Dominick Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways high society interacts with the judiciary system. He was a producer in Hollywood and is also known from his frequent appearances on television.After his studies at Williams College and service in World War II, Dunne moved to New York, then to Hollywood, where he directed Playhouse 90 and became vice president of Four Star Pictures. He hobnobbed with the rich and the famous of those days. In 1979, he left Hollywood, moved to Oregon, and wrote his first book, The Winners. In November 1982, his actress daughter, Dominique Dunne, was murdered. Dunne attended the trial of her murderer (John Thomas Sweeney) and subsequently wrote Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer.
Father of actor/director/writer Griffin Dunne , Dominique Dunne and Alexander Dunne.
Older brother of John Gregory Dunne.
Won a Bronze Star for saving another soldier during the Battle of the Bulge.
His "big break" in the literary world came by chance: he was seated next to Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown at a dinner party.
Graduated from Williams College.
Brother-in-law of Joan Didion.
Father-in-law of Carey Lowell (during her marriage to son Griffin).
Was good friends with Alfred Hitchcock and Graydon Carter.
Grandfather of Hannah Dunne.
He and wife Ellen Griffin (Lenny) had 5 children: 3 daughters, 2 sons. Two daughters died in infancy, Dominique was murdered in 1982, and Griffin and Alex survived them.
In his autobiography, " The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well Known Namedropper", Dunne described the following incident. In 1955, he had been the stage manager on television for a musical version of the play "Our Town". Frank Sinatra introduced the song "Love and Marriage" in the show. Fourteen years later Dunne and his wife were in a restaurant when a waiter punched his head. He then saw Sinatra staring at him from a table, seated with some people. Dunne asked the waiter how much money Sinatra had paid him "to slug me." The waiter told him fifty dollars. Dunne and his wife left the restaurant and never went back to it.
For me, the path of failure exceeded by far the joys of success. My,plight was hopeless. I almost jumped in front of a train in Santa,Barbara. At the last second I let it pass me. I had a major flirtation,with a kitchen knife that I took to bed with me. The love that I felt,for Los Angeles turned to hate. I ran from there.
My father was this famous heart surgeon, a wonderful man. . . but there was something about me that drove him crazy. .
