Bob Colacello
{{Short description|American writer (born 1947)}}{{Infobox person
| name = Bob Colacello
| image = Bob Colacello 2011 Shankbone.JPG
| caption = Colacello at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party
| birth_name = Robert Colaciello
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1947|05|08}}
| birth_place = Bensonhurst, New York, U.S.
| education = Georgetown University
Columbia University
| occupation = Writer
}}
Bob Colacello (born May 8, 1947) is an American writer. He began his career writing for The Village Voice before becoming an editor for pop artist Andy Warhol's Interview magazine from 1970 to 1983.{{Cite magazine |last=Colacello |first=Bob |date=December 1989 |title=Interview—Back To The Future? |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_vanity-fair_1989-12_52_12/page/n143/mode/2up?q=jed+johnson |magazine=Vanity Fair |volume=52 |issue=12 |pages=134, 140}}{{Cite web |last=Nevins |first=Jake |date=2023-09-15 |title=Bob Colacello on the "Secular Saints" of Andy Warhol's Portraits |url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/these-are-secular-saints-bob-colacello-on-warhols-commissioned-portraits |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=Interview Magazine |language=en-US}} His roles at Interview included special contributing editor, managing editor, and executive editor. He collaborated with Warhol on the books The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975) and Exposures (1979). In 1984, Colacello became a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, and since 1993, he has served as a special correspondent.{{Cite magazine |last=Fair |first=Vanity |date=2007-03-05 |title=Bob Colacello |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2000/01/bio-colacello |access-date=2024-06-11 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}
Life and career
Robert Colaciello was born to John and Libby Colaciello in Bensonhurst, New York on May 8, 1947.{{Cite news|url=http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/features/article_1347777.php/Bob_Colacello_misses_the_Seventies |title=Bob Colacello misses the Seventies |publisher=Monsters and Critics |date=26 August 2007 |first=Stone |last=Martindale |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003180934/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/features/article_1347777.php/Bob_Colacello_misses_the_Seventies |archive-date=3 October 2012 }} He and his two sisters, Barbara and Suzanne, were raised in Plainview, Long Island.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-04 |title=My Life in Parties: Bob Colacello's Off-Kilter Views of New York Society |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/bob-colacello-party-photographs-1970s-new-york-andy-warhol-interview-magazine |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=W Magazine |language=en}} He graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1969 and has an MFA in film criticism from Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts.{{Cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADDEF4B07CFB2A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Of Andy and Co. there is no end |first=Mark |last=Feeney |date=12 August 1990 |publisher=Boston Globe |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-date=8 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608164034/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADDEF4B07CFB2A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=dead }}
Colacello began his writing career around 1969, when he began publishing film reviews in the Village Voice weekly.{{Cite news |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_611240.html |title=Brigid exhibit showcases Warhol confidante |date=13 February 2009 |publisher=Pittsburgh Tribune |first=Kurt |last=Shaw }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} As a graduate student in the Film department at Columbia University in New York, his first publications doubled as his class essays and homework assignments.{{Cite news |publisher=Interview |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_9_34/ai_n6213137/ |title=Bob Colacello: you never know who you'll end up meeting at Interview |first=Claudia |last=Cohen |date=October 2004 }}
In 1970, Colacello wrote a review of Andy Warhol's film Trash, which he hailed as a "great Roman Catholic masterpiece". This review garnered the attention of Warhol, and Paul Morrissey, the director of many of Warhol's films, who approached Colacello to write for Interview magazine, a new film review magazine Warhol had recently begun to publish.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3668115/Bob-Colacello-24-hour-party-person.html |date=23 September 2007 |first=Horatia |last=Harrod |title=Bob Colacello: 24-hour party person |publisher=Daily Telegraph | location=London}} Colacello was made editor of Interview within six months and, for the next 12 years, remained directly involved in all aspects of life and business at The Factory— Warhol's studio—as he developed the magazine into one of the best-known lifestyle magazines of the time. Early on, he still wrote his name as Robert Colaciello.{{Cite book |last=Colacello |first=Bob |url= |title=Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up |date=1990 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-016419-5 |location=New York |pages=48, 104, 116, 138}} Colacello recalled that Warhol suggested he change his name to Bob Cola, in order to sound more "pop."{{Cite news |first=Gary Michael |last=Dault |date=8 September 1990 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/472202491.html?dids=472202491:472202491&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+08%2C+1990&author=Gary+Michael+Dault&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Warhol%3A+The+life+and+death+of+the+party+Holy+Terror%3A+Andy+Warhol+Up+Close+by+Bob+Colacello+HarperCollins%2C+514+pages%2C+%2424.95&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025081841/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/472202491.html?dids=472202491:472202491&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+08,+1990&author=Gary+Michael+Dault&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Warhol:+The+life+and+death+of+the+party+Holy+Terror:+Andy+Warhol+Up+Close+by+Bob+Colacello+HarperCollins,+514+pages,+$24.95&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |title=Warhol: The life and death of the party Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Up Close by Bob Colacello (review) |publisher=Toronto Star }}
From 1972 to 1973, Glenn O'Brien took over as managing editor of Interview, and Colacello became a special contributing editor. After O'Brien left for Rolling Stone magazine, Rosemary Kent, an editor from WWD magazine, was the managing editor of Interview from 1973 to 1974 until Colacello took over once again.
Interview underwent a revamp and became a reflection of Warhol's social life. In 1974, Colacello began writing his "Out" column: "Andy said, just write about everywhere you go, every lunch, every dinner, every art opening, every movie premiere, every person you see there, whether they're famous or not. And then everyone mentioned will have to go out and buy the magazine and tell ten friends—'I'm in Interview, you have to buy it.' That was the idea for my column. It was very tongue-in-cheek."
In addition to writing for Interview, Colacello traveled with Warhol, attending parties and events with the task of asking celebrities, socialites, heads of state, and princesses if they wanted their portraits commissioned by Warhol. They also collaborated on the books The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975) and Exposures (1979).
For a time Colacello lived with a boyfriend, Kevin Farley, who worked at Iolas Gallery in New York.{{Cite news |last=Colman |first=David |date=2007-09-16 |title=Let the Music Play, or Maybe Not |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/fashion/16POSS.html |access-date=2024-06-11 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
In 1983, Colacello left Interview due to tensions with Warhol. He cited not receiving credit for books he ghostwrote, and Warhol's jealousy over the attention Colacello received from Nancy Reagan among the reasons for his departure.{{Cite web |last=Rea |first=Naomi |date=2023-06-13 |title='You Can't Stay at the Side of a Genius For Too Long': Bob Colacello on the Ups and Downs of Life in Andy Warhol's Orbit |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/bob-colacello-thaddaeus-ropac-gallery-2317521 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}} According to Warhol: The Biography by Victor Bockris, Colacello and Warhol's relationship deteriorated partly because Colacello had been "trying to stake a claim to an inordinate share of control over Andy Warhol Enterprises."{{Cite book |last=Bockris |first=Victor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRmjRcSYXlgC&dq=bob+colacello+wanted+share+of+interview&pg=PA447 |title=Warhol: The Biography |date=2009-04-29 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0-7867-3028-5 |pages=447 |language=en}}
In 1984, Colacello began writing for Vanity Fair magazine,{{Cite news |date=4 September 1990 |first=Catherine |last=Dunphy |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/472220501.html?dids=472220501:472220501&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+14%2C+1990&author=Catherine+Dunphy+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Bob+Colacello+Andy+Warhol%27s+mouthpiece+seeks+his+own+fame&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131190255/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/472220501.html?dids=472220501:472220501&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+14,+1990&author=Catherine+Dunphy+Toronto+Star&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Bob+Colacello+Andy+Warhol's+mouthpiece+seeks+his+own+fame&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |publisher=Toronto Star |title=Bob Colacello: Andy Warhol's mouthpiece seeks his own fame}} and has been a regular contributor since, writing extended profiles on a wide range of public personalities, including Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles,{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/americas/4394934.stm |title=Charles and Camilla begin US tour |publisher=BBC News |date=1 November 2005 }} Balthus,{{Cite web |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/bios/bob_colacello/search?contributorName=Bob%20Colacello |title=Bob Colacello archive |publisher=Vanity Fair |accessdate=2 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130130406/http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/bios/bob_colacello/search?contributorName=Bob%20Colacello |archive-date=30 November 2009 }} Rudolf Nureyev, Liza Minnelli,{{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LuIRAAAAIBAJ&pg=4174,762973&dq=bob-colacello+minnelli&hl=en |title=Liza sure liked to party, goes her sad little story |publisher=Spokesman-Review |date=2 October 1986 |page=10 }} Estée Lauder,{{Cite news |date=2 October 2005 |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PA&p_theme=pa&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10D0DF46F4A01B60&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=SAIL-ABRATION |first=Shannon |last=Donnelly }} Doris Duke,{{Cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/101702340.html?dids=101702340:101702340&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+02%2C+1994&author=Liz+Smith&pub=Newsday+%28Combined+editions%29&desc=Woody%27s+%60Headaches%27&pqatl=google |title=Woody's "headaches" |publisher=News Day |date=2 February 1994 |first=Liz |last=Smith }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} and Naomi Campbell.{{Cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2008/09/supermodels200809 |publisher=Vanity Fair |title=A league of their own |date=September 2008 |first=Bob |last=Colacello }}
Colacello is also a biographer. He is the author of Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House, 1911-1980, about the social and political rise of Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan.{{Cite news |first=Raymond |last=Seitz |title=The two halves of the president |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3633971/The-two-halves-of-the-President.html |date=28 December 2004 | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph}} His memoir of working with Andy Warhol, titled Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up (1990),{{Cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/72615024.html?dids=72615024:72615024&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+18%2C+1990&author=Stephanie+Mansfield&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Warhol%27s+Soiree+Sidekick%3B+Bob+Colacello+and+His+Tell-All+Memoir+of+the+%60Holy+Terror%27&pqatl=google |date=8 September 1990 |first=Stephanie |last=Mansfield |newspaper=Washington Post |title=Warhol's Soiree Sidekick; Bob Colacello and His Tell-All Memoir of the 'Holy Terror' }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} was called the "best-written and the most killingly observed" book on the subject by The New York Times.{{cite news |title= The Artist as Icon, Busybody and Chief Executive |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DD1F3EF93AA3575BC0A966958260&scp=1&sq=Holy%20Terror%20Andy%20Warhol%20Close%20Up&st=cse |work=The New York Times |date=August 9, 1990 |first=Grace |last=Glueck |accessdate=2008-07-15 }}
In 2007, a book of Colacello's photographs titled Bob Colacello's Out was published in 2007.{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The New York |date=2007-11-29 |title=Fine Print {{!}} Bob Colacello's Out |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/bob-colacellos-out/ |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=T Magazine |language=en-US}}
In 2022, Colacello appeared in the Netflix documentary series The Andy Warhol Diaries.{{Cite web |last=Colacello |first=Bob |date=March 5, 2022 |title=The Real Andy Warhol Diaries |url=https://airmail.news/issues/2022-3-5/all-about-andy |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=airmail.news |language=en}}
Books
- Colacello, Bob. Ronnie & Nancy: Their Path to the White House, 1911 to 1980. Warner Books, 2004
- Colacello, Bob. Bob Colacello's Out. New York: 7L, 2007
- Colacello, Bob. Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. New York, New York: HarperCollins. Vintage reprint edition, March 11, 2014
Awards
Notes
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Category:People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Category:American male biographers
Category:American magazine writers
Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
Category:Historians from New York (state)
Category:People from Plainview, New York
Category:American LGBTQ writers
Category:People associated with The Factory
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni