Howard Austen (born Howard Auster; January 28, 1929 – September 22, 2003) was the longtime companion of American writer

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

. They were together for 53 years, until Austen's death.

Early life and career

Austen was born into a working-class Jewish family and grew up in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York. Reportedly, Austen wanted to have a career as a singer. In 1950, when Vidal met Austen, Austen had just graduated and was struggling to find work writing advertising copy. At Vidal's suggestion, he changed his surname from "Auster" to "Austen" "after advertising firms refused to hire him because he was Jewish". Immediately after he changed his name, he was hired at Doyle, Dane & Bernbach, which was considered a very good house and is known as DDB today. Austen would go on to become a stage manager for Broadway shows in the 1950s and 1960s. He also worked in film, assisting with the casting of the classic 1962 film ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

''.

Personal life

Austen was described as red-haired and freckle-faced and was 21, having just graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, when he met Vidal at New York's

Everard Baths The Everard Baths or Everard Spa Turkish Bathhouse was a gay bathhouse at 28 West 28th Street in New York City that operated from 1888 to 1986. The venue occupied an adaptively reused church building and was the site of a deadly fire. History Ever ...

on Labor Day, 1950. Vidal has been reported as describing their relationship as "two men who decided to spend their lives together". Austen managed the couple's complicated financial affairs, travel arrangements and housing needs, both at their home in Hollywood and in their La Rondinaia villa in

Ravello, Italy Ravello (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' situated above the Amalfi Coast in the province of Salerno, Campania, Southern Italy, with approximately 2,500 inhabitants. Its scenic location makes it a popular tourist destination, and earned it ...

on the

Amalfi coast The Amalfi Coast ( it, Costiera amalfitana) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Celebrated worldwide ...

. In September 2003, Austen died from a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, California. In February 2005, Austen was re-buried at

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stree ...

, in Washington, D.C., in a joint grave meant for Vidal and Austen.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Howard American advertising people American theatre people American casting directors Stage managers 1929 births 2003 deaths LGBT businesspeople from the United States LGBT Jews 20th-century American Jews Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from New York City LGBT people from California LGBT people from New York (state) New York University alumni People from the Bronx People from Hollywood, Los Angeles People from Ravello Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery 20th-century American businesspeople Gore Vidal 21st-century American Jews