Remembering Dominick Dunne
It was no easy feat becoming Dominick Dunne. Think about it. He was the most celebrated chronicler of downtrodden socialites. He feasted on their famine with little sympathy or admiration for their formerly exalted positions. Yet somehow they invited him back. Not only was he invited back to the most exclusive and social-est of socialite events, but his attendance celebrated. If Dominick Dunne's cackle could be heard in the room, it was, by definition an A-list event.
So how did he do it? How in the often surreptitious world of vapid excess did he break their tacit rules of secrecy and still return to a hero's welcome every night? How did the man once blackballed from the Hollywood insider scene he so adored manage to avoid reliving that fate as he dissected the innards of the latest society scandale? Some might say as he aged, his unimposing appearance helped. Small, rotund and bespectacled, walking with what might be described as a waddle, Dominick never looked or felt remotely intimidating. But that explanation hardly does him justice. He was not a jovial "little man." Dominick Dunne had a dark side and dark past. In the end, he utilized the same tools that made him a great reporter to transform himself into an equally welcome, acclaimed, and ever so eloquent social traitor.
He listened, he followed up, he cared. Truly. He knew what people wanted to hear and said it, often along with a guffaw. Dominick working a party often felt like an animated film -- bright colors, loud noises, and action packed adventure. But more important, he extracted confidence by regaling groups with self-deprecating stories of his own life as well as amusing but relatively innocuous gossip about others. His disarming manner combined with the media muscle of his Vanity Fair column led most to forgive what might be seen in some cases as social perfidy. Maybe forgive is too strong, because he also had something so many of them coveted, the key to a world of fame and, when necessary, the key out.
On the one hand, the uber-social and often equally wealthy were generally appreciative of, if not downright eager, to be mentioned by the equally social (but not quite as wealthy) Dominick Dunne, but they almost never wanted to be the subject of his latest piece. After all, that likely meant that he or she was accused of something dark, scandalous and almost certainly criminal.
I met Dominick when I was a cub reporter for Court TV on the OJ Simpson case. He was, at that time, just beginning to enjoy his notoriety as a celebrity journalist covering and critiquing the celebrity world. During the nine months of that trial all the reporters developed the sort of friendships you generally only develop in college living together day in and day out. Day after day we took our assigned seats in the courtroom and then met in the hall during breaks as we stalked the attorneys. As a 28-year-old reporter for a small cable channel, I turned to him as a mentor. I was hungry and eager to break stories. He admired that tenacity and devotion. But he wasn't looking to be the purveyor of sage advice. He wanted information from me, too.
What started as a symbiotic professional relationship became a cherished friendship. He introduced me to his fantasy world. It felt like he knew everyone in Hollywood. Anytime we went out to dinner to discuss the latest in the case, we would spend a third of the evening greeting well wishers, often faces anyone would recognize. "Oh and you must know Dan Abrams of Court TV," he would say, which, of course, they didn't. But it wasn't just social. He was working, too. Many would provide him with a nugget of information or gossip at which point he would scramble to scribble it down in one of his leather notebooks. They trusted him and so did I. His work was his life because his life was also his work. The things he seemed to love most were socializing with the elite and then writing about them.
He was forty years my senior and I would say that even then he was less like a father figure and more like my great, cool, interesting friend. I introduced him to girlfriends, went out for nights on the town and shared some of my most jealously protected secrets. While I did not see him as much in the last few years I always knew he was there when I needed him and vice versa.
I will miss my pal Dominick Dunne. I am sure his funeral will be just the sort of event he would have loved. Based on who will be there, I am sure he wishes he could have been there to cover it.
This post originally appeared on Mediaite.
Follow Dan Abrams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@danielabrams
I met Dominick Dunne in 1975, just before he took a high dive into the failure pool. We re-connected after his daughter's murder, were colleagues at Vanity Fair, friends since.
Brooks Peters: Life of the Party: Dominick Dunne Remembered
Dominick Dunne died on the heels of the 25th anniversary of Truman Capote's death.
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meant to edit out the profanity.
Very nice.
Thank you for your memories of Mr. Dunne. I have enjoyed him since "The Two Mrs. Greenvilles" and "An Inconvient Women" kind of parlays Monica Lewinsky except she's still alive.
I'm sure he's happy to be w/ his beloved daughter Dominique Dunne, who was murdered in 1982. When he covered murdered crimes I felt he had true empathy for the families of the victiums.
RIP Nicki
Great eulogy Dan. The admiration and tenderness you felt for and from Dominick emanates from your words.
We also met at the OJ trial when i was working a bit under the radar for the prosecution and you "nagged" me a bit to find out my role.
I only had brief interactions with Nick as I kept my role on the quiet side and found him to be a special and deeply caring person underneath his glam attraction. Glad to know that you got to spend meaningful time with him.
I, too, am fortunate to have had some wonderful mentors, two of who have died in the past six months (here's my eulogy for one of them: "A Good Man, A Good Death" at: http://www
All the best
Many years ago I sent a brief note to Dominick Dunne with a piece of information I thought would be of interest to him. I was shocked to receive a hand written, hand addressed thank you note from Mr. Dunne himself. It was completely unexpected. I kept his note to this day.
That unexpected act of kindness told me a lot about Mr. Dunne's character. I for one, will miss him. God bless.
Dan -- that was a nice memorial. It actually made me consider softening my negative impression of Dunne. BTW -- I learned about you and Dunne at the same time, during the OJ trial. To me, you're just as famous.
Dan -- I forgot to add that Dunne may have been famous, but the fact that you are Floyd Abrams son makes you more interesting to me. I would love to read stories about him penned by you.
Too bad you didn't follow in your father's footsteps.
A wonderful eulogy! Thank you! I wondered how ill Mr. Dunne really was when I saw the latest "Power, Privilege and Justice" season, as he looked very sick. I will miss his reporting a great deal and I will miss the man even more.
A great tribute! Dominick Dunne wrote some pretty good "fact based fiction," but is best work (imho) is Another City, Not My Own which recounted the seedy underbelly of the OJ Simpson trial. An excellent blend of fictional characters and non-fictious events, this is definitelty required reading.
What a lovely tribute to a wonderful man.
I was so horrified by his daughter's death and outraged by the jury's disregard for Dominick and his family.
I know that his writing kept him sane; it was his therapy. We were the lucky recipients and Vanity Fair now has a void where the great, passionate, prosaic stories of Dominick Dunne once were .
I never knew NIck, but a dear friend of mine was a dear friend of his, and I heard all about his life for the past fifteen years, and I felt like I knew him. I am eagerly looking forward to his last book, which is going to be a blockbuster, if he tells half of what he knew.
I was in the center of a group from Court TV that exchanged information on a daily basis. We covered the transcripts, the evidence, witness testimony and did some deep research. One of our group used the screen name Mia Pulpa
Well, because of the name and because of the comments made, we always thought that Mia Pulpa was Dominick Dunne. Still do. Whether or not that is so, we all cherish the exchanges we made during that famous time on Court TV.
The above is the remainder of a post that started:
Dunne knew about the world he inhabited, but he had little understanding of the life experiences of the non-white and the poor.
And that means what?
It means that he was a sensationalist and an opportunist who preyed upon the misfortunes of the wealthy and the famous and wrote about them for the world to read. He knew nothing of the poor and downtrodden. It's clear as day!
I can't see how that matters. There are writers who specialize in the non-white and the poor.
I will miss Mr. Dunne's writing tremendously! I always felt that I was in on "the secrets" with him when I read his writing. How I would have loved to have met him.
He was the supreme name-dropp
He probably had little understanding of the experiences of furniture makers from the 1700's either--who cares?
Boooorrring. Too bad you cannot think of anything intelligent to add.
Went right over your head, it did.
I'm not very familiar with Dominick Dunne's writing but his daughter's death was pretty shocking. She was my favorite kid from "Poltergeist". Every time I see his face, I always think about how much it must have hurt him to lose his lovely, young daughter so suddenly and senselessly.
I recal first seeing Dunne on Phil Donohue show. I just loved his books and his articles in vanity Fair. Dunne was a skilled writer and never indulged in "trash". He had a way of weaving a tapestry to his stories. A literary loss.
Dan Abrams and MSNBC wake UP!
Start finding stories, not just relying on the AP and REuters to get your info, let alone twitteridiots.
24 hours a day is a lot of time to do research and go in-depth into stories.
Scahill ripped Chuck Todd on Bill Maher's show....an
We need more people like Scahill! Heck I'd hire him. I like Scahill, Richard Engel?
David Gregory could be a bit tougher. I'd have him go through Russert Tapes and study Russert. What made Russert tough is what Gregory needs to keep "Meet the Press" a top show!
I enjoy Chris Matthews! Always an informed hoot who is willing to ask the tough questions.
Not sure who's in charge but do we need to spend hours on these reality tv stories? Really, save those stories for ET or whatever candy-coated show is on at that time now.
I like Chris Matthews. David Gregory is just a smiling frat boy! He would never break a story. he would be afraid to lose some contacts.
God, I love Scahill.
Me too, zizyphus.
Take some iniative, put on some big boy pants and blog somewhere else instead of heckling inappropriately.
Write to:
nbc.comapus@nbc.com
nbcuni.comin@nbcuni.com
The really great ones on MSNBC are Keith Olbermann & Rachel Maddow, but Ed Shultz, David Shuster, Tamara Hall, and Contessa Brewer are also fantastic and extremely watchable. Chris Matthews is good only sometimes, because he has no solid core of his own. He is partially responsible for the election (selection) of G.W. Bush, and he still has on guests like Tom DeLay. He cannot be trusted!
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