12. Harper Lee’s father, Truman Capote, and a strange neighbor all inspired memorable characters from To Kill a Mockingbird
When the novelist Harper Lee began shopping around her first manuscript, known then as Go Set a Watchman, publishers told her she had a good story, but she was a new writer who needed guidance. After working with an editor, Lee eventually published her only novel, renamed To Kill a Mockingbird, in 1960. After she won the Pulitzer Prize, Lee withdrew from the public eye, refusing to do interviews or press tours, overwhelmed by her new fame.
In a few published articles over the years, she denied that the novel was autobiographical. However, much like Louisa May Alcott and her sisters, Lee’s characters resemble some of her family and friends. Harper Lee’s father, Amasa Coleman Lee, the inspiration for Atticus Finch, was an attorney who defended two clients, an African-American father and son, Brown and Frank Ezell, on charges of murdering a Caucasian shopowner. Lee was unsuccessful in his defense, and the men were found guilty and executed.
When she was a little girl, Lee befriended Truman Capote, who lived with relatives nearby; he became the model for Dill, Scout’s best friend in the novel. He would become a successful author in his own right, with books like Other Voices, Other Rooms and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. According to Capote, Boo Radley was based on a real person from their neighborhood. Harper and Truman remained friends into their adult years, and she traveled with him to research his book, In Cold Blood.