Like a lot of super-intelligent, self-satisfied people, Gore Vidal could never shut the fuck up and was often wrong. He was a fascinating character and a master showman, but he seemed to exist mostly to hear his own voice and flatter himself. There was some greatness along the way, but I doubt one word he wrote or uttered will ever effect the world in any meaningful way. I know that’s a high threshold by which to rate a writer, but I think such self-importance demands an important contribution. Yes, I mourn the absence of public intellectuals in America, but that realm had its limitations.

Because CBS is still living in the distant technological past, I’m unable to embed the video of Mike Wallace conducting a 1975 60 Minutes interview with Vidal, whom he astutely described as an “intellectual vaudevillian.” But go here to watch it.

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See also:

• Vidal speaks ill of President Nixon to Merv Griffin. (1970)