Picture of Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Vanderbilt, a friend of Capote’s since they were teenagers, also had a long-term relationship with legendary photographer Gordon Parks. They met in 1954 and for nearly a half century they shared a deep friendship and were constant companions until the end. Then a photographer for Life Magazine, he was assigned to take photos of Gloria for a stage production she was in and as she described the moment to The New York Times, “we just looked into each others eyes, and we were friends…with a lot of love, too.”