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Summary
Summary
Dominick Dunne seemed to live his entire adult life in the public eye, but in this biography Robert Hofler reveals a conflicted, enigmatic man who reinvented himself again and again. As a television and film producer in the 1950s-1970s, hobnobbing with Humphrey Bogart and Natalie Wood, he found success and crushing failure in a pitiless Hollywood. As a Vanity Fair journalist covering the lives of the rich and powerful, he mesmerized readers with his detailed coverage of spectacular murder cases--O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, Michael Skakel, Phil Spector, and Claus von Bülow. He had his own television show, Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justic . His five best-selling novels, including The Two Mrs. Grenvilles , People Like Us , and An Inconvenient Woman , were inspired by real lives and scandals. The brother of John Gregory Dunne and brother-in-law of Joan Didion, he was a friend and confidante of many literary luminaries. Dunne also had the ear of some of the world's most famous women, among them Princess Diana, Nancy Reagan, Liz Smith, Barbara Walters, and Elizabeth Taylor.
Dunne admitted to inventing himself, and it was that public persona he wrote about in his own memoir, The Way We Lived Then . Left out of that account, but brought to light here, were his intense rivalry with his brother John Gregory, the gay affairs and relationships he had throughout his marriage and beyond, and his fights with editors at Vanity Fair . Robert Hofler also reveals the painful rift in the family after the murder of Dominick's daughter, Dominique--compounded by his coverage of her killer's trial, which launched his career as a reporter.
Author Notes
Robert Hofler has been an entertainment editor for decades at several publications, including Life , Us , and Variety . He is the author of The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson and Party Animals , as well as Sexplosion: How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos . The lead theater critic for TheWrap , Hofler lives in New York City.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Theater critic Hofler (The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson) treats readers to a thoroughly researched tour of the life of famous writer Dominick Dunne (1925-2001). Starting in Dunne's childhood, Hofler then recounts his WWII Army combat service, work in early television, 1970s stint as a film producer, and late-in-life fame as a novelist (People Like Us) and a true-crime columnist at Vanity Fair. His writing career started with his coverage of the 1983 murder trial of the man who killed his daughter, the actress Dominique Dunne, and lasted until his death. Hofler gives readers a vivid sense of the struggles of life in the closet for a bisexual man of Dunne's era. Otherwise, the book's tone is chatty and gossipy, and Hofler seems to enjoy dropping famous names and salacious tidbits as much as his subject did. The first half of the book emphasizes Dunne's turbulent personal life; later chapters shift their focus to the true-crime cases he covered, notably the Menendez brothers and O.J. Simpson trials. The book teems with interesting stories, but the narrative sometimes stumbles on awkward sentences and chronological glitches. The absence of any in-depth exploration of Dunne's longtime romantic relationship with painter Norman Carby also feels like an odd omission, especially since Hofler interviewed him. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The gossip-filled, star-studded life of a writer who thrived on scandal.Journalist, novelist, and TV and film producer Dominick Dunne (1925-2009) had two favorite pursuits: gossipthe more salacious the betterand star-watching. Sharing his subject's fascination for celebrities behaving badly, TheWrap lead theater critic Hofler (Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange: How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos, 2014, etc.) proves to be an apt and entertaining chronicler of Dunne's eventful, turbulent, and often sorrowful life. As a child, Dunne was belittled by his father, who called him a sissy, regularly whipped him, and incited his fear that he really was a girl trapped in a boy's body. "I never felt I belonged anywhere, even in my own family," Dunne admitted later. Hofler highlights Dunne's difficult relationship with his younger brother, writer John Gregory Dunne, husband of Joan Didion, from whom Dominick was estranged for many years. But Dunne's family interests Hofler less than his cavorting with celebrities. On the set of Ash Wednesday (1973), which Dunne produced, Elizabeth Taylor was demanding and roaring drunk. She began with bloody marys in the morning (a 16-ounce glass of vodka with a splash of tomato juice) followed by wine at lunch and Jack Daniels all afternoon. At one party (the book is filled with them), the sexually insatiable Rudolf Nureyev sequestered himself in a cottage "and quickly inspired two dozen men to offer him their bodies." A closeted homosexual, Dunne married, had two sons, and tried, unsuccessfully, to play the family man until his wife divorced him. One son violently resented him for many years; the other, more charitably, realized that his father's "big mouth, getting hammered and telling stories out of school" ensured his popularity. Dunne's reputation as a journalist soared when he covered sensational murder trials for Vanity Fair, including O.J. Simpson, Claus von Blow, Phil Spector, Michael Skakel, and, not least, the man accused of murdering Dunne's daughter. A spirited biography of a complicated, combative, self-aggrandizing, and tormented man. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Dominick Dunne hobnobbed with Hollywood's most famous: Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood. He was a television and film producer, wrote several bestselling novels, and had his own television show. One could argue that his celebrity crime journalism made Vanity Fair. But privately, Dunne led a tortured life. Growing up, he was certain his father was abusive because he thought him a sissy, which led to a lifetime struggle with homosexuality. He was generally at war with his more famous brother, John Gregory, and his wife, Joan Didion. And, of course, he was deeply affected by the murder of his daughter, which influenced his career in true-crime writing and his tendency to side with victims and identify with their families. During the O. J. Simpson trial, everyone wanted a piece of Dunne and his inside scoop, and Hofler (Sexplosion, 2014) succeeds in giving us that piece and the gossip that inevitably comes with it. In each chapter, Hofler highlights major highs and lows while capturing the dichotomy of Dunne's public persona and private life.--Sexton, Kathy Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
From the famous to the infamous, names drop across every page of Hofler's (lead theater critic; TheWrap; The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson) biography of reporter, novelist, and TV/film producer Dominick Dunne (1925-2009) in a way that would surely have delighted its subject. Dunne, well connected with a flair for gossip, inspired fandom in anyone obsessed, as he was, with the excessively human. Hofler clearly has a deep affection and appreciation for Dunne, and out of respect has not shied away from being frank about the man with a talent for confessions. This unauthorized portrait is heavily researched and well documented, deftly tracing Dunne's early days in television, his rise and fall in Hollywood, to his third act as writer and reporter. Through failure, defeat, and tragedy Dunne transformed and withstood. Along the way he served as the social chronicler of his age. -VERDICT A must-read for anyone interested in American celebrity culture, and for fans of Dunne, who raged against verdicts and triumphed over the worst of them.-Todd Simpson, York Coll., CUNY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| 1 Father and Sondheim | p. 3 |
| 2 Marriage and Puppets | p. 22 |
| 3 Mengers and Disaster | p. 46 |
| 4 Begelman and Purgatory | p. 74 |
| 5 Capote and Suicide | p. 99 |
| 6 Didions and Murder | p. 114 |
| 7 Bloomingdales and Videotapes | p. 134 |
| 8 Von Bülow and Comas | p. 138 |
| 9 Novels and Payback | p. 168 |
| 10 Kennedys and Cover-Ups | p. 175 |
| 11 Menendez and Lies | p. 183 |
| 12 O.J. and Parties | p. 200 |
| 13 Princess Diana and Breakdowns | p. 218 |
| 14 Skakels and Wills | p. 232 |
| 15 Fuhrman and Libel | p. 237 |
| 16 Apologies and Memoirs | p. 250 |
| 17 Safra and Paranoia | p. 255 |
| 18 Editors and E-mails | p. 261 |
| 19 Spector and Sons | p. 270 |
| 20 Clinics and Sondheim | p. 279 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 293 |
| Notes | p. 297 |
| Bibliography | p. 323 |
| Filmography | p. 325 |
| Index | p. 327 |