Gore Vidal (1925-2012), 2006

Gore Vidal, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky, recorded November 2006, on the publication of the memoir, “Point to Point Navigation.”

Gore Vidal, who died in 2012 at the age of 86, was known for many things: a novelist, an essayist, a political pundit, screenwriter, playwright, actor and historian. Richard Wolinsky first had a chance to interview him four times.

The first was in 1990 when he came to Berkeley to participate in a Pacifica Foundation event. That interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

The second interview co-hosted by Richard A. Lupoff, was recorded in 1998 during a tour for the satirical novel “The Smithsonian Institution.”

The third interview, also co-hosted with Richard A. Lupoff,  came in 2000 with a tour of the novel, “The Golden Age.”

“Point to Point Navigation” would turn out to be Gore Vidal’s final full-length book. The last decade of his life was difficult. In 2003, his long-time partner Howard Austen died and a year later he gave up his beloved cliff-hanging villa in Ravello, on Italy’s scenic Amalfi coast due to his lack of mobility. In 2006, he was wheel-chair bound when he came that one last time to the station specifically for interviews with Richard Wolinsky and with Philip Maldari. In 2010, he was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, and he died on July 31 2012 at the age of 86, from pneumonia.

Front photo: Gore Vidal in 2010. Both photos Creative Commons

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