Norris Church Mailer, 1949–2010
The artist who found a mate in Norman Mailer
In 1975, Norman Mailer was at a cocktail party in Russellville, Ark., when he met a striking 26-year-old single mother who asked him to sign her copy of his book on Marilyn Monroe. Mailer, 52, was in the process of breaking up with his fourth wife while already entangled with his fifth, but he made time for another attraction. She left the party with him and later mailed him a love poem. He mailed it back—copy-edited, in red pencil.
Ms. Mailer was born Barbara Jean Davis and raised in Arkansas in a home with an outhouse, said The New York Times. A one-time Little Miss Little Rock, at 20 she married “her high school sweetheart, Larry Norris, but they divorced after five years.” She subsequently enjoyed a “string of boyfriends,” according to her 2010 memoir, A Ticket to the Circus, including a local politician, Bill Clinton. (Prior to its publication, a friend had joked, “I guess he slept with every woman in Arkansas except you.” She replied: “Sorry—I’m afraid he got us all.”)
After moving to New York, Ms. Mailer worked as a model and changed her name, choosing “Church,” at Mr. Mailer’s behest, as a nod to a childhood spent at a Free Will Baptist congregation. The couple’s son, John Buffalo, was born in 1978, and they married in 1980, said the Los Angeles Times. She “likened their banter to the rapport between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.” But her husband was perennially unfaithful. “One day Norman is a lion, the next day he’s a monkey. Occasionally he’s a lamb, and a large part of the time he’s a jackass,” she once told an interviewer.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An artist in her own right, Ms. Mailer mounted exhibitions of her paintings and wrote two novels in addition to her critically acclaimed memoir. Despite her husband’s infidelities, she stayed with him until his death in 2007. “I knew I was going to be with him for the rest of his life, and I think he felt the same way,” she wrote. Ms. Mailer battled cancer for a decade, but in her memoir she concluded, “If I go tomorrow, I will still be ahead.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
July 7 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Medicaid cuts, a black eye for Paramount, and FEMA funding
-
Cocktail of the summer: the Hugo spritz
The Week Recommends The refreshing elderflower-based tipple is giving Aperol a run for its money
-
How the Erin Patterson mushroom trial caught the world's attention
In the Spotlight Australian woman who laced beef wellington with deadly mushrooms found guilty of murder
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluse
Feature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasure
In the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts
-
James Earl Jones: classically trained actor who gave a voice to Darth Vader
In the Spotlight One of the most respected actors of his generation, Jones overcame a childhood stutter to become a 'towering' presence on stage and screen
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
In the Spotlight Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'