by George Wayne
Pretty much. And later, when I was in my teens, I envisioned myself as a painter or playwright.
GW:
Growing up in provincial Ottawa, did you have Sitka spruce and red cedar trees in your backyard?
GC:
Yes, it’s a very woody, snow-filled part of the country. We had a skating rink out back.
GW:
How glamorous! You used to be E. Graydon Carter. What does the initial stand for?
GC:
Edward—but my father went by Edward. I was always Graydon, or Gray, to my family and most of my friends.
GW:
And who is your favorite tailor, GC?
GC:
Anderson and Sheppard, ever since I could afford them in my early thirties.
GW:
And your favorite author?
GC:
P. G. Wodehouse.
GW:
Favorite poet?
GC:
W. H. Auden.
GW:
Favorite pop star?
GC:
That would have to be Mick Jagger.
GW:
And your favorite movie of all time would be?
GC:
The Philadelphia Story—it’s a crisp, brilliant film. I do love the fact that Jimmy Stewart plays a reporter for a magazine called Spy. It was one of the influences for us choosing that name for our magazine in the mid-eighties.
GW:
Where does GC get his signature coif styled and feathered, and how often?
GC:
A friend from Connecticut by the name of Craig Linley comes over to my house every two to three weeks. He sometimes cuts my kids’ hair, too.
GW:
And what will be the title of your memoirs?
GC:
Friends have suggested Magna Carter—oh God. I was thinking more along the lines of Do I Have to Dial 9 to Get Out of Here?
GW:
Thank you for giving me a headline for this interview, GC. I’m looking forward to reading those memoirs and having you recall in fullest detail your meeting Princess Diana for the first time at a reception hosted by you at the Serpentine Gallery. There are classic images from that event that will forever be part of your video hagiography. It was a seminal moment in her life. She wore that gorgeous, short, sexy black dress, and it was her first public appearance after Prince Charles declared he was guilty of infidelity. What do you remember from that night, GC?
GC:
Yes, I think that dinner was the very same night that Prince Charles went on television to admit he was having an affair. But Diana kept her word and came to the dinner and was as lovely and as charming as ever. You know, she was a very normal person outside of all that. She did, however, seem emotionally brittle that evening, but she managed to maintain her composure. On that night and others, she expressed her fascination with Jackie Kennedy. I think she felt she was having the same experience with the Windsors that Jackie had had with the Kennedys.
GW:
Where does GC like to venture when wanderlust takes hold?
GC:
Europe. A new favorite spot is the Mayr spa in southern Austria. My wife and I went there in late November to sort of unwind and rejuvenate. The Herreras love it as well.
GW:
There won’t be any sweltering through the Serengeti for you, I suppose?
GC:
Given the pressures of the magazine, I need access to the Internet and a constant flow of packages from FedEx. So the Serengeti will have to wait.
GW:
You’ve never wanted to visit Bhutan or see a desert moon?
GC:
I’d love to visit Bhutan. I don’t know so much about the desert moon.
GW:
How often does GC have lunch with Emperor Newhouse?
GC:
Usually every ten days to two weeks.
GW:
You know, GC, those of us who are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work at your behest over all these years have come to realize just how brilliant you are. You are the modern master of pop-erature—pop literature—and you possess the most uncannily prescient mind. As you know, that is the gift all great editors possess, and you have it in spades.
GC:
Thank you, GW, but you still won’t be getting a raise.
GW:
Since I have your undivided attention, I have to tell you, GC, that I was rather miffed after reading Vanity Fair number six hundred twenty-eight—the Kate Moss cover—and finding that the writer made no mention that it was I who first introduced Kate Moss to Johnny Depp. Naomi Campbell and Roy Liebenthal will attest to the fact that I introduced them in 1994 at the celebrity-infested boîte of the moment, Café Tabac. As you’ll no doubt recall, Naomi and Kate were an inseparable duo back in those days. Naomi’s nickname for Kate was “Wagon,” for some reason. So Naomi and “Wagon” showed up to Café Tabac one night, and I instinctively grabbed Kate’s hand and walked her over to Johnny Depp, who I didn’t even know, and said, “Johnny, meet Kate.” Who could have known that, because of me, they would go on to trash hotel rooms across the globe for years and years to come?
GC:
I will make sure to alert the writer, James Fox, to what you have just declared, GW.
GW:
Café Tabac was where all the supermodels went to let their hair down back then.
GC:
Yes, I am aware of that.
GW:
I’ll also never forget the night at Tabac when Bono showed up with Christy Turlington and got her so sauced on shots of whiskey.
GC:
That’s quite a story, GW.
GW:
Have you taken a private tour of One World Trade Center—the future home of Condé Nast—yet?
GC:
I haven’t been on a tour yet, but others here have. I’ve been to the office building beside it to see the view from our floor.
GW:
Are you excited about the move downtown?
GC:
I wasn’t at first, but I’m excited now. People are saying it’s going to be the twenty-first-century Rockefeller Center, and the more I go down there, the more I think they’re right.
GW:
But don’t you think Ground Zero is haunted?
GC:
If it’s haunted, then the entire island of Manhattan is haunted.
GW:
Croque-monsieur or Jamaican beef patty?
GC:
Well, I’ve never eaten a Jamaican beef patty, but I do enjoy croque-monsieur.
GW:
Edith Piaf or Charo?
GC:
Piaf, of course, though I actually met Charo some thirty years ago when I was at Time.
GW:
GW’s favorite Vanity Fair Oscar-party moment ever was holding Gwynnie Paltrow’s statuette the night she won. Remember that breathtaking pink Ralph Lauren gown she wore, GC? What are the most memorable moments for you over the many years of your world-famous party?
GC:
I always take my children, and if there was ever one moment, it was the night they were introduced to Muhammad Ali. For some reason, it’s always struck me as something they’ll never forget.
GW:
Any special surprises planned for this year?
GC:
We always try to do something special. Of course, we also try to keep it a surprise for as long as possible.
GW:
And who will have the distinct honor of sitting to your right at your über-exclusive pre-dinner party?
GC:
Sitting to my right will probably be Fran Lebowitz. She usually draws the short straw.
GW:
What do you always order at the Beatrice Inn?
GC:
Well, we just changed the chef there, but I usually order the iceberg wedge and the chicken.
GW:
Who is the new chef?
GC:
That cannot be
disclosed at this time, GW.
GW:
Will there ever be an outpost of the Waverly Inn at the Wynn resort in sunny Las Vegas?
GC:
A Waverly Wynn? No, I don’t think so. We’ve been approached a number of times, but we’re not sure how well it would translate.
GW:
I don’t believe that the lesbian woman is truly ready to be the next mayor of New York City. GW is backing Joe Lhota. Who would you like to see in Gracie Mansion?
GC:
Aside from Ray Kelly and Christine Quinn? Fran—I think she’d make a fabulous mayor.
GW:
And lastly, because it’s The Daily, are you happy with your new creative director?
GC:
Chris Dixon is a marvel and a joy to work with. Plus, he’s Canadian, so he gets all my hockey jokes.
GW:
Well, the reviews are unanimous: GC still rules! Thank you, my liege.
ROBERT EVANS
APRIL 1999
This is one of my all-time favorite interviews, for which I never did sit with the subject face to face. I was on vacation at the Half-Moon Resort in Montego Bay at the time with the only man I have ever been in love with—even to this day—one Manuel Esperito Santo. And oh, how much I wish he would come back to me. That said, we were on location in a stunning villa along the Caribbean Sea when the iconic Hollywood producer Robert Evans called from Los Angeles. We were on the phone for at least two hours—this after all is a true decades-long icon of show business, the visionary responsible for The Godfather and Chinatown amongst many other classics. To this day, his seminal memoir, The Kid Stays in the Picture, is a must-read. We talked for hours between my stuffing my face with jerk chicken. Every pun intended . . .
GW:
Darling, you’ve been regaling GW with the declaration that he is only the second person in history, after Sherry Lansing, to see the seventeen-minute preview to the two-hour docudrama-movie work-in-progress based on your acclaimed autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture. I was absolutely mesmerized by that legendary Bob Evans lush purr!
RE:
I’ve had that voice since I was eleven years old. I was a famous child actor on the radio.
GW:
GW especially loved that sequence in the preview where you muse about being discovered in a nightclub by the legendary Darryl Zanuck. At which nightclub were you discovered by Zanuck?
RE:
At El Morocco—the most famous nightclub at the time. I was doing the tango with Contessa Cristina Polizzi, and Albert, the captain at El Mo’s, came over and said, “Mr. Zanuck would like to see you.” So I went over to his table and Zanuck said, “Are you an actor, kid?” I said, “I’m not right now.” He said, “We’ve been watching you dance for the last hour and a half. How would you like to star opposite Ava Gardner as the matador in The Sun Also Rises?” And that’s how I got the part. I was the only actor ever under personal contract to Darryl Zanuck.
GW:
Wow, that’s absolutely queenious! You are still considered one of the longest-running studio heads in the history of Paramount Pictures. And it was about 1974 that you were considered the most powerful man in Hollywood.
RE:
I would say from 1966 to 1976, but I don’t wish to sound in any way self-serving, because a lot of other people contributed.
GW:
But—my God—you haven’t had a hit movie for years!
RE:
I had a hit last year. The Saint was a big hit.
GW:
The fact that it made one hundred million dollars overseas where people are starving for anything “made in America” does not make it a hit!
RE:
Of the pictures I’ve made in this decade, the one I’m most proud of is Jade. Billy Friedkin is a wonderful director—I love working with him. I’m hoping that The Out-of-Towners will be a wonderful audience film.
GW:
Well, you have Goldie Hawn. And, God knows, Steve Martin could sure use a hit just as much as you could!
RE:
Well, I suppose everyone needs a hit. Of course, our business, George—and you know this—is run by the bottom line. My pictures, for that reason have not been bombs.
GW:
That’s a good point. GW gives kudos for that one! Now Bob, tell GW what was that two-week marriage to Catherine Oxenberg all about?
RE:
Just that—two weeks.
GW:
Yet another classic Bob Evans fiasco.
RE:
No, it wasn’t a fiasco. It was irrational behavior caused by my stroke. On May 6, 1998, I was proposing a toast to Wes Craven in my home. And it was like a bolt of lightning hit me, and I just fell to the floor. The doctors all but pronounced me dead. I saw the white light.
GW:
That’s amazing, Bob! But this fiasco marriage?!
RE:
I’ve known Catherine for years. I have only nice things to say about her. I have gone through eight months of the most painful physical therapy any human could have. This must be retribution.
GW:
The audio version of your memoir has been one of the most popular books on tape in Hollywood.
RE:
I was reading the New York Post—this review which came out: “This may be the only audio book with a cult following . . . it’s developed an evergreen status.”
GW:
Darling, it’s all about the evergreen status! Robert Evans is a thoroughbred survivor. He is here forever!
JERRY HALL
MAY 1997
I was so ecstatic to be able to interview the fashion icon that will always be Jerry Hall. Not only was she one of the true original supermodels before the term even existed, she was a muse to so many men—including fashion designer Thierry Mugler and the rock-star icon Mick Jagger, for whom she would bear four children. Always one for a fabulous surprise, today she is happily married to the great Rupert Murdoch. And Jerry Hall’s life could not be more idyllic.
On this day in early 1997, she was on the glorious West Indian island of Mustique, holidaying with her fabulous American fashion-designer friend and fellow fashion icon—Tommy Hilfiger. I could have spent hours more on the telephone just listening to that Texas meets Mayfair purr of hers . . . simply beguiling.
GW:
You’ve been married into rock royalty for more than six years. And it’s been . . .
JH:
I can’t talk to you for long because I’m late to get on this boat. We’re going to a party at Tommy Hilfiger’s.
GW:
So I’m going to get right into it: you’ve been married to Mick Jagger for six years, and it’s been . . . what?
JH:
[Long pause] Well, we’ve been living together for twenty years, actually. And it’s been exciting.
GW:
Exciting and . . . ?
JH:
Well, I think that’s enough.
GW:
Let’s talk about those crazy days, Jerry Hall. Those days when you were a seventies supermodel.
JH:
Well, I’m still modeling. I’ve got a three-year contract with Thierry Mugler’s Angel perfume. And I did his show in Paris in January. And he’s doing the clothes for my next movie, The Prodigal Daughter, in which I play a Mae West type. He’s doing the most wonderful clothes.
GW:
Fabulous!
JH:
And I’m crazy flattered that I have been working with him for so long and he still likes me.
GW:
But recall some anecdotes. What does Jerry Hall remember most from the Studio 54 era?
JH:
I used to have so much fun with all the gang: Helmut Newton, Paloma Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol. We used to have such fun parties. Everybody was so into their art. They weren’t so much into making money like now.
GW:
Please! Andy was definitely into making money. What are you talking about
? Warhol was all about money, Jerry. Please!
JH:
Yeah, maybe. But Andy was so generous. I used to host for Andy Warhol’s TV, and he used to pay me every week in art. I have a fabulous collection of Andy Warhol things. He paid me too much.
GW:
Okay, you’re right. He was a generous man, but by the same token he loved making money. What about those days with Anjelica Huston, Grace Jones, Iman? What if your daughter Elizabeth says, “Mama, I want to be a supermodel just like you”?
JH:
I’d be thrilled because modeling is great. They’re all shouting at me that we’re going to miss the boat launch. So I’m going to have to go.
GW:
But you can’t leave yet darling. We have to talk about Jerry and Mick?
JH:
I’m not talking about him.
GW:
Jerry, just let me ask you this question: Why do you think so many Englishmen are such effete heterosexuals?
JH:
I don’t know. Maybe it’s the school system. Or maybe it’s in their genes.