PORTRAIT OF GORE

with the passing of american legend GORE VIDAL

i would like to share with my readers my personal  experience with gore vidal......

way back in 2004, i was commissioned by arte channel to photograph mr. vidal.

this was to accompany an interview he was doing about the anti-war movement right before the bush/cheney invasion of iraq.

i arrived with the arte crew @ gore's beautiful hollywood hills home on outpost cyn. we were greeted by mr. vidal's man servant, (yes he had a chinese man servant!) who showed us into the living room, a decorator's dream circa 1940.

after awhile gore appeared at the top of the stairwell and greeted us like a royal. he then proceeded to slowly hobble down the stairs. "yes, i am lame. give me some time to get down there," he announced.

we introduced each other, shook hands,  then  director tim leinhard from arte conducted his interview.

afterwards i photographed gore on his sofa, in his living room.  immaculately decorated with antiques & memorabilia. 

after our shoot we chatted for awhile. he was very personable and easy to talk to. not intimidating or arrogant in the least. yet sharp as a tack. one of the smartest people i have had the pleasure of meeting,

i told him i was the west coast editor for studio magazines and gave him copies of various titles. 
he responded to blue magazine, the title with beautiful nude men.

"well, he exclaimed, one never knows whom one is talking with!" i asked him about the current state of american government. mr. vidal did a spot on impression of george bush as a country bumpkin.

"i'm a war time president. i'm a war time president"he mimicked. "who would ever describe themselves as that, except for an absolute fool?!."

"do you realize, gore said, this country is run by only one hundred people? that is it...  they make all the decisions for us."

as we were leaving i commented on a beautiful dark room under the stairwell.  it had a  a Moroccan style motif. the entire room was taken up by a low bed with many pillows for lounging.

"that is my opium den, " he stated.

the following morning tim leinhard from arte picked gore up for an interview at a local station. 

while waiting for gore to come downstairs, tim noticed that all the issues from studio magazine were exactly where i left them next to gore's sofa. 

all except blue magazine. we suspect  the favorite issue was taken upstair to mr. vidal's private chambers.

on a side note~ many years ago, (1992) i interview the legendary photographer david hurles aka OLD RELIABLE, best known for photographing FOP, (fresh out of prison) guys with hard~ons.

david told me his most loyal, longtime customer was GORE VIDAL.

RIP lord trailblazer RIP

all photos shot exclusively by rick castro~ antebellum editor