Bob Colacello (born May 8, 1947) is an American writer. He began his career writing for TheVillage Voice before becoming editor-in-chief of pop artist Andy Warhol's Interview magazine from 1971 to 1983.[1] As part of Warhol's entourage, they collaborated on the books The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975) and Exposures (1979). Colacello has been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair since 1984 and has been a special correspondent since 1993.[2]
Colacello began his writing career around 1969, when he began publishing film reviews in the Village Voice weekly.[6] As a graduate student in the Film department at Columbia University in New York, his first publications doubled as his class essays and homework assignments.[7]
In 1970, Colacello wrote a review of Andy Warhol's film Trash, which he hailed as a "great Roman Catholic masterpiece". This review garnered the attention of Warhol, and Paul Morrissey, the director of many of Warhol's films, who approached Colacello to write for Interview magazine, a new art/film/fashion magazine Warhol had recently begun to publish.[8] Colacello was made editor of Interview within six months and, for the next 12 years, remained directly involved in all aspects of life and business at The Factory— Warhol's studio—as he developed the magazine into one of the best-known lifestyle magazines of the time.[7] Early on, he still wrote his name as Robert Colaciello.[9] Colacello recalled that Warhol suggested he change his name to Bob Cola, in order to sound more "pop."[10]
In addition to writing for Interview, Colacello traveled with Warhol, attending parties and events with the task of asking celebrities, socialites, heads of state, and princesses if they wanted their portraits commissioned by Warhol.[9]
For a time Colacello lived with a boyfriend, Kevin Farley, who worked at Iolas Gallery in New York.[11]
In 1983, Colacello left Interview due to tensions with Warhol. He cited not receiving credit for books he ghostwrote, and Warhol's jealousy over the attention Colacello received from Nancy Regan among the reasons for his departure.[12] According to Warhol: The BiographybyVictor Bockris, Colacello and Warhol's relationship deteriorated partly because Colacello had been "trying to stake a claim to an inordinate share of control over Andy Warhol Enterprises."[13]
Colacello is also a biographer. He is the author of Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House, 1911-1980, about the social and political rise of Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan.[21] His memoir of working with Andy Warhol, titled Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up (1990),[22] was called the "best-written and the most killingly observed" book on the subject by The New York Times.[23]
Books
Colacello, Bob. Ronnie & Nancy: Their Path to the White House, 1911 to 1980. Warner Books, 2004
Colacello, Bob. Bob Colacello's Out. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008
Colacello, Bob. Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. New York, New York: Harper Collins. Vintage reprint edition, March 11, 2014
