Andy Warhol kept these diaries faithfully from November 1976 right up to his final week, in February 1987. Written at the height of his fame and success, Warhol records the fun of an Academy Awards party, nights out at Studio 54, trips between London, Paris and New York, and surprisingly even the money he spent each day, down to the cent. With appearances from and references to everyone who was anyone, from Jim Morrison, Martina Navratilova and Calvin Klein to Shirley Bassey, Estee Lauder and Muhammad Ali, these diaries are the most glamorous, witty and revealing writings of the twentieth century.
Tuesday, September 20, 1977
‘Watched Stanley Siegel. Brooke Shields didn’t show up so he did a live telephone interview with Sophia Loren, who’s in town at the Pierre. Her English is good now. But you know, seeing her on TV this morning, she’s just … trashy. She said she wouldn’t let her daughter be in a movie like Brooke Shield’s Pretty Baby, and I mean didn’t she just fuck her way to the top? Who’s she kidding? She’s so pretentious. I’m supposed to see her on Thursday.’
Thursday, January 5, 1978
‘Bianca [Jagger] had two blemishes on her face! She’s never had a blemish! I guess she’s depressed about Mick [Jagger], discoing the night away. She stays out until 6 and then gets up for her 8am exercise class.’
Sunday, March 19, 1978
‘Dali is so full of ideas, and he’s ahead in some things, but then he’s behind in others. It’s odd. He was telling me about a book that’s just been written in Paris about a brother and sister who were so in love that the brother (laughs) ate her shit.’
Sunday, March 26, 1978
‘And Nelson called me from LA. He said that he’d been in the hospital because on St Patrick’s Day he and Bobby De Niro started eating a five-pound cheddar cheese with Jack Daniel’s and day by day that’s all Nelson was eating until finally he had pains and he went to the hospital and they said that the cheese had turned to rock and they gave him a laxative to break it up.’
Saturday, April 8, 1978
‘Mick wanted us to hear his new record, and we were going to bring it over to Studio 54 but it was at Earl McGrath’s house, so we went over there ($4). Jann and Jane Wenner were there and Stephen Graham who had something wrapped in foil in his pocket. It looked like drugs, but it turned out to be a Rice Crispie cookie.’
Sunday, April 16, 1978
‘The gossip from Saturday night at Studio 54 before was that Jack Nicholson came in and Ryan O’Neal was there with Barbara Allen and everyone was trying to keep Jack and Ryan apart so they wouldn’t see each other. Barbara thought it was because of her, but it was the situation with Anjelica [Huston] – she’s been seeing Ryan lately. And Stevie called and said how hard he worked, that it was so much fun keeping them apart. And Tatum was dancing with Mona Christiansen. And Stevie said that Liza was dying for Marty Scorsese to get back to town, because [Mikhail] Baryshnikov just sees too many girls.’
Thursday, May 11, 1978
‘When we got to 54 Stevie said he’d just driven Bianca [Jagger] to the airport. He said he’s so in love with her, and that if he weren’t gay he’d really fall for her, but he just couldn’t get it up.’
Monday, May 29, 1978
‘We walked over to have lunch at One Fifth, and on the way we saw Patti Smith in a bowler hat buying food for her cat. I invited her thinking she’d say no, but she said, “Great” … Patti didn’t want to eat too much, so she ate half my lunch. She said she only loves blonds and that she wanted to have an affair with a blond. All I could think about was her b.o.’
Tuesday, October 10, 1978 – Paris
‘Club Sept invited us to a private dinner ($40 to chauffeur). We got there and our table was actually reserved for Bette Midler. Saw Isabelle Adjani, so beautiful. Bette came in and got an ovation. She saw me and made me kiss her hand.’
Tuesday, November 14, 1978
Truman Capote stopped by, he was visiting Bob MacBride in his studio at 33 Union Square. Truman may be on Lithium, because suddenly he’s happy. But my real theory is that he went out to Long Island and saw Jack Dunphy and that Jack Dunphy agreed to write Answered Prayers for him. And he had the most chic coat on. Courréges. One big zipper and two zippers for the pockets. He said it was a few years old. But his hands were cold. Which drug is that?’
Monday, December 31, 1979
‘Then at 3am Bianca wanted to go to Woody Allen’s party … Woody’s was the best party, wall-to-wall famous people, we should have gone earlier. Mia Farrow is so charming and such a beauty. Bobby de Niro was there and he’s so fat. Really really fat.’
Saturday, February 17, 1979
‘Blondie – Debbie Harry – was there and when we got backstage there was Nico! With John Cale! And she looks beautiful again, absolutely beautiful, she’s finally thin in the face.’
Thursday, April 5, 1979
‘Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine’s. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend, I don’t know how that one works.’
Monday, October 22, 1979
‘Priscilla Presley came to the office and we interviewed her. Her boyfriend was with her, Michael Edwards, the model. She admitted she’d never had caviar in all her years with Elvis because he hated fish and would have thrown her out of the house if he saw her eating any. God, what a beauty. I wonder if she had her nose fixed, though.’
Thursday, April 10, 1980
‘At 6pm Jodie Foster came to 860. She looked beautiful. With her mother. She and her mother are a team. It’s like a marriage – Jodie’s the father. She’s very intelligent and she’s gotten into all the colleges she’s applied to except she hears from Harvard, Yale and Princeton on Monday. In case she goes to Harvard we were telling her about John Samuels and how cute he is, but I don’t know what type she’d like because she dresses really like a boy – all in Brooks Brothers.’
Saturday, July 12, 1980
Ran into Sylvester Stallone who cut his beard and looks great … Then I ran into him again, on the beach, and all the people on the beach were taking pictures of him. He looked so great without clothes on, he’s pencil-thin, he looks like a muscle man, like Mr America with small biceps.’
Thursday, April 5, 1979
‘Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine’s. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend, I don’t know how that one works.’
Wednesday, August 29, 1979
Rupert and I worked on the Ten Most Famous Jews series. I haven’t been told for sure yet who’s in it. Sarah Bernhardt. Maybe Woody Allen. Charlie Chaplin, Freud, Modgliani, Martin Buber. Who is Martin Buber? The Guggenheims. Oh, and Einstein. And Gertrude Stein. Kafka (photos for research $2.20). I think they were considering Bob Dylan but I read that he turned born-again Christian.’
Monday, October 22, 1979
‘Priscilla Presley came to the office and we interviewed her. Her boyfriend was with her, Michael Edwards, the model. She admitted she’d never had caviar in all her years with Elvis because he hated fish and would have thrown her out of the house if he saw her eating any. God, what a beauty. I wonder if she had her nose fixed, though.’
Saturday, July 12, 1980
‘Ran into Sylvester Stallone who cut his beard and looks great … Then I ran into him again, on the beach, and all the people on the beach were taking pictures of him. He looked so great without clothes on, he’s pencil-thin, he looks like a muscle man, like Mr America with small biceps.’
Wednesday, July 22, 1981
‘At 4.00 the Walt Disney film crew came and shot me in front of my Shoes and my Walt Disney drawings. They asked me who my favourite Disney character was and I said, “Minnie Mouse, because she can get me close to Mickey”.’
Monday, August 24, 1981
‘Debbie Harry’s Newsweek article came out and it was strange because the article mentioned me about eight times, quoting from the Philosophy book and saying that she worked at Max’s. And you know, Debbie isn’t really interesting to talk to, but her interviews always come out right.’
Sunday, August 30, 1981
‘We called Jack Nicholson the minute we arrived …. And it was just like talking in a movie, talking to Jack on the phone. It was so exciting. God, it was exciting.’
Saturday, October 10, 1981
‘Duran Duran are good looking kids like Maxwell Caulfield. And then afterwards they wanted to meet me so we went backstage and I told them how great they were. They all wore lots of makeup but they had their girlfriends with them from England, pretty girls, so I guess they’re all straight, but it was hard to believe.’
Saturday, June 5, 1982
‘I went into one of those Korean produce stores and there were about fifteen people in there, it was mobbed, and I listened to this guy rave about a pineapple for ten minutes, and by the time he was through, I was dying to get one, too. He was saying, “I want it ripe and ready! Juicy! Luscious! Ready to eat, right off the bat!” And then I turned around and it was Nixon. And he looked pudgy, like a Dickens character, fat with a belly.’
Tuesday, January 11, 1983
‘Grace Jones came by in her macho outfit with a big raving beauty Swedish guy, like 6’6”. Hans Lundgren. And we shook hands and it was strange because he had such a weak handshake, really wimpy.’
Wednesday, May 23, 1984
‘Benjamin was supposed to be in drag when he picked me up to go to the Karl Lagerfeld dinner at the Museum of Modern Art, but he wasn’t. We walked right into the elevator with Karl, who was sweet. Wearing lipstick with his ponytail.’
Friday, September 14, 1984
‘Diana Ross was my date, but she was in another row, the first row, because she was picking up Michael Jackson’s awards. Lou Reed sat in my row but never looked over. I don’t understand Lou, why he doesn’t talk to me now. Rod Stewart and Madonna and Cyndi Lauper and Bette Midler and Dan Ackroyd and Peter Wolf were there.
Thursday, April 11, 1985
‘And then he said that Tennessee [Williams] just loved Joe Dallesandro so when Joe went up to see him Tennessee did his fainting number so Joe would have to hold him in his arms.’
Saturday, April 27, 1985
‘I’m trying to think where we could have some videotapes of the Velvet Underground. Because I mean now with Lou not wanting to get back for a reunion with the others, I just am thinking that I really should figure out a way to get money out of that first album. I mean, I produced it!’
Saturday, July 13, 1985
‘That night Jack Nicholson introduced Bob Dylan and called him “transcendental”. But to me, Dylan was never really real – he was just mimicking real people and the amphetamine made it come out magic’
Wednesday, August 15, 1985
‘They should be getting the Stallone issue in today. Everybody was talking about the interview – they say he sounds smart. Is that possible?’
Saturday, September 13, 1986
‘Left at 8:00 to go to Madison Square garden to see Elton John. He came out like an angel in a halo with a red wig, plus a tommy-hawk wig. And oh God, he is fat.’
Saturday, November 15, 1986
‘Michael Jackson was coming to his apartment at 3:30 but Stuart got home after 3:30 so he missed him. But now Michael is in town again and he’s wearing a big brown wig and dark glasses, and a white gas mask, so if you see that coming down the street…’
Saturday, November 22, 1986
‘I’m always surprised that one of the Kennedy kids wouldn’t want to know what really happened, who really killed JFK and Bobby Kennedy. You’d think Caroline would get interested and say, “I don’t care if I get killed, I want to know”.’
Saturday, November 29, 1986
‘He was working at the newsroom of the Post he got a phone call and it was Timothy Hutton saying, “Hello, this is Timothy Hutton. Did anyone there call me?” and Richard asked around and everybody said no. And then Timothy Hutton asked, “Well did anyone call Madonna?” I guess she was with him. You know how these things are, you get a message with a number. And they said no. And so then he said, “Well where is it that I’m calling?” And they said, “The New York Post. And since we’ve got you on the phone, what are you doing with Madonna?” And he hung up fast’
