Gore Vidal

Credit: Ron Tom/NBC

Gore Vidal, Prolific and Versatile Writer, Dies at Age 86

Originally posted 08/01/2012 01:35AM

Gore Vidal, the last of a generation of great literary celebrities – as comfortable on The Tonight Show as behind a typewriter – died Tuesday in his Hollywood Hills home. He was 86.

The handsome, aristocratic novelist, playwright, essayist, politician, commentator and sometimes actor died of complications of pneumonia, his nephew Burr Steers told several media outlets.

A contemporary of Truman Capote and Norman Mailer, Vidal was nearly as famous for his feuds, strong opinions, failed political campaigns and TV appearances – including voiceovers for The Simpsons and Family Guy – as for his writing.