Celebrity crime writer Dominick Dunne dies at 83
Dominick Dunne, the former Hollywood producer and best-selling author known for his Vanity Fair essays on the courtroom travails of the rich and famous, died Wednesday in New York city after a long battle with cancer.
Dunne, who described himself as "a high-class Zelig," was 83.
Called "Nick" by his friends, Dunne was putting the finishing touches on his final novel, which he said he planned to call "Too Much Money," when his health took a turn for the worse.
He flew to Germany earlier this month for another round of stem cell treatments at the same Bavarian clinic where the late Farrah Fawcett was treated. He was hospitalized upon his return to New York, then sent home.
As a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Dunne was a fixture at some of the most famous trials of our times -- Claus von Bulow, William Kennedy Smith, the Menendez brothers, O.J. Simpson, Michael Skakel and Phil Spector.
He discovered his magazine writing career in his 50s, through personal tragedy -- his daughter's murder. Video Watch why Dunne says he started writing about crime »
He vented his anger at the legal system in "Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer," following the murder trial of John Sweeney, the estranged boyfriend who strangled 22-year-old Dominique Dunne, in 1982. Sweeney spent fewer than three years in prison.
Dunne's article was published by Vanity Fair and he accepted then-editor Tina Brown's offer to write full-time for the magazine. Calling himself a "diarist," Dunne dropped bold-faced names as he spilled behind-the-scenes nuggets gleaned from courtrooms and dinner parties alike...
... Dunne had his own television show, truTV's "Power, Privilege and Justice." Marc Juris, truTV's executive vice president, recalled Dunne as "a master storyteller ... who always kept his eye on the human story behind the crimes."
Besides hosting his own show, Dunne appeared frequently on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"Dominick Dunne was one of the finest people I've known," King said. "He was a terrific writer, a raconteur, and a familiar face on 'Larry King Live' for many years. He was a wonderful human being."...
... In 1985, Dunne wrote his first best-seller, "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," loosely based on a society killing. That success was followed by "People Like Us," "An Inconvenient Woman," "A Season in Purgatory," and, following the Simpson trial, "Another City, Not my Own."...
Read entire article at CNN.com
Dunne, who described himself as "a high-class Zelig," was 83.
Called "Nick" by his friends, Dunne was putting the finishing touches on his final novel, which he said he planned to call "Too Much Money," when his health took a turn for the worse.
He flew to Germany earlier this month for another round of stem cell treatments at the same Bavarian clinic where the late Farrah Fawcett was treated. He was hospitalized upon his return to New York, then sent home.
As a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Dunne was a fixture at some of the most famous trials of our times -- Claus von Bulow, William Kennedy Smith, the Menendez brothers, O.J. Simpson, Michael Skakel and Phil Spector.
He discovered his magazine writing career in his 50s, through personal tragedy -- his daughter's murder. Video Watch why Dunne says he started writing about crime »
He vented his anger at the legal system in "Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer," following the murder trial of John Sweeney, the estranged boyfriend who strangled 22-year-old Dominique Dunne, in 1982. Sweeney spent fewer than three years in prison.
Dunne's article was published by Vanity Fair and he accepted then-editor Tina Brown's offer to write full-time for the magazine. Calling himself a "diarist," Dunne dropped bold-faced names as he spilled behind-the-scenes nuggets gleaned from courtrooms and dinner parties alike...
... Dunne had his own television show, truTV's "Power, Privilege and Justice." Marc Juris, truTV's executive vice president, recalled Dunne as "a master storyteller ... who always kept his eye on the human story behind the crimes."
Besides hosting his own show, Dunne appeared frequently on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"Dominick Dunne was one of the finest people I've known," King said. "He was a terrific writer, a raconteur, and a familiar face on 'Larry King Live' for many years. He was a wonderful human being."...
... In 1985, Dunne wrote his first best-seller, "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," loosely based on a society killing. That success was followed by "People Like Us," "An Inconvenient Woman," "A Season in Purgatory," and, following the Simpson trial, "Another City, Not my Own."...