R.I.P. Dominick Dunne

[Note: Hear my lengthy interview with Dominick Dunne from Sept. 2008 while he was here covering the O.J. trial by clicking here or download it to your computer by right-clicking here. It's titled "Dominick Dunne's Last Sit."]

I am on my laptop on the floor of the Pearl at the Palms observing our rehearsals, dealing with other media -- about to tape a Today Show interview -- and putting out various fires related to the big Michael Jackson tribute benefit concert this Saturday.

And then, in this bizarre year of constant celebrity death, we lose another. And this time, it's personal: Dominick Dunne.

That's me with him above in the fake Palace Station hotel room built in the basement of the courthouse in Las Vegas. It was never used in the trial because the judge decided it wasn't an accurate representation -- she took the jury to the actual room a mile away -- but it amused Dunne and me to no end that the prosecution had built such a silly thing.

As faithful readers of this blog know, I had the great fortune of being assigned to sit next to Dunne during the O.J. Simpson armed robbery trial last fall. It was one of those serendipitous accidents of fate that have so wonderfully dotted my life. That first trial morning, as I got myself awake, I finished reading Dunne's column in Vanity Fair looking back on his 25 years as a columnist there. The last sentence: "What a swell party it's been. Next, it's off to Las Vegas for O.J. Simpson's trial for armed robbery and kidnapping." I put that down, got dressed, went to the courthouse and an hour later sat down next to...Dunne!

I was charmed instantly, as most people were. He was frail, certainly, and he collapsed during the trial at one point. But he was still totally into it and was back in court a few days later, working sources and enjoying being the most famous person, save for Simpson himself, in the room. He took his notes in notebooks that had a cartoon likeness on every page, which I just loved. I so wanted one; never got one.

What he wrote wasn't what you might expect. He didn't care about the day's news or even any quotes in the trial, as those of us covering for the next day or the night's news had to. He wrote names, descriptions, analogies. The rest of us were focused on the proceedings; he was fascinated that co-defendant C.J. Stewart's lawyer Brent Bryson had once killed a man in a bar fight. That was a Dunne twist.

We bonded instantly, had breakfast a few times during the trial, remained in touch via email and lunched when I was in New York in December. I think I earned his respect in part by my coverage in the Times of the proceedings but also for simple things like picking up that first breakfast at Tableau at Wynn. It puzzled and impressed him and I have a tremendous respect for people of his stature who don't expect freebies even though they probably reasonably can. He also took me to his favorite place in New York, Aretsky's Patroon, his treat this time. The next time I was in NYC, though, he was in Germany undergoing experimental stem cell treatment. He emailed with great optimism about what he was doing to stay alive.

What always struck me was that when you were with Dominick Dunne, it was hard to believe all the people this made you one degree of separation from. He knew everyone but he didn't really act like it. After my New York Times Sunday Styles profile of him came out documenting the fact that this was his last trial, he called me and wrote me repeatedly with updates on all the people who had called or written him to say they had seen it. It surprised him that he was prominent and relevant, that the audience of the New York Times would be interested in him. Oh, and it thrilled him, too, because he knew that it would drive Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter NUTS. He felt Carter had it in for him, that Carter resented having inherited Dunne from prior management. "He's jealous because I'm more famous than he is," Dunne told me once.

That said, he loved celebrity and said so openly, as you'll hear on the podcast interview linked at the top. Walking from his apartment to Aretsky's Patroon in New York, people kept saying hello and he was thrilled to greet them all back. It was never a bother, even when he was ill and in a lot of discomfort. Likewise, he didn't look down on the fascinating world of celebrity crime and, as I wrote in the Las Vegas Weekly, taught me to love my bite of the O.J. apple despite the sneers of journalists who thought they were better than all that.

Dunne took great interest in me and what I was writing about even when the OJ trial was over. I found this humbling and shocking; he had a lot of better things to do than care about me. But he liked the mentor role.

Dunne's broader fame came from a few important celebrity trials, most specifically O.J. The First and the Claus Von Bulow trial. So when Sunny Von Bulow, the incapacitated heiress, died the same weekend as Simpson was sentenced in December, Dunne seemed a little thrown by what the fates might be telling him.

"That they both happened this way the same weekend must mean something," he told me. We didn't specify what, but it was clear the unspoken thought was that it was a way of tying up some loose ends as Dunne's health deteriorated. I had lost my grandmother to bladder cancer in 2003; I suspected he couldn't have long regardless of how he spoke of future plans.

And that's one of the shames here. Although he was 83 and had lived a full, rich life, he didn't finish what he had hoped to. He had a novel in progress and planned to write his complete memoir. I'm hopeful there are journals from which it can be constructed. There were so many wonderful stories. That is one book most of New York wants to read.

I bet Carter would even print an excerpt in VF.

The Show is UP: Top 10 Moments of 2008...

...AND a new theme song. Which I'll blog about a little more later today or tomorrow. But anyhow, here's our annual look-back, delayed a week because of last week's Mamma Mia! exit interviews. There is some new stuff in here -- particularly Wynn talking about the Charles Barkley gambling debt and his plans for what to do first in using all his golf course land. Click on the date below to listen or right-click and save to your computer. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here.

Jan. 15: Top 10 Moments of 2008!

Steve, Steve, Steve. Wynn, that is. We’ve tallied up the Top 10 moments of 2008 as voted on by you and, surprise surprise, Mr. Wynn is involved in some way in six of them. But, still, a few others made outrageously memorable remarks on this program during the year that was, and we take our annual look back at all of it tonight. For good measure, though, we’ve got some never-before-heard bits to keep it fresh. Plus, news from Vegas, a new trivia question and a poll. You’re on the Strip, brought to you by Priceline.Com and Hotels.Com, and we’re kicking off a new year with a new theme song!

In Banter: The mob museum, Octavius tower blues, our staycation at Trump and Encore and a very weird phone call.

Links:

Norm’s piece on Cheap Trick is here
Steve’s NYT piece and blog post on the mob museum is here
Steve’s coverage of the porn confab for Newsweek in 2003 is here
The AP story on the halt of the newest Caesars tower is here

Tuesday With Dominick

Loyal readers and listeners recall that, by serendipity, I was assigned the seat next to Vanity Fair columnist and high-society-mischief chronicler Dominick Dunne in court at the O.J. Simpson trial this fall. I made the most of it, to be sure, with a New York Times Sunday Styles profile of him, an episode of the podcast called "Dominick Dunne's Last Sit" and a Las Vegas Weekly column that used his presence as validation against snooty local writers who sneered at those of us covering the armed robbery proceedings.

I had a standing invite to visit when I came to New York, but I couldn't tell if he was just being polite. Yet when I called on Sunday from Long Island, he couldn't have been more enthusiastic about wanting me to swing by. On Tuesday, I did so, picking him up at his apartment and walking over to a delightful nearby spot called Aretsky's Patroon where, not surprisingly, Dunne is a regular and was warmly greeted by the owner. I felt like a heel in my jeans and sweater since every other man in the place wore a tie, but nobody seemed to care.

Many have asked me about Dunne, especially with the closure fate uncannily provided him by the O.J. sentencing and the death the next day of comatose heiress Sunny Von Bulow. So here's the report: He's physically not so great. One way I know is that he was quite open about his various and sundry procedures and ailments in Las Vegas two months ago, before his removal from the courtroom in great pain and his recent operations in New York.

Now he's sick of talking about being sick, it's just a total downer and he's rather pump me for details on the O.J. sentencing he missed and ponder Caroline Kennedy's possible Senate appointment. He's 83 and his doctors want him on chemo for his bladder cancer but he says he doesn't want to and anticipates having to "cause a whole lot of trouble" to ward it off. Surgery has been ruled out because of a weak heart, so my impression was that Dunne was ready to let this cancer take its course. He didn't strike me as the sort to fly off to the Far East in search of a holistic cure, anyhow.

Yet, there's a sense that he's also not giving up in any practical sense. He's sent a draft of a long-awaited but unfinished novel to his publisher, is recording some oral history he wants to use for that long-promised memoir -- which he says he will write himself, thank you very much -- and has every intention of getting to the New York memorial for Von Bulow next week. His goal, he says, is to go to the Obama inauguration, which VF has asked him to do if he's able. My impression was that setting goals like that -- and following through -- is his way of triumphing over his infirmities.

The thing that's so interesting about Dunne is that while he walks slowly and cautiously and seems frail, he misses not a single beat in conversation. And, while not intentional, walking slowly in Manhattan gives passers-by a chance to recognize him, which makes him bask. At lunch, a former journalist approached to tell him he's been an inspiration to her; when she walked away, he glowed and said, "I love that." I've never met a celebrity more appreciative of his notoriety.

Dunne let me shoot a few pictures around his place, which was precisely as I figured it would be, a handsome top-floor penthouse cluttered with papers and books. Some, of course, were his.


It was a lovely experience. Telling my pneumonia-stricken mom all about it as I I took a long walk across Manhattan afterward, I burned off many calories consumed by Monday's diabetes-inducing sundae. As I did, I unexpectedly passed this.


That's the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Very famous, but I'd never actually seen it before. And as I passed it, I thought of something that hadn't occurred to me in maybe 20 years. When I was 15, I was on a national bus tour of the US with other Long Island teens. I had just started writing for regional magazines and wanted to impress the other kids since, as covered on Monday, I wasn't a popular chap. So -- and this dates this story indeed -- I told everyone that when I got back, I had to go interview Emilio Estevez at the Waldorf-Astoria. Don't ask me where I got that from; I must've read a celebrity profile where the star was interviewed there.

Of course, that was a lie. I've never, to this day, interviewed Emilio Estevez. But I have gone on to interview a great many stars and a zillion prominent politicians and business leaders. And, of course, I also had just come from having lunch with Dominick Dunne, whom I profiled for The New York Times. I guess it's worked out OK after all.

The Faux-J Room in The New York Times...

I wrote a piece for the New York Times about the Faux-J Room, complete with an estimate from the local Home Depot on what it may have cost since the DA won't say until the trial's over. Check it out here. And here's a fun shot of me and Dominick Dunne in the fake Palace Station room.


And with that, I believe, I've ridden my Dominick Dunne horse about as far as I can. Time to move on to other things.

The Show is UP: Dominick Dunne's Last Sit

OK, everyone. He comes Dominick Dunne: The Strip Interview, featuring one of my favorite Steve Wynn stories ever plus thoughts from Dunne on his health, O.J. Simpson, his late brother John Gregory Dunne and the McCain-Palin ticket. Click on the date to hear it or right-click to download the show and listen whenever you want. Or subscribe via iTunes here or via Zune here.

Sept. 25: Dominick Dunne's Last Sit

If O.J. Simpson is on trial, then Dominick Dunne must be in town. The ailing Vanity Fair columnist and CourtTV personality, legendary for chronicling the intersection of celebrity and the criminal justice system, ignored doctor’s orders and his family’s wishes to descend on Las Vegas for the trial of, well, the month. He's had challenges -- he left court ill on Monday but returned Tuesday -- but his reward has been the warm embrace of Las Vegas high society, such as it is, and a loving New York Times profile rendered by none other than your Strip co-host, Steve. Dunne, an accomplished novelist and Hollywood producer in addition to his career observing the high-profile trials, opens up this hour about his health and why this is his final trial, what the difference between Britney Spears and Zsa Zsa Gabor is and whether John McCain is too old to be president. Plus, he tells one of the greatest Steve Wynn anecdotes of all time.

In Banter: Why Aria's great food line up is disappointing, the Venetian funk spreads and the fake OJ crime scene.

Links:

Dominick Dunne’s most recent Vanity Fair column, a career retrospective, is here
Dominick Dunne’s Wikipedia entry is here
Read Steve’s profile of Dominick Dunne here
Learn more about Aria’s food lineup here
See the fake OJ crime scene pix here
The site for Mario Batali’s Carnevino at Palazzo is here

This Week's LVW Column: He Dunne It

Here's this week's column for the Las Vegas Weekly. Enjoy.

He Dunne it

How a famous writer taught me to savor my O.J.

By STEVE FRIESS

As recently as 10 days ago, I was just like most of you out there. I had absolutely, positively, 100 percent no interest in whatever tawdry affair would unfold in a criminal trial that was news solely because it involved one Orenthal James Simpson.

Heck, I can go one further. I wasn’t just indifferent; I was actively resentful that I was about to have to turn over my career and life—in the middle of the most fascinating election of our time, no less—to sit in a courtroom for weeks just because this maniac took some screwy characters on a misadventure in search of some keepsakes. And I felt the lash of condescension—and thought I deserved it—from Review-Journal columnist Jane Ann Morrison when she explained her disdain not just for the topic but even for the journalists documenting it.

Then I met Dominick Dunne, and I fell in love with this story.

I don’t expect any of you to take more interest in what’s taking place on the 15th floor of the Regional Justice Center right now. I understand why you may be repelled. And I don’t pretend that it has the broad societal significance of, say, Jane Ann’s series on naming her kitten.

But my assigned seat in the courtroom is beside that of the diminutive white-haired man with the Coke-bottle glasses, a latter-day (and heterosexual) Truman Capote who feeds anecdotes and observations about such events to high society via his monthly pieces in Vanity Fair and his TruTV appearances.

That was a bizarre glitch of fate, because the night before I met him, I had read Dunne’s latest column. In it, per the occasion of Vanity Fair’s 25th anniversary, he reflected on his career as a film producer, on his turn toward journalism at 50 after his daughter’s murder, about being in the thick of the trials of Claus von Bulow, William Kennedy Smith, the Menendez brothers, Phil Spector and, of course, O.J. Simpson. Alongside this piece, VF ran the classic photo of Simpson at his 1995 murder trial trying on that glove—you know, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”—with a riveted Dunne as the most distinctive presence in the audience.

Here’s the last line, the last thing I read before turning off the lights on September 14: “What a swell party it’s been. Next, it’s off to Las Vegas for O. J. Simpson’s trial for armed robbery and kidnapping.” The next morning, I entered the courtroom to sit down, and, holy cow, there he was!

Read the rest HERE

THE STRIP IS LIVE TONIGHT WITH DOMINICK DUNNE!

Vanity Fair columnist and celeb-justice legend Dominick Dunne is this week's guest on "The Strip," and we'll play parts of my conversation with him recorded Sunday -- the day before he fell ill at the OJ trial in Vegas -- on tonight's live broadcast of our show. The entire discussion will be included in the podcast version which will be up by Wednesday morning this time owing to the breaking news about Dunne and his health.

It's a terrific interview in which he tells one of the very, very best Steve Wynn anecdotes I've ever heard. I've made sure that that is part of what we do play during the live broadcast. For background on Dunne, read my Styles piece from Sunday's New York Times here.

Join us 7-8 pm PT at LVROCKS.COM for the broadcast and live chatroom. Or wait and get the podcast. Or both. Your call.

Speaking of OJ...

My piece on Dominick Dunne's presence in Vegas is on the cover of the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times. It's one of my favorite pieces of recent memory. Read it here.