Dominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system. He was a movie producer in Hollywood and was also known for his frequent appearances on television. Dunne, the second of six children, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Dorothy Frances and Richard Edwin Dunne, a hospital chief of staff and prominent heart surgeon. His Irish Catholic family was wealthy; his maternal grandfather, Dominick Francis Burns, founded the Park Street Trust Company. However, from his... earliest days, Dunne recalled feeling like an outsider in the predominantly "WASPish" West Hartford. He was the older brother of John Gregory Dunne, a screenwriter and critic who was married to journalist Joan Didion. They co-wrote The Panic in Needle Park, a film starring Al Pacino, which Dominick produced. As a boy, he was known as Nicky.
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