The Four Degrees of Separation between Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Belair Mansion

Philip Seymour Hoffman played the part of Truman Capote in the 2005 movie “Capote.”

In 1975, Truman Capote wrote a short story called “La Côte Basque 1965” that appeared in Esquire magazine. Although the story was technically fiction, Capote let it be known that it was about high society socialite Ann Woodward. The pending publication of the story drove Ann Woodward to commit suicide.

Ann Woodward was married to Billy Woodward. She killed her husband in 1955 in an incident that Life magazine called “The Shooting of the Century.”

Billy Woodward became owner of the Belair Estate, including the Belair Mansion, in 1953 upon the death of his father, William Woodward, Sr.