Slim Keith might have been born a California girl, but she was a citizen of the world. Practically the poster girl for the mid-20th century jet set, Keith was idolized thanks to her athletic stature and golden locks as well as her sharp wit and taste for adventure. "There was a casualness to her," Laurence Leamer wrote in his book Capote's Women. "No matter what she wore or where she went, and an athletic ease that seemed a statement about freedom and openness."
Diana Vreeland, the legendary fashion editor, was among those charmed by her. So much so, in fact, that she put Keith on the cover of Harper's Bazaar at the age of 22, and slotted her into the magazine's "Best Dressed List" for the years to come. Keith (as portrayed by Diane Lane) is one of the main characters of the new series Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, and here, we dive into the life of a woman who enchanted everyone from Capote to Hemingway and beyond.
Her Pedigree
Born as Mary Raye Gross in Salinas, California, Keith was the daughter of a successful businessman, Edward Gross, and Raye Nell Boyer Gross. She was the middle child, with an older sister, Theodora, and a younger brother named Buddy. In 1928, Buddy passed away due to fatal burns after his nightshirt caught on fire; Edward blamed his wife for the accident, causing an irreparable rift in the family.
After that, young Keith—whose mother had changed her name to Nancy—was sent to a Dominican convent school in San Rafael before her father left her mother. Edward tried to persuade Keith to side with him with gifts including cars and horses, however Keith chose to stay with her mother.
At age 16, Keith left school and traveled to Death Valley where she met the American actor William Powell while staying at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch resort. He introduced her to publisher William Randolph Hearst and from then on, Keith was regularly seen rubbing shoulders with Hollywood's elite. Actors Gary Cooper and Cary Grant often accompanied her at parties, and Clark Gable pursued her romantically. Even Ernest Hemingway found a muse in her.
She met her first husband, film director Howard Hawks in 1938. Despite being married to actress Norma Shearer's sister, Hawks did his best to persuade Keith to marry him. Three years later, he was successful.
Infidelity got the best of Hawks, however, and Keith wasn't having it. After the birth of their daughter, Kitty Hawks, Slim moved to Havana and lived with her former lover, Ernest Hemingway. While there, Keith met producer Leland Hayward and married him after her divorce from Hawks in 1949. They divorced 10 years later, and Keith married British Banker and aristocrat, Kenneth Keith in 1972.
Her Style
In an era of high pompadours and frills, Keith exhibited a kind of sartorial glamour that always pointed towards her California origins. Of course, she could pull out a gown made of chiffon for black-tie events, but her everyday style was more athletic. She's often seen in structured jackets, khakis, and soft moccasin-like loafers. She embodied that American spirit so often seen in Ralph Lauren advertisements, and was often credited with helping to discover actresses, including Lauren Bacall, who had a similar look.
"In my day, different meant not having your hair done in a pompadour and adorning it with a snood, or not trying to hide your intelligence behind a sea of frills," Keith wrote in her memoir, Slim: Memories of a Rich and Imperfect Life. "I opted for a scrubbed-clean, polished look. I thought it was important to have an intelligence that showed, a humor that never failed, and a healthy interest in men."
WATCH FEUD: CAPOTE Vs. THE SWANS
Her Relationship with Truman Capote
Her relationship with Capote began at one of Diana Vreeland's dinner parties at her Fifth Avenue apartment. Slim Keith (at the time they met she was Slim Hayward) was best friends with Capote's favorite Swan, Babe Paley. Keith, like the rest of the Swans, was charmed by the writer. "I was enchanted by him," she recalled, according to Leamer. "He wasn't just bright, he was riveting, and so shrewd a conversationalist that, when he led with vulnerabilities and quirks, you couldn't help but take an instant liking to him."
Their friendship ended when Capote published "La Côte Basque, 1965," an excerpt from his unfinished novel Answered Prayers in Esquire, in which Keith's stand-in, Lady Ina Coolbirth, reveals a story about the infidelities of the husband of a Paley-like character. Capote was, of course, banished from his gilded social circle; it's been reported that he attempted to reconcile with Keith via phone calls and telegrams, but that her only interest in Capote was the possibility of a libel suit.
Style News Editor at Town and Country covering society, style, art, and design.
