The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-known Name Dropper

Front Cover
Crown, 1999 - Biography & Autobiography - 218 pages
Mesmerizing, revelatory text combines with more than two hundred photographs -- most of them taken by the author -- in a startling illustrated memoir that will both astonish and move you.
When Dominick Dunne lived and worked in Hollywood, he had it all: a beautiful family, a glamorous career, and the friendship of the talented and powerful. He also had a camera and loved to take pictures. These photographs, which Dunne carefully preserved in more than a dozen leatherbound scrapbooks -- along with invitations, telegrams, personal notes, and other memorabilia -- record the parties, the glittering receptions, the society weddings, and scenes from the everyday lives of the Dunnes and those they knew, including Jane Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Roddy McDowall, Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Brooke Hayward, Jennifer Jones, and David Selznick. You'll meet them all in this fascinating book -- captured in snapshots as these celebrities relax at poolside barbecues, gossip at cozy get-togethers and dance at the Dunnes' dazzling black-and-white ball. And you will meet Dominick Dunne's beautiful wife, Lenny, and his children, Griffin, Alex, and Dominique, as they celebrate Christmases, birthdays, and graduations. But, most of all, you will meet Dominick Dunne and learn about the peaks and valleys of his years in Hollywood, the disastrous turn his life took, and the long road back that led to his triumphant career as a writer. With its engaging photographs and candid text, The Way We Lived Then is a riveting and unvarnished account of a life among the stars and a life almost lost.

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
33
Section 2
56
Section 3
76
Copyright

8 other sections not shown

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About the author (1999)

Dominick Dunne was born in Hartford, Connecticut on October 29, 1925. He served in World War II and was awarded the Bronze Star for rescuing a wounded soldier at the Battle of the Bulge. After receiving a bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1949, he worked as a stage manager for the Howdy Doody Show and Robert Montgomery Presents. He then directed Playhouse 90 and was an executive producer of the ABC drama Adventures in Paradise. He started producing films in 1970 including The Boys in the Band, The Panic in Needle Park, Play It as It Lays, and Ash Wednesday. His addiction to alcohol and drugs eventually lead to the end of his career as a television and film producer. He beat his addictions and decided to become writer. He wrote several memoirs including The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper and novels including An Inconvenient Woman, A Season in Purgatory, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, and Too Much Money. In 1982, his daughter was strangled by her boyfriend. Dunne kept a journal during the trial, which eventually became the Vanity Fair article Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of His Daughter's Killer. After that, he wrote regularly for Vanity Fair and covered famous trials such as those of Claus von Bulow, O.J. Simpson, and the Menendez brothers. He also wrote a column entitled Dominick Dunne's Diary and hosted the television series Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice on CourtTV. He died from bladder cancer on August 26, 2009 at the age of 83.

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