What Did Truman Capote's Voice Really Sound Like?

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In Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Ryan Murphy tells the story of American novelist Truman Capote and his fallout with a clique of glamorous society women following the publication of an excerpt from his unfinished novel, Answered Prayers. Throughout the series, many questions arise for the viewers: Was this a true story? Who were the Swans? And was there really a documentary about a Capote's famed Black & White Ball?

But perhaps the biggest question of all is: Did Truman Capote really sound the way Tom Hollander portrays him?

Hollander's Capote has a distinctive voice that's high-pitched, flamboyant, almost squeaky, and decidedly similar to what the real-life author actual sounded like. As to whether Capote naturally spoke that way or put it on as an act is unclear, but the unique voice did play a big part in his larger-than-life personality.

Hollander revealed in a press conference that while preparing for the role, he repeatedly watched Capote's TV interviews and had the author's voice "on my phone in my ear before every take."

He also noted Murphy was "very helpful" during the process. "He said, ‘Get the flamboyance and get the classic stuff in early so that the audience feels reassured that they’re seeing the person they imagined they were going to see, and then later you can start being your version more,’” Hollander recalled. “There was a sort of strategy in there—you’ve got to nail some big moments where he had to be sufficiently flamboyant and then I could find other moments with [director] Gus [Van Sant] where I could just be or be listening or do smaller behavioral things where I was still.”

To master Capote's tone, Hollander worked with famed dialect coach Jerome Butler. "He taught me a lot of the vowel sounds and policed me every day," Hollander told The Wrap. "I couldn’t have done it without Jerome. I lent on him a lot."

In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, Hollander said in order to master the "creaky" voice, he and Butler "broke the character down, into about 20 little phrases, which we picked out of early Truman and also late Truman because we needed him through time."

He continued, "We’d talk about creaky voice, 'remember creaky voice,' because we’ve identified there was a particular sound in his throat sometimes that if it wasn’t there, it sounded wrong. You get the pitch, but we also needed the constriction of what we called creaky voice."

Hollander isn't the only actor to portray Capote. Philip Seymour Hoffman also played the Breakfast At Tiffany's novelist in the 2005 Oscar-nominated film, Capote.

In an interview with NPR, the late actor acknowledged that Capote had a "very odd way of speaking" and "had a way of telling a story that kept you captive, and that had something to do with his voice and his rhythms."

New episodes of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans drop on Wednesdays and are available to stream on FX and Hulu.

Here, watch a video of Capote to hear what he actually sounded like.

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