US author Gore Vidal dies at 86

Gore Vidal, the author, playwright, politician and commentator, has died in Los Angeles. Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills on Tuesday evening of complications from pneumonia. Along with such contemporaries as Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, Vidal was among the last generation of US literary writers who were also genuine celebrity fixtures. Al Jazeera's Dominc Kane looks back at his life.