Writer, television personality and investigative reporter Dominick Dunne died on August 26, 2009 at his home in New York City of bladder cancer at the age of 83.
He submitted a first person account for Vanity Fair in 1982, reporting on the murder of his daughter Dominique Dunne, best known for her role in the movie Poltergeist. The article was titled Justice: A Father’s Account of the Trial of his Daughter’s Killer.
The piece received a good deal of attention and he went on accept a regular reporting assignment, covering other sensational celebrity murder trials, including that of Claus von Bulow, brothers Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez and O.J. Simpson. In addition to his work as a reporter, he hosted Power, Privilege and Justice on Court TV.
Dunne angered the famed Kennedy family when he wrote a book about Ethel Kennedy‘s nephew Michael Skakel. The book, A Season In Purgatory, penned in 1993, built a strong case against Skakel in the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, his 15-year-old neighbor. Charges were eventually brought against him and he was convicted and sent to prison in 2002.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son the Ethel Kennedy, told Larry King that Dunne’s book was the reason his cousin was convicted of a 25+ year old crime. He indicated that Dunne was not a journalist but rather a gossip columnist. Coincidentally, Dunne and Senator Edward Ted Kennedy died within hours of each other – see details and family photos.
Dunne is also survived by two sons; Alexander Dunne and actor Griffin Dunne.
View photos of Dunne’s actor children Dominique Dunne and Griffin Dunne below. Also see video coverage of Dunne’s celebrity murder coverage.