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Harper Lee: Life of a Writer 9 sex with Perry in his cell, and the movie showed Capote having lengthy visits with him.) Nelle Harper asserted that she herself had been with Capote every time he spoke to the convicted men. Each time they were in a regular visitor’s room with an armed prison guard behind them. The other misrepresentation was Perry’s confession to Capote. He had actually confessed to the authorities soon after he was arrested. As Capote kept promising the men help with legal support and never carrying through on it, they complained of their disappointment to Nelle Harper. In her interviews with Claudia Johnson, Nelle Harper confirmed that the continuing stays of execution and appeals made Truman nervous—he just wanted to get the whole thing over with so he would be able to finish his book. She also confirmed that most people agree that he didn’t really care about either one of the men, and didn’t go out of his way to help them. She (as others have corroborated) discredited the scenes of William Shawn, editor of the New Yorker, flying to Kansas with Capote, as is shown in the movie. Shawn was well known for his deep fear of elevators and bridges, much less airplanes. Nor did she visit Capote in Italy, as was shown in the film. Nelle Harper gradually disengaged from the project as the executions approached. Capote, who had little to do with her since the Kansas trips, asked her to proofread the manuscript, which she did. Nelle Harper reported to Claudia Johnson that joint authorship was never intended. Before absolute proof appeared in a letter written by Capote, that he had not had even any knowledge of the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird, Clau- dia Johnson was quoted in The Telegraph as saying that Nelle Harper had more to do with the writing of In Cold Blood than Capote did with To Kill a Mockingbird. Nelle Harper scolded her, saying, “I wrote To Kill a Mocking- bird, and he wrote In Cold Blood.” Capote never made an attempt to correct the rumors about his part, or lack of it, in writing To Kill a Mockingbird. Publication of In Cold Blood In 1965, the serial publication of In Cold Blood, heavily edited by Shawn, began in the New Yorker. In Cold Blood was published in hardcover in 1966 with a dual dedication to Capote’s lover, Jack Dunphy, and Harper Lee, but there is no acknowledgment whatsoever of her extensive role in researching and composing the book. Some historians have speculated that she was disappointed by this. Their friendship generally waned after the publication of In Cold Blood. She was invited to the highly publicized Black and White Ball Capote gave in New York City, but was not tempted