The Friday Afternoon Club, Griffin Dunne

I’ve read about the Dunne family for many years. First, by following Griffin’s father’s stories in Vanity Fair, and then with Griffin’s films, and of course, he was the nephew of writer Joan Didion. Growing up in a family of larger-than-life characters in LA and NYC definitely leaves some incredible stories of living to be told, and Griffin doesn’t hold back. For us in GenX, we remember his sister, Dominique’s strangulation in 1982 from a demented and scorned past lover. She was just about to be seen in Poltergeist as the teenage daughter. So you see her on screen and then have to learn she is no longer with us.

Griffin grew up with his parents throwing these large parties, which were the hot ticket and lasted well into the night. Every celebrity you could imagine would show up. His father was a name-dropper because he was obsessed with fame and eager to belong, and would later achieve that as a writer for Vanity Fair. His parents divorced. His father was gay, which was something he kept secret from everyone, including his children. Griffin had a lifelong best friendship with Carrie Fisher. He deflowered her after a back-and-forth in NYC. There’s a great story about Harry Reasoner, who at the time was anchoring the ABC Evening News, and would drink up until three minutes of the broadcast in this bar across from the news building, and was never late and always on.

Griffin’s brother was mentally ill, his father lost everything and had to rebuild, the family faced down Dominque’s killer in the trial, Griffin starred in a Scorsese film, he married actress Carey Lowell, and they had a daughter in 1990.