Novelist, Playwright Truman Capote's Ashes To Be Auctioned

Though he gained worldwide fame as the author of "In Cold Blood" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," you didn't have to be an avid reader to immediately recognize Truman Capote.

With his immense intelligence, sharp wit and nasal Louisiana drawl, Capote was a frequent and popular guest on television talk shows. He died of liver disease in 1984, at age 59, at the Bel Air home of his good friend JoAnne Carson, the ex-wife of late-night talk king, Johnny Carson.

JoAnne Carson died in May of 2015 and one of the possessions she left behind was Capote's ashes, placed in a carved Japanese wooden box.

That box, with the ashes inside, is now being offered for auction on the website of Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles. The estimated value is $4,000 - $6,000. (Click here for details)

"I am sure people are going to think this is disrespectful," Julien's C.E.O., Darren Julien tells Vanity Fair. "But this is a fact: Truman Capote loved the element of shock. He loved publicity. And I'm sure he's looking down laughing, and saying, 'That's something I would have done.' He was a larger-than-life character." (Click here for the full article.)

Though known primarily as a novelist, Capote had a significant presence on Broadway, first as the playwright of 1952's THE GRASS HARP, based on his novel, and then, three years later, as the bookwriter/lyricist of HOUSE OF FLOWERS.

His novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was the source of the infamous musical version which producer David Merrick closed in previews and a more recent straight play version adapted by Richard Greenberg. THE GRASS HARP was turned into a 1971 musical and Robert Morse won the 1990 Best Actor In A Play Tony Award for playing Capote in Jay Presson Allen's solo play, TRU.

The video show a spirited conversation between Truman Capote and Groucho Marx on "The Dick Cavett Show."