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The Hot Seat
Dominick Dunne
By MICHAEL GILTZ 2005 I had a larvsuit witlr Gary
Condit I had two melanoma
opel atlons
flrAnd your brother John cregory
YoDunne died at the end of 2003.
A .furd the death of my niece, and of
Arcrrurse mv sistcr-in-hw Ioar
Didion goingihrough all thai an
thcn writing this brilliant book that
she's written And then I had. . oh
floA contretemps at Vanity Fair?
Y''
11.Yes, and ue'll go no further than
tll.thar EsDeciallv the Iawsuit - that
drres up your creatlvrty.
ll.l don't want to be fiip about this.
V.But it seems awkward - what
does one say to Joan Didion?
Congratulations on the book?
A.She got a double whammy. You
Aocould lose vour mind. I think to
record ir on a daily basis was brilliant
Nonc o[ us kneu'.
flolt's probabty what kept her sne.
Y'.
A .Exactll.r I so proud ofher She's
f{othe rnost tiagilc little thing you ever
sarv But boy., is she a strong womil
floWere you happy with the
Yosettlement of the Condit laffiuit?
1 .[PauseJ I am happy that it's ovel
AoYou know, I can't tillk about it. It's
a legal thing ll's better just to stay
away tiom it I always talk too much
about everythingllSl:SELLING author, film and'l'V produccr and a )accrating
chronicler of crimes invoLving
the rich and tarnous,
Dourinick Dume is perfectly suited to
his Court TV series "Powcr, nrivil(.ge
c\ Justice " The rnurder of his
daughtcr (rctress Dominiquc, Dulne)
iu 1982 spurrcd Dunne onto a crusade
to ensur c lhat the people rvith power
and privilegc don't always cscape
JUSnCe
Thc' lilurth seasou of his series -
starting Jin. 16 at l0 p m - tackles
irrlimous eascs like the millioneirc
real cstate developer Iamcs Hood,
rvhose wife was mysteriously mur
dcrcd, and the slaying of Dunne's
acquaintance Giarni Versace,
It's a good start for a new year:
The 8()-ycar-old Dunne carr hcgin
talking about other people again,
rather than maliing news with family
tragedies, laEsuits (the Gary Condit
r'ast ) lrnJ r flare up at his l(rngrime
reportiilg home of Vanity Fair
JlrYou were the ltrt person involved
\(.in the OJ. trial to get a show and
the only one to make a success of it
11.[LaughsJ Oh, do put that in! The
flotmth is, I love doing it, and I love
the pcople at Court TV Thcy shoot me
in my house in Connecticut It's great I
have a monthly column at Vlility Fair,
and I'm writing a novel, :rnd Court TV
mal(es il so Ureat for me
.Do you ever get more involved in
'covering the stories?
A.()h yes. We're doing Gianni
AoVersace, and that's a clse I wrs
able to put my two cents in I had
useJ his killer An.lrt.w Currrnan in a
novel We also report on Claudine
Longet llvho shot and killed U S
O11'mpic skier Spider Sabitch -
accidentally, she saidl I knew
Claudirte; I knerv her in Hollpvood
when sbc rvas rnarried to Andy
Willianrs I olien wondered whatcouldn't stmd him. I absolutelv
couldn't stand him He was a little
p- - - k He kept on trying to get nL- t0
ta.lk about the Condit case, and that
wasn't what I went on for
(loYou were friends with Truman
Yocapote. Have you seen the new
film?
A .I sure have. I thinli it's just brilliant.
floAnd I knew Trunran quite well. We
were interesled in the same things,
Tiumarr and me We were interested in
writing about society and wealth And
we were interesled in crime, He was
more talented thm me
.What w6 he like?
a
1 .My rvife and I gave a ball - a
Aoblack-and-white ball It was the
talk of the towu We had to limit it to '
275 people or something likc lhat
Wc had to say, "No houseguests."
'fruman called and said. "Well. I havc
these people I just have to bring
They're from Kansas " I said, "Oh
'fruman, we can't do it " Who it was
was Alvin Dewey - played by Chris
Cooper in the movie - and his wil-e
That meant nothins then because
the book hadn't bcdn published He
just. he would not let up. And I
finally said OK, bring them Then
two years later, he gave his famous
black-and-white ball And he didn't
invite us! [Laughsl That's perfect It's
the best description of him.
floDoes it make you see the media in
Yoa new wa$ knowing when you're
being written about that they can get
things wrong?
|l .Yes, it does. It's very interesting
|{othat vou asked that. I rezrlized
when I read a few things about myself
- like inyour paper fl-aughsl I have
been laced a few times. You know it
hurts I think it's made me kinder
floWhen the Vanity Fair issue became
Vopublic, wer€ you pleased by the
otfe6 | assume came to you fmm other
publications?
I .Well, such was lhc case. I really
Ae orobablv shouldn't talk about
thal But wetre together again
QSAnd vou feet sood about it?
A: 11il5 fj,r*1sffi iil:",X""? lllithere for something like 24 yeus
'Ihere was m issue and things
happen But we were adult I need
Vanity Fair- I did get big offers. But I
Iikc the perks
Q3"'uiot
A: Lilijii;'?J !,iI?Iiluo, "other people. It made me feel
great 'fhe important thing is
we got over it And that
shows If you can't be adult.fue you trying to.change that a bit?
A:Hii}..
Q:;lt
time you
wet€ on
Larry King
was rn
November,
happcncd to Claudine Spider was
lovcd in Aspen. Ard she killed
him. And she got shunned. ;ffiA:iXi,T
il wasn'f
Lilry; it
was Bob
Costas IBut you knorl she still
lives thcrc And she
marriecl hcr defense
attorney, II-aughsJ
That's a little
revelltion we nake
al the end ofthe
ep rs0de
floSome of your
Y'shows have
resulted in changes
in the real world.
What's been the
most satistying tum
of event5?
11 .After rve rar
,l.thc show about
the grry frorn Palm
Beach. Jarnc's
Sullivan, within a
week he was spotted
in l hailand by
someone who had
seen the show. Ihal
was a Frcat feeling
His trial begins any
rnomcllt n0w
E fl.The last tinre we
E Ytspoke,youwere
; working on your next
= novel. "A Solo Act"
6 - ru
B a:i|;Hilifished thc
3 absolutely terrible year irThe score
Name: Dominick Durrne
Age: 80
Born: Hartford, Conn
Children: the actors Griffin md
l-]nmininre Il,,nnp
Can he fight? Earned a Bronze Star
in the Battle of the Bulge during
World .war II
First big iob: movie producer,
includin6; the groundbrealing 1970
gay drama "The Boys in the Band"
and "Panic in Needlc Park" with Al
Pacino
Better known for: writing a dozen
books, including a menroir of his
Hollywood years that accurately
describes himself as "a well-known
name-dropper"
Next book: 'A Solo Act" - revives
his alter ego, Gus Bailey
- I mean, I hope I'm adull
by 80 ilaughsl I hope
The Hot Seat
Dominick Dunne
By MICHAEL GILTZ 2005 I had a larvsuit witlr Gary
Condit I had two melanoma
opel atlons
flrAnd your brother John cregory
YoDunne died at the end of 2003.
A .furd the death of my niece, and of
Arcrrurse mv sistcr-in-hw Ioar
Didion goingihrough all thai an
she's written And then I had. . oh
floA contretemps at Vanity Fair?
Y''
11.Yes, and ue'll go no further than
tll.thar EsDeciallv the Iawsuit - that
drres up your creatlvrty.
ll.l don't want to be fiip about this.
V.But it seems awkward - what
does one say to Joan Didion?
Congratulations on the book?
A.She got a double whammy. You
Aocould lose vour mind. I think to
record ir on a daily basis was brilliant
Nonc o[ us kneu'.
flolt's probabty what kept her sne.
Y'.
A .Exactll.r I so proud ofher She's
f{othe rnost tiagilc little thing you ever
sarv But boy., is she a strong womil
floWere you happy with the
Yosettlement of the Condit laffiuit?
1 .[PauseJ I am happy that it's ovel
AoYou know, I can't tillk about it. It's
a legal thing ll's better just to stay
away tiom it I always talk too much
about everythingllSl:SELLING author, film and'l'V produccr and a )accrating
chronicler of crimes invoLving
the rich and tarnous,
Dourinick Dume is perfectly suited to
his Court TV series "Powcr, nrivil(.ge
c\ Justice " The rnurder of his
daughtcr (rctress Dominiquc, Dulne)
iu 1982 spurrcd Dunne onto a crusade
to ensur c lhat the people rvith power
and privilegc don't always cscape
JUSnCe
Thc' lilurth seasou of his series -
starting Jin. 16 at l0 p m - tackles
irrlimous eascs like the millioneirc
real cstate developer Iamcs Hood,
rvhose wife was mysteriously mur
dcrcd, and the slaying of Dunne's
acquaintance Giarni Versace,
It's a good start for a new year:
The 8()-ycar-old Dunne carr hcgin
talking about other people again,
rather than maliing news with family
tragedies, laEsuits (the Gary Condit
r'ast ) lrnJ r flare up at his l(rngrime
reportiilg home of Vanity Fair
JlrYou were the ltrt person involved
\(.in the OJ. trial to get a show and
the only one to make a success of it
11.[LaughsJ Oh, do put that in! The
flotmth is, I love doing it, and I love
the pcople at Court TV Thcy shoot me
in my house in Connecticut It's great I
have a monthly column at Vlility Fair,
and I'm writing a novel, :rnd Court TV
mal(es il so Ureat for me
.Do you ever get more involved in
'covering the stories?
A.()h yes. We're doing Gianni
AoVersace, and that's a clse I wrs
able to put my two cents in I had
useJ his killer An.lrt.w Currrnan in a
novel We also report on Claudine
Longet llvho shot and killed U S
O11'mpic skier Spider Sabitch -
accidentally, she saidl I knew
Claudirte; I knerv her in Hollpvood
when sbc rvas rnarried to Andy
Willianrs I olien wondered whatcouldn't stmd him. I absolutelv
couldn't stand him He was a little
p- - - k He kept on trying to get nL- t0
ta.lk about the Condit case, and that
wasn't what I went on for
(loYou were friends with Truman
Yocapote. Have you seen the new
film?
A .I sure have. I thinli it's just brilliant.
floAnd I knew Trunran quite well. We
were interesled in the same things,
Tiumarr and me We were interested in
writing about society and wealth And
we were interesled in crime, He was
more talented thm me
.What w6 he like?
a
1 .My rvife and I gave a ball - a
Aoblack-and-white ball It was the
talk of the towu We had to limit it to '
275 people or something likc lhat
Wc had to say, "No houseguests."
'fruman called and said. "Well. I havc
these people I just have to bring
They're from Kansas " I said, "Oh
'fruman, we can't do it " Who it was
was Alvin Dewey - played by Chris
Cooper in the movie - and his wil-e
That meant nothins then because
the book hadn't bcdn published He
just. he would not let up. And I
finally said OK, bring them Then
two years later, he gave his famous
black-and-white ball And he didn't
invite us! [Laughsl That's perfect It's
the best description of him.
floDoes it make you see the media in
Yoa new wa$ knowing when you're
being written about that they can get
things wrong?
|l .Yes, it does. It's very interesting
|{othat vou asked that. I rezrlized
when I read a few things about myself
- like inyour paper fl-aughsl I have
been laced a few times. You know it
hurts I think it's made me kinder
floWhen the Vanity Fair issue became
Vopublic, wer€ you pleased by the
otfe6 | assume came to you fmm other
publications?
I .Well, such was lhc case. I really
Ae orobablv shouldn't talk about
thal But wetre together again
QSAnd vou feet sood about it?
A: 11il5 fj,r*1sffi iil:",X""? lllithere for something like 24 yeus
'Ihere was m issue and things
happen But we were adult I need
Vanity Fair- I did get big offers. But I
Iikc the perks
Q3"'uiot
A: Lilijii;'?J !,iI?Iiluo, "other people. It made me feel
great 'fhe important thing is
we got over it And that
shows If you can't be adult.fue you trying to.change that a bit?
A:Hii}..
Q:;lt
time you
wet€ on
Larry King
was rn
November,
happcncd to Claudine Spider was
lovcd in Aspen. Ard she killed
him. And she got shunned. ;ffiA:iXi,T
il wasn'f
Lilry; it
was Bob
Costas IBut you knorl she still
lives thcrc And she
marriecl hcr defense
attorney, II-aughsJ
That's a little
revelltion we nake
al the end ofthe
ep rs0de
floSome of your
Y'shows have
resulted in changes
in the real world.
What's been the
most satistying tum
of event5?
11 .After rve rar
,l.thc show about
the grry frorn Palm
Beach. Jarnc's
Sullivan, within a
week he was spotted
in l hailand by
someone who had
seen the show. Ihal
was a Frcat feeling
His trial begins any
rnomcllt n0w
E fl.The last tinre we
E Ytspoke,youwere
; working on your next
= novel. "A Solo Act"
6 - ru
B a:i|;Hilifished thc
3 absolutely terrible year irThe score
Name: Dominick Durrne
Age: 80
Born: Hartford, Conn
Children: the actors Griffin md
l-]nmininre Il,,nnp
Can he fight? Earned a Bronze Star
in the Battle of the Bulge during
World .war II
First big iob: movie producer,
includin6; the groundbrealing 1970
gay drama "The Boys in the Band"
and "Panic in Needlc Park" with Al
Pacino
Better known for: writing a dozen
books, including a menroir of his
Hollywood years that accurately
describes himself as "a well-known
name-dropper"
Next book: 'A Solo Act" - revives
his alter ego, Gus Bailey
- I mean, I hope I'm adull
by 80 ilaughsl I hope