An exploration of all things Dominick Dunne, who spent his writing life at the intersection of high society and true crime.
While filming The Boys in the Band in 1969, our man Nick moves to New York City and is beginning to live on the wild side – one that is very dangerous. There is a whole lot happening this year, in addition to Dunne’s dicey choices. The Manson Murders come in the summer – soon after Lenny reveals her MS diagnosis to the family. Folks noticing Dunne’s adoration of Frederick Combs is a highlight of this time, with a heartwarming attachment from Griffin Dunne connecting it all.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1967, Mart Crowley wrote a groundbreaking work that no one, especially his friend Dominick Dunne, would have predicted success for at the time. However, The Boys in the Band took the theatre world by storm, soon to be followed by a film in 1970. This work's significance made an impact at the time, and only seemed to grow with its importance through the years. This episode covers the whole story - from writing, to production, to release - all of its actors and characters, one who was modeled after our own man Nick.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Sources
Mart Crowley: Courage and Candor (americantheatre.com)
A Homecoming (baltimoresun.com)
Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne: A Life in Several Acts (amazon.com)
The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper, by Dominick Dunne (Amazon)
How One Movie Changed LBGT History (time.com)
Cinema: Shades of Lavender (time.com)
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dominick Dunne never got around to writing about the murder of Olympic skier Vladimir “Spider” Sabich in 1976, but he devoted an episode of his 2002-2009 television series, Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege, and Justice, to the killing – and the mockery of a trial that followed.
Spider, a popular fixture in the Aspen scene, was shot by his longtime live-in girlfriend, singer-actress Claudine Longet. This is approximately where the agreed-upon facts end. Alicia sets the stage and then takes us through the trial and its aftermath, where Longet’s Hollywood lawyer, paid for by her crooner ex-husband Andy Williams, fully overwhelmed the sleepy ski town’s police and prosecutors.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week we deep dive into the whole history of one home in Laurel Canyon, with a number of owners connecting into our investigation. Our focus is 7708 Woodrow Wilson Drive, a beautiful English Country home built by Natalie Wood's parents, and where she begins her married life with Robert Wagner. Natalie sells the home in the 1960s to the "Earth Mother of Laurel Canyon" Cass Elliot, who entertains in grand style until her death in 1974. Musician Harry Nilsson enters the frame from here, with Ringo Starr as a featured player. Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon have many years in the home, eventually selling to Beverly D'Angelo in 2008. So many players in our universe floated in and out through the decades in this home, along with perhaps some actual floating ghosts. All the spooky encounters are also included in today's story!
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Any day is a terrific day to talk about Natalie Wood, and this week the beloved actress is coming into full focus on Done and Dunne. Included in this first episode of Natalie Wood Week, we investigate her childhood and early stardom, along with those family complications. Next it is her teenage years, with the accompanying struggles found in Hollywood for a young woman. Natalie’s two marriages to and one divorce from Robert Wagner is a focus, although her second divorce and love affairs are covered as well. The spiderwebs are off the charts in this one bringing in many previous players into the frame.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week our focus centers on Mart Crowley, American Playwright most well known for his 1968 play The Boys In The Band. Within this episode, we take Mart from a terrible childhood in Mississippi to Catholic University, to Elia Kazan and Natalie Wood, and all the spiderwebs of his career before creating this pioneering work.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week, we begin our look into Mart Crowley and his breakthrough play "The Boys in the Band" in a slightly offbeat way. Mart's life and times, and Dunne's role within the creation of the play and the movie version are essential parts of this investigation, but here in the beginning of these episodes, we are wandering back to LOOK Magazine from December 2, 1969 with a piece by Jack Star titled "A Changing View of Homosexuality", which takes the pulse on what the current feeling is among folks. What was the vibe about gays in 1969? You may be surprised in a few ways as we set the stage for this pioneering work and the man behind it.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We take a wander down memory lane in this episode, direct from Dominick Dunne himself. Dunne contributed an essay for the Chateau Marmont Hollywood Handbook edited by Andre Balazs. In this piece from 1997, Dunne reveals so much about his journey as it intersects through Los Angeles and the iconic hotel.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this last episode of 2025, we honor and celebrate the life of Jacqueline de Ribes, French aristocrat, designer, fashion icon, businesswoman, film producer and philanthropist, who passed away just yesterday at the age of 96. This extraordinary woman was always getting name-checked by Dominick Dunne, and with her life and its many spiderwebs, it is easy to see why.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week we take a little time to bring Dominick Dunne’s First Noël, Noël Coward to the main feed! Noël Coward, a legend in so many ways, was an enormous influence for Dominick Dunne, and well, the rest of the high society and theatre world too, as Alicia detailed back in August 2022. Tune in for a ride of long ago ghosts and so many spiderwebs!
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It is a double drop this week to talk about one more of Truman Capote’s lost treasures. Who knew Truman was an artist? And that his creative project was making snake bite kits? This tale explores this hobby, Truman’s planned art show, and Gotham Book Mart’s involvement in the whole affair.
Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon!
To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices