- Born
- Died
- Birth nameThomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.
- Tom Wolfe was born on March 2, 1930 in Richmond, Virginia, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Right Stuff (1983), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. He was married to Sheila Berger. He died on May 14, 2018 in New York, USA.
- SpouseSheila Berger(May 27, 1978 - May 4, 2018) (his death, 2 children)
- White suit
- Frequently wore double-breasted white suits and silk ties, even when interviewing gang members and criminals: "I found early in the game that for me there's no use trying to blend in. I might as well be the village information-gatherer, the man from Mars who simply wants to know. Fortunately the world is full of people with information-compulsion who want to tell you their stories".
- Two children: daughter, Alexandra (born in 1980); son, Tommy (full name - Thomas Kennerly Wolfe III).
- Counted Charles Dickens and Émile Zola among his literary heroes.
- Lived in New York City.
- Graduated from Washington and Lee University.
- [on Cary Grant] To women, he is Hollywood's lone example of the Sexy Gentlemen. And to men and women, he is Hollywood's lone example of a figure America, like most of the West, has needed all along: a Romantic Bourgeois Hero.
- [on Elaine's restaurant in New York City] It was Clay Felker who really put that place on the map. So he had an article done for New York magazine, and that's all it took. The next thing you know, there's directors, actors, broadcasters like Tom Brokaw coming in.
- [on visiting a strip club to explore some background for a novel] I'd shaken the hands of about five girls - only they don't shake hands. Their greeting is to clasp you on the inside of the thigh. Very friendly. I had on a necktie. I guess nobody else did in the whole place.
- There was a time in the 1930s when magazine writers could actually make a good living. 'The Saturday Evening Post' and 'Collier's' both had three stories in each issue. These were usually entertaining, and people really went for them. But then television came along, and now of course, information technology..the new way of killing time. It's replaced knitting and things like that.
- People complain about my exclamation points, but I honestly think that's the way people think. I don't think people think in essays; it's one exclamation point to another. And also I have a new device in this book ['Back to Blood']. Inner monologues are set between a row of six colons at the beginning and six colons at the end. I rather like that, if I might praise myself.
- The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) - $750,000
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
