John Gregory

John Gregory Dunne (1932–2003) was an American author whose career spanned journalism, criticism, essays, novels, and screenplays. He began his professional life as a journalist for Time magazine. Dunne's writing journey was significantly influenced by a childhood stutter, which he found he could manage through writing and observation. He graduated from Princeton University in 1954. His personal and professional life were closely intertwined with his wife, fellow writer Joan Didion. They met in the late 1950s and married in 1964, embarking on a decades-long collaboration that included jointly written columns, journalism assignments, and screenplays. Their partnership extended to advising, consulting, and editing each other's work, leading to critically acclaimed books and films for both.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, John Gregory Dunne was the younger brother of author Dominick Dunne. His parents were Dorothy Frances (née Burns) and Richard Edwin Dunne, a surgeon. Dunne's family was large, with five siblings. A significant challenge in his childhood was a severe stutter, which he learned to manage by developing his writing as an outlet for expression and by observing others. He received his education at Portsmouth Abbey School and later graduated from Princeton University in 1954.

Dunne's career commenced in journalism at Time magazine in New York City, where he benefited from the mentorship of political essayist Noel Parmentel. His meeting with Joan Didion, then an editor at Vogue, marked the beginning of a profound personal and professional partnership. After their marriage in 1964, they relocated to California and established a robust collaborative working relationship that lasted for forty years. This partnership involved joint bylines, shared journalistic assignments, and mutual editorial support. Dunne also contributed significantly as a literary critic and essayist, frequently publishing in The New York Review of Books, with his essays later collected in books like Quintana & Friends and Crooning.

Dunne authored several novels, including 'True Confessions' and 'Dutch Shea, Jr.', and explored Hollywood in nonfiction works like 'The Studio' and 'Monster: Living Off the Big Screen'. He and Didion also collaborated on screenplays such as 'The Panic in Needle Park' and 'A Star Is Born'. Dunne's final novel, 'Nothing Lost', was published posthumously in 2004. He also wrote and narrated the PBS documentary 'L.A. is It with John Gregory Dunne'. Dunne and Didion adopted a daughter, Quintana Roo, who later became the subject of Didion's acclaimed memoir 'The Year of Magical Thinking' following her death. Dunne passed away in his Manhattan apartment in 2003.

“We amused each other and I thought he was smart. He knew a lot of stuff that I didn't know, like politics and history. I had managed to go through school without learning much except a lot of poems.”

“liked the set-up, liked being there, and liked him.”