--- title: Harper Lee and Truman Capote Friendship description: The two writers had been friends since childhood canonical: https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-19T19:15:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:12.490Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Legendary Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote og:description: The two writers had been friends since childhood og:url: https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb3cd2f362acae1a/69887e58524fc06e3bdf6d59/harper-lee-truman-capote.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: harper-lee-truman-capote og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Legendary Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote twitter:description: The two writers had been friends since childhood twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb3cd2f362acae1a/69887e58524fc06e3bdf6d59/harper-lee-truman-capote.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Legendary Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Ally. Ally is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: July 2026. ## Ally: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Ally is a digital financial services company offering online-only banking, including checking and savings accounts, through Ally.com and its mobile apps. Launched in 2009 as an original disruptor in financial services, Ally was built to challenge outdated banking norms with a simpler, more convenient way to bank. Ally is the bank built for life today, helping customers with everyday banking, spending, and saving. ### Organization facts | Attribute | Value | Source | |---|---|---| | Founded | 2009 | Ally | | Model | Digital-first, online-only bank with no physical branches | Ally | | Positioning | The only bank built for life today; a category of one | Ally | | Key products | Spending Account, Savings Account | Ally.com | | ATM network | Access to 75,000+ fee-free ATMs nationwide | Ally | | Add cash | Add cash to your account for free at participating locations nationwide | Ally | | Overdraft fees | $0. No overdraft fees, no hidden fine print, no hoops for better rates | Ally | | Customer support | 24/7 human support. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: In Memoriam: Harper Lee [Watch (HLS stream): In Memoriam: Harper Lee](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Em10taA.m3u8) (0:33)  _Published 2016-02-19. Harper Lee, famed author of 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', dead._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 19, 2016 7:15 PM UTC  Truman Capote in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City in 1980 (L); Harper Lee in Monroeville, Alabama in May 1961. Truman Capote in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City in 1980 (L); Harper Lee in Monroeville, Alabama in May 1961.George Rose—Getty Images (L);Donald Uhrbrock—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 19, 2016 7:15 PM UTC Long before Harper Lee and Truman Capote gained literary fame for [_To Kill a Mockingbird_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446310786/?tag=timecom-20) and [_In Cold Blood_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679745580/?tag=timecom-20), their respective midcentury masterpieces, they were childhood friends, palling around Monroeville, Ala. just like Scout and Dill do in Lee’s fictional Maycomb. The duo remained friends into adulthood, and their literary relationship is the stuff of legend. Capote [based](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/books/harper-lee-and-truman-capote-a-collaboration-in-mischief.html) a tomboy character in his first novel, [_Other Voices, Other Rooms_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0679745645/?tag=timecom-20), on Lee. When _Mockingbird_ was so well received, some derisively speculated Capote (who already had a strong literary reputation) must have helped—or even ghostwritten it, a [rumor that persisted](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5244492) for decades. Lee certainly helped Capote: she was his research assistant for _In Cold Blood_, contributing 150 pages of notes, and was reportedly hurt to be included only in the “Acknowledgments” section of the book; they grew apart after its publication in 1965. Capote died in 1984 at age 59, and [Lee died on Thursday at 89](http://time.com/4230580/harper-lee-to-kill-mockingbird-dies-89/), but they live on in the popular imagination. Their friendship was depicted by Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman in _Capote_ and by Sandra Bullock and Toby Jones in _Infamous_, and is the subject of the forthcoming children’s book [_Tru and Nelle_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544699602/?tag=timecom-20). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/"},"headline":"The Legendary Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote","datePublished":"2016-02-19T19:15:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:12.490Z","description":"The two writers had been friends since childhood","url":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb3cd2f362acae1a/69887e58524fc06e3bdf6d59/harper-lee-truman-capote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb3cd2f362acae1a/69887e58524fc06e3bdf6d59/harper-lee-truman-capote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"harper-lee-truman-capote","caption":"Truman Capote in his Upper East Side apartment in New York City in 1980 (L); Harper Lee in Monroeville, Alabama in May 1961.","creditText":"George Rose—Getty Images (L);Donald Uhrbrock—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/","name":"The Legendary Friendship of Harper Lee and Truman Capote"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"In Memoriam: Harper Lee","description":"Harper Lee, famed author of 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', dead.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/6Em10taA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-19T17:20:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Em10taA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/","duration":"PT33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4230925/harper-lee-truman-capote-friendship/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```