Gore Vidal, who died in 2012 at the age of 86, was known for many things: a novelist, an essayist, a political pundit, screenwriter, playwright, actor and historian. Richard Wolinsky first had a chance to interview him four times.

The first was in 1990 when he came to Berkeley to participate in a Pacifica Foundation event. That interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.

The second interview co-hosted by Richard A. Lupoff, was recorded in 1998 during a tour for the satirical novel “The Smithsonian Institution.”

The third interview, also co-hosted with Richard A. Lupoff,  came in 2000 with a tour of the novel, “The Golden Age.”

“Point to Point Navigation” would turn out to be Gore Vidal’s final full-length book. The last decade of his life was difficult. In 2003, his long-time partner Howard Austen died and a year later he gave up his beloved cliff-hanging villa in Ravello, on Italy’s scenic Amalfi coast due to his lack of mobility. In 2006, he was wheel-chair bound when he came that one last time to the station specifically for interviews with Richard Wolinsky and with Philip Maldari. In 2010, he was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, and he died on July 31 2012 at the age of 86, from pneumonia.

Front photo: Gore Vidal in 2010. Both photos Creative Commons