Remembering Dominick Dunne

By: Exclusive interview by Kelly Carson | Photographed by John Hildebrand | October 13, 2009 |

You wrote an article about Elizabeth Taylor in March for Vanity Fair. In it you mentioned that she and Richard Burton were the most glamorous couple of their era. Who is that today?

Well, I suppose Brad and Angelina. She’s a fascinating woman and they’re a fascinating couple. And he’s turned out to be much, much more than just a hunk. And the great thing is, is that they’re gorgeous, which will interest more people. I’m a big admirer of Elizabeth Taylor. I got really friendly with her. She gave the first benefit for AIDS after Rock Hudson died. Back in those days, you didn’t want to talk about it too much, but she got Lew Wasserman and every studio head to come. She made it proper to talk about AIDS and go to AIDS parties. She said to me once, “What’s the point of being famous if you don’t use it every now and then?” That’s what Brad and Angelina are doing — they’re in the news, they’re all around the world and they’re doing good things.

What’s your favorite book?

I have two that influenced me. There’s a book by Anthony Trollope called The Way We Lived Now. It’s a kind of large character, society, new rich — all the stuff that I like — and crime. I learned a lot. The other one is Brideshead Revisited. That, I think, is one of the most beautiful books ever written, and also it has to do with a rich Catholic family. These are aristocrats, not Irish Catholics that I was writing about. And my favorite American writer is John O’Hara, another Irish Catholic that wrote about rich people.

What’s your favorite book that you’ve written?

Well, the most popular book is The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, and I love that book, but I think the book that is best written is An Inconvenient Woman. It takes place in L.A. and it has to do with the murder of the mistress of a very, very, very, rich man. And it’s based recognizably on some very important people. People always get pissed off by my books.

You don’t get bothered pissing people off?

No, (he smiles) I still get invited.