living room after her father, a former bank manager, invited the "In Cold Blood" author over for dinner. What she didn't know at the time but would come to realize was that the two were lovers.

After Harrington's father abandoned the family to be with Capote — and eventually abandoned the writer when their relationship had run its course — the teenager decided to call Capote to see if he could help her find a job.

With Capote's blessing and careful instructions, she made her way to his Manhattan apartment, where he informed her that modeling was the best way to make money at her age.

Capote helped get her sign to Wilhelmina Cooper's model agency under the name "Katy Harrington" since there was another girl with her same name on the books. According to The Telegraph, Kate was chosen as it was one of her grandmother's names, while Harrington was her mother's maiden name.

As Gerald Clarke posited in his 1988 biography of Capote, there might have been an ulterior motive in the decision to change her name. He writes that Capote "assumed John's place" as the father figure in her life and "erased John's name from his favorite child" to get back at him.

Harrington became a permanent fixture on the New York social scene for several years

She moved into Capote's UN Plaza apartment. She was unofficially adopted by the writer, who coached her on everything from social etiquette to the art of taking notes during their gossip-filled lunches with Capote's coterie of celebrity friends.

According to an article published in New York Magazine, she was photographed by legendary photographer Richard Avedon for her 14th birthday and attended parties at Studio 54.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Harrington discussed Capote's plan to launch her into a different stratosphere by making her a movie star when she was 17. While at a party, she met Ryan O'Neal, who generously offered to take her home on the promise that teenage daughter, Oscar-winner Tatum O'Neal, would give her some acting tips.

"He sort of seduced me, and I ended up spending the night," Harrington recalled. "The next afternoon at the hotel, he sent me a bunch of pink roses with a message: 'A perfect evening, love Ryan.' Truman said I could never see him again; that was that."

After Capote's death, Harrington named her daughter after the author

Following Capote's death in 1984, Harrington moved away from modeling and established herself as a stylist and producer. She began working as a personal assistant to former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland and also held roles at Interview Magazine and Vanity Fair before segueing into costume design.

In 2003, she married "Die Hard" director John McTiernan, whom she met after they worked on several movies together. The couple welcomed a daughter together but divorced in 2012.

Their daughter is named Truman. Harrington told Vanity Fair that she gave her the same name as her adoptive father and mentor "because he was an important person in my life."

Harrington stated in "The Capote Tapes" that she was living in Sheridan, Wyoming. Her publicly available LinkedIn page, last updated in late 2023, says she is now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Perhaps putting into practice the indispensable advice Capote imparted to her, she shared in a recent update that she is working on a memoir.

"Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.

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By: [email protected] (Eve Crosbie)
Title: Who was Kate Harrington, Truman Capote's protégé featured in 'Feud' season 2, and what happened to her?
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/feud-capote-vs-swans-what-happened-adoptive-daughter-kate-harrington-2024-2
Published Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 13:06:01 +0000

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