Dominick Dunne Dead at 83

Vanity Fair columnist Dominick Dunne has died at his home in Manhattan after a battle with bladder cancer. He was 83.

Dunne, who was long rumored to be gay, was one of the nation's most high-profile magazine journalists, tracking the exploits and crimes of the world's rich, famous, and powerful. Dunne gained a national profile as Vanity Fair's correspondent at the 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith and the 1993 trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted in a later trial for the 1989 murder of their wealthy parents. The writer also famously covered the O.J. Simpson trial, later writing the book Another City, Not My Own about the sensational court case.

A prolific author, Dunne also wrote People Like Us, a book based in part on the 1982 murder of his 22-year-old daughter Dominique by her ex-boyfriend.

Contributing to talk of Dunne's sexuality was the fact that he was executive producer of 1970's The Boys in the Band, a groundbreaking film about a group of gay male friends in New York City.

Dunne was married to Ellen Griffin from 1954 to 1965, when the couple divorced. In addition to Dominique, Dunne was the father of two sons, Griffin and Alexander.