In 1996, Shawn's longtime New Yorker colleague Lillian Ross wrote in a memoir that she and Shawn had an affair from 1950 until his death, with Lyon's knowledge. Ross claimed that Shawn was also active in the upbringing of her adopted son, Erik. The publication of the memoir was controversial, in part because Shawn deeply valued his privacy. Influences and legacy In 1998, Indian author Ved Mehta, who had worked with Shawn at The New Yorker for almost three decades, published a biography of Shawn, Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker: The Invisible Art of Editing. In popular culture Shawn was portrayed in the 2005 film Capote by Bob Balaban and in the 2012 film Hannah Arendt by Nicholas Woodeson. References 1907 births 1992 deaths American male journalists The New Yorker people American people of Russian-Jewish descent American magazine editors University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers People from Manhattan Journalists from New York City 20th-century American male writers The New Yorker editors