The first time I saw Naomi Watts playing my grandmother Babe Paley in “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans,” she was in tears.
She had just discovered her husband’s affair with Happy Rockefeller, the governor’s wife, finding him on the bedroom floor, scrubbing a stain of menstrual blood from their plush carpet.
Babe summons Truman Capote to her Fifth Avenue apartment, her face set in distress, her mascara running.
In his book, Mr. Leamer surmises that the governor’s wife in Capote’s story is Marie Harriman, not Ms. Rockefeller.
There are no live recordings of Babe, no way for an actress to know how she moved and spoke.
Persons:
Naomi Watts, Babe Paley, ”, Happy Rockefeller, Truman Capote, mascara, Matisse, Laurence Leamer’s, Leamer, Marie Harriman, Rockefeller, Babe, “ Baba, Brooke
Organizations:
Swans, Basque
Locations:
“, Manhasset, Long