Editor's Letter

October Fest

Robert De Niro is probably the greatest movie actor of our time. He is the consummate chameleon, changing not just his skin but his size, his shape, his voice, his hairline when he thinks the role requires it. His cameo as A1 Capone in The Untouchables infuses a bang-up cops-and-robbers movie with moments of genius. It is hardly surprising that no interviewer has yet been able to lift the mask.

Patricia Bosworth did not interview De Niro—which is why, perhaps, she got closer to him than anyone before. De Niro gave her permission to talk to his friends, many of whom were also friends of Bosworth's. She talked with fifty of them, and her portrait on page 100 is one that goes far to understanding the mystery of a star who so obsessively hides his real self. Bosworth is used to exploring sensitive and elusive personalities, as readers of her biographies of actor Montgomery Clift and photographer Diane Arbus will recall. Maybe De Niro will use her research as character notes for a role that haunts him— that of Robert De Niro.

This issue previews Helmut Newton's new book V ^ of portraits on page 128, with a profile of the dark f J 4* prince of photography by Stephen Schiff. We thought Vanity Fair readers would be intrigued to read about Helmut, since his transition from fashion to journalism has been powerfully developed in our pages (Salvador Dali, Claus von Biilow, Gore Vidal, and, in this issue, Bruce Cutler and Princess Ira von Fiirstenberg).

You'll notice a new look at the front of Vanity Fair this month. We have made a bonfire of our "Vanities" section. In its place we have brought the arts pages, edited by David Kuhn, from the back to the front in a new department entitled "Fanfair," which gives them greater scope and more space—leaving just enough room for me to write an editor's postcard.

Editor in chief