Done & Dunne

After the death of Edwina Mountbatten in 1960, Dickie still had another 19 years of living to do, and while he was single, he was in no way alone. He had romances with plenty of women in his later years, and according to many, he had male lovers - including, it is alleged, boys - as well. A mentor to Prince Charles, his advice to the young man may have contributed to what turned into the tragic marriage, divorce, and untimely death of Princess Diana, who was exactly the sort of woman that Dickie encouraged the playboy prince to settle down with. The men remained close through the end of Dickie's life, and Charles delivered the eulogy at both of Dickie's services in 1979. Dickie was clearly a charming older man who counted Shirley MacClaine, Barbara Cartland, Christina Ford, and Sacha Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, who was also his god daughter, among his paramours. Let's say it was all pretty complicated, but that would only be keeping with rest of his and Edwina's history. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Edwina took pains to lay low in Malta after the scandals of her affairs, Italy decided to exit the League of Nations and invade Ethiopia. To protect their children, she took them to Budapest and installed them in a hotel with their nanny and governess... and then forgot which hotel they were in. For months. As the summer of 1935 turned to fall, and then winter, they just stayed in their hotel until Edwina finally came across the paper she'd written the hotel's name on, tucked into the pocket of an outfit she hadn't worn in a while. Careless people. But then World War II came, and with so much asked of ordinary Britons, the privileged were required to step up. For perhaps the first time in her life, the skills and networking that Edwina had spent her life developing could suddenly be applied to a grand purpose: fundraising, organizing, lobbying for help in the United States. Louis was in the fight as a Naval officer, but Edwina was equally engaged, and the experience brought them together as never before. They would have further adventures together in India, overseeing the end of the Colonial period there, and form a distinct attachment to Indian Prime Minister Nehru that would last to the end of her life in 1960. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Programming note: This episode is a bit more explicit than most, including strong language and descriptions of sex. If you listen with wee ones, use your judgment. The early '30s were a roaring time for Edwina's various romances, though two in particular would have far-reaching implications for her lovers. The first, with American actor Paul Robeson, caused scandal in the London tabloids because Robeson was Black. The Royal Family considered the situation dire enough that they demanded that Louis and Edwina sue the tabloid that wrote it about for libel, and saw to it that the court would handle the case... carefully. An early morning hearing, of which no notice was given to anyone but the Mountbattens, resulted in a quick ruling in Edwina's favor, though the couple notably did not ask for damages. Paul Robeson himself was apparently quite wounded by the whole incident, having been close to Edwina and left to deal with the fallout on his own. The second notable affair was with Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson, a Grenada-born musician whom Edwina had met in New York City. She encouraged him to bring his talents to England, where he became a bona fide star of the 1920s and '30s, entertaining royals and society patrons, and his work gained national prominence with frequent airings on the BBC. During his dalliance with Edwina, there are rumors that the two became "stuck" in flagrante delicto, requiring transportation by ambulance in the pose that was causing them troubles. Louis was outraged especially by Edwina's affair with Hutch, and as the scandal grew, Hutch found that his royal and society patrons had abandoned him. In spite of his celebrity, the Mountbattens appear to have had a role in his near erasure from history. It's all reminiscent of Fitzgerald's line in Gatsby: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Roaring '20s turned into the '30s, Edwina's appetite for other lovers showed no sign of diminishing, and eventually led to a breaking point with her long-suffering husband, Louis. At one point, they decided that divorce was the best option, but quickly reconciled with new rules for their relationship: Edwina would be more discreet in her dalliances, which had previously been headline news, and Louis would be free to take lovers of his own. But a funny thing happened when he finally did - Edwina was jealous! Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It didn't take long for Edwina, young, rich, and alone while her husband Louis was away with the Navy, to begin flirtations and then affairs with various suitors. There were the young men of her social strata, to be sure, but there was also a scandalous rumored fling with the notably female American entertainer Sophie Tucker, "The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas." These affairs took a toll on her marriage and her relations with the British Royal Family, but also laid the template for the Mountbatten marriage. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Louis and Edwina Mountbatten would have a 38-year-long marriage, it isn't quite right to say it was a happy union. That first six months or so though - when they traveled through Europe and the United States, meeting Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and dining with President Warren G. Harding - was a magical time for the couple. Once they returned to England and settled into married life, things quickly went sideways. With Louis frequently at sea for long periods as a Naval officer, and Edwina living large on her huge pile of inherited money, perhaps they were destined to have an unusually promiscuous marriage. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As many will already know, it was the youngest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine who would become a prominent figure in the lives of the modern world of the Windsors. Young Louis Battenberg, later Louis Mountbatten, was known as Dickie to his confidants, and was stung early when his father, First Sea Lord of the British Navy, was removed from his post at the outbreak of WWI because of his German origins. The episode would motivate his son to excel in a Naval career to reclaim the title, and the then-Mountbattens' familial closeness with the House of Windsor would give him an avenue to real political power and influence. Edwina Ashley, future wife of Louis Mountbatten, was born into a family of means, but not of emotional connection. While her grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassel, was kind and involved, her parents left her sister and Edwina to mostly be raised by governesses. After her mother's death, Edwina's father married for a second time to a woman Louis would later describe as "a wicked woman." Edwina was ultimately able to find refuge in her grandfather's home, where as a teenager she became a sophisticated society hostess and a friend to many in the monied elite. Sir Ernest Cassel's death, when Edwina was about 20, made her one of the richest women in England. Upon her engagement to the much-less-rich Louis Mountbatten, Sir Anthony Eden noted in his diary, "Edwina Ashley is engaged to Lord Louis Mountbatten. What a waste." Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prince George of Battenberg, later the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, was the third child of Louis Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, and was by all accounts a pretty good dude. Like his father, he set his sights on a naval career, and excelled at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, entering the Royal Navy in time to participate in World War I. His 1916 marriage to Countess Nadajda de Torby, called Nada by her friends, would become a source of significant scandal in 1934, when a former maid became a key witness in the high profile custody battle over young heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. The mail alleged on the stand that Nada and the girl's mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, were lovers, and the story was so salacious for its time that the judge cleared the courtroom entirely. After the family dropped "Battenberg" in favor of "Mountbatten" in 1917, at the height of anti-German sentiment in England, George Mountbatten would continue being one of the few stable presences in the life of Prince Philip, and Queen Elizabeth II, his eventual niece-in-law, was extremely fond of George. His death at the young age of 45, from bone marrow cancer, was yet another tragedy in young Philip's life, while Nada would remain close friends with Edwina Mountbatten, her sister-in-law, and the wife of Philip's next mentor, Louis Mountbatten. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second child of Prince Louis of Battenberg (later, Louis Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven) and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine was Princess Louise, born July 14, 1889. While most royal were promptly shuttled into marriage, Louise was an independent, progressive young woman whose heart was set on marrying for love. There were suitors, to be sure, but Louise was insistent that she would never marry a king or a widower, and of course, that the union be based on love. This led her down some blind alleys, most notably with a Scottish portrait and landscape artist living in Paris, whom she met when they worked together at a military hospital during the First World War. Alexander Stuart-Hill was charming but eccentric, and was decidedly not rich. Fearing her family's reaction, Louise kept the pair's engagement secret for two years; by the time she revealed her secret, her parents asked that she delay marriage until the war had ended. After Alexander visited the Mountbattens a few times, earning the nickname 'Shakespeare' from his would-be in-laws, Louis Mountbatten had to sit his poor daughter down and explain to her that there were people called homosexuals, and he believed her fiance was one. It's unclear precisely how this resolved between Louise and Alexander, beyond the fact that the engagement ended in 1918. Princess Louise would find love at last, however, and in a most unexpected place. Sweden's Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, recent widower of Louise's mother's cousin, visited London in 1923 and took a real shine to Louise, then into her 30s. Sure, he was a widower, and sure, he was destined to be King of Sweden, but at long last, Louise had fallen in love with someone who loved her back. Her new in-laws loved her, and she became the devoted step-mother of Gustav's children. As Princess and then Queen Consort, she was beloved by the people of Sweden for her rejection of royal airs, belief in gender equality and civil rights, humanitarian work during World War II, and democratic reforms to the monarchy. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Louis Battenberg's (later Louis Mountbatten) successful campaign to marry Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, the couple set about having babies. The first of these, Princess Alice, was born in 1885, and came into the world congenitally deaf. Given the era, no particular accommodations were made for her, and while her condition caused many to underestimate her, she compensated by learning to lip-read (in several languages) and spoke English, German, French, and, later, Greek. Her marriage to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark was happy only for a while, but the pair had five children. Alice occupied herself with charity work, and when hostilities broke out between Greece and Turkey, she served as a nurse at the front line, earning the deep affection of the Greek people. During the First World War, Greece exiled the royal family, and setting up in Paris, Alice and Andrew became estranged. He would ride out the rest of his life in the south of France with his mistress, while Alice's life became strange and complicated. She fell in unrequited love, though history has not retained the identity of her affection, and developed a religious fervor. She was hospitalized in sanitariums and treated with cutting edge techniques for schizophrenia, like hitting her abdomen with X-rays to destroy her ovaries. During her convalescence, which she wanted out of, her daughters married without her knowing and her youngest son, Prince Philip, gradually grew from a child to a man, with no real connection to his mother or father. Alice spent World War II in Athens, caring for the poor and hungry, and sheltering a Jewish family. When the Nazi occupiers came to search her home, she leaned into her deafness, pretending not to understand what they wanted until they were so bamboozled they left empty handed. She founded a religious order, but when Greece again abolished the monarchy, her son Philip, now married to Queen Elizabeth II, ensured her safe passage to Great Britain, where she lived out her days simply and humbly, as a quiet resident of Buckingham Palace. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While royal houses are often insular and even incestuous (at least at the cousin-marrying level), new blood does manage to enter those gene pools from time to time. Meet the Mountbattens! The family's story begins in Russia, circa 1850, where the orphaned daughter of a Polish general named Julia von Hauke was serving in the household of Maria Alexandrovna, future wife of future Tsar Alexander II. Maria's brother, Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, fell hard for the common-born Julia, a romance that was seemingly halted by Emperor Nicholas I, who wanted Prince Alexander to marry his niece. Unable to shake off their love, the two eloped, which left Alexander persona non grata in the Russian court. Returning to his native Hesse, Prince Alexander's brother, Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse-Darmstadt, granted Julia the title of Countess of Battenberg, named for a town in the north of the duchy, and later, Princess of Battenberg. But Europe's royal houses have both a long memory and an enormous snobbery, meaning that when Alexander and Julia's sons, The Battenberg Boys, began pursuing the granddaughters of England's Queen Victoria for marriage a generation later, the courtships - successful and unsuccessful - were rife with intrigue and scandal. But it was the marriage of Louis Battenberg to Queen Vic's granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine that would eventually transform the family from a tainted, common-born Battenberg lineage to the British Mountbattens, the house of Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. But that's a story for next week. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this coda to our week of Marilyn Monroe, we examine Truman Capote's profile of her from Music for Chameleons. Written in 1980, this insightful piece of writing recalls a day in April 1955 which the two spend together. We see Marilyn very much alive and described by possibly the best sketch of her ever written. Also, more spiderwebs than you can count, mentioning all the dish on so many characters within our universe of Dominick Dunne. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this crossover week celebrating Marilyn Monroe, our investigation today brings us to the final days of Marilyn Monroe's life, as well as many recollections about the night of her death and her legacy. Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at⁠ patreon.com/trashydivorces⁠! Want a personalized message for someone in your life?⁠ Check us out on Cameo⁠! To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to ⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are exploring the summer of 1962 for Marilyn Monroe – with multiple plotlines developing. A studio looking to smear her, a doctor and housekeeper with questionable practices, and a few high-level summer romances bring a very complicated summer for Marilyn, whichever biographer you follow. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, our investigation brings Marilyn Monroe into 1962, a much more public year than her last. From buying a home to keeping company with John F. Kennedy, Marilyn's January to May is filled with future planning, a return to work, and a few legendary parties too – one of which causes the final fallout between Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we continue our week of Marilyn Monroe, the Swinging 1960s are upon us. Within this episode, we explore the first two years of the decade for Marilyn, which involve some tough times. Included are the bust-up of her marriage with Arthur Miller, a scandalous affair, a reconnection with Joe DiMaggio, and a new President for the United States too. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this second of our week of Marilyn Monroe episodes we follow her life, loves, and career from 1954 to 1959. So much is happening in these years with great freedom, and many challenges too. Also entering the frame today, we have Dominick Dunne and Peter Lawford, and so many characters who will be mighty influential in the coming few years as well. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In honor of her 100th birthday, we begin our journey into the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. This first episode reveals Marilyn from her birth in 1926 to 1954, with stardom just around the corner. Included are her troubled childhood, her first marriage, and her early path to legend status. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Memorial Day upon us, we are kicking off the summer of 2026, by going back to 1972. Peter Beard made a film a few years ago, That Summer, which is a time capsule of so many people and events. It is through this time that Peter Beard and Lee Radziwell conduct a love affair, and document all the happenings of this special time. What is included? A little movie project with Lee's relatives, Big Edie and Little Edie. Extraordinary footage collected from Scorpios to Montauk to Grey Gardens. And so many players from our cinematic universe make an appearance too! Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noaXVGrd5EE&rco=1 Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just last week, one of the major players in the OJ Simpson trial passed away. Mark Fuhrman, former L.A.P.D. detective, died at the age of 74 in Idaho. His role within the trial provided one of the major blows to the prosecution when his previous job history and racial comments allowed the defense team to pivot their client's defense to an offensive position against the police. Our man Nick did lend Fuhrman a little help in the aftermath of the trial as well. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lady Colin Campbell has led quite a life in her day, and one very connected into our upcoming storytelling journey. Today, it is crossover all about her trashy divorce, sticky royal spiderwebs, and so much more as we enter Lady Colin Campbell into our cinematic universe as a future player and source too. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week Betty Broderick passed away in prison at the age of 78, spending 34 years of her life locked up after murdering her ex-husband Dan and his second wife. Betty's ultimately fatal obsession was a true crime standout and captured the nation's attention through her two separate trials. It seemed fitting this week to reprise this episode from the archive to revisit the very trashy divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick, including her crime and punishment. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we are taking a little trip to Cap Ferrat on the Riviera to explore the connections and spiderwebs in one special house, Villa La Mauresque. This house has played host to many a high society and literary figure in its day being owned at one time by both Somerset Maugham and Lynn Wyatt. This villa is loaded with history, and is a definite hot spot on the circuit. Or used to be, before an oligarch steps in reshape the future of the villa. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a bit of an attachment to Lynn Wyatt, our main subject this week, we could not let this particular story fall to the wayside. Lynn had a pretty terrible first marriage early in life to a playboy heir, Robert Lipman. After their divorce, Robert took himself on quite an international tour of travel, and so many drugs. It was in 1967, in swinging Chelsea, that Robert took more than drugs - he took the life of a young girl too, Claudie Delbarre. The manhunt and trial certainly bring to light the power and privilege of the upper crust, and a decided lack of justice too. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dominick Dunne is always talking about the people he knows, and in this segment, he is reporting in 2006 about so many troubles of the socialite ladies in his circle. Lynn Wyatt is the focus here and all the woes with her billionaire husband Oscar Wyatt at the time. We get to know little a bit here, mostly through her dedicated support of her husband at this time. Also added, Alicia chimes in with more stories to connect this one into our investigation, including the romance of Sarah Ferguson and Steve Wyatt, Lynn's son from her first marriage, which is coming back around in no time. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We reconnect with Gardner McKay this week, the handsome actor who starred as Adam Troy in Adventures in Paradise. Gardner was a Dominick Dunne discovery, and Dunne loves to remind you of that fact. In this episode, we begin with a 1999 piece with Dunne being asked for a quote for Gardner's new book, Toyer. With namedrops, studio gossip and a little more too, Gardner McKay is not a man you will soon forget. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Alicia follows up with some spiderwebs from the Doris Day story, and how her son Terry factors into those terrible events on Cielo Drive on August 8, 1969. Terry and his longtime girlfriend Candice Bergen lived there in a fairy tale dream in 1968, before Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski move into the home. Why did Terry and Candice move? Doris told them they must. This one is filled with all kinds of connections throughout those days in the Hollywood Hills and beyond, with all sorts of folks chiming in on and rounding out the details of this time from Doris and Terry's point of view. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a special double length bonus today as we explore the life and the loves of Doris Day in this Trashy Divorces crossover! Actress and singer Doris Day built a giant career in Hollywood on the image of the All-American Girl, a perfectly relatable Girl Next Door, virtuous and funny. It was pure spin, with Groucho Marx once quipping, “I've been around so long, I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.” Doris herself chafed at the limitations of the typecasting and how utterly at odds it was to the life she was actually living. In this first part of her story, Alicia takes us through her start in show business, her first two husbands, and a whole lotta playing the field in 1950s Hollywood. In this second half, Alicia tracks Doris Day's disastrous marriage to Martin Melcher, and the enormous financial hole he left her in when he died at the young age of 52. There was still one more husband to go before Doris would decide she'd had enough of matrimony and turned her focus to a more deserving cause: rescuing animals. More spiderwebs to come in tomorrow's episode, bringing it all together! Sources and Recommended Reading can be found on doneanddunne.com. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who could have imagined this lucky twist? This week, Taylor Swift released the music video for Track 2 from her The Life of a Showgirl album. The song is "Elizabeth Taylor" and the video features the screen goddess in excerpts from eleven of her iconic films. It is a must see if you are an Elizabeth Taylor fan. By the time this recording was complete, the music video is now available on Youtube.com too - check it out below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqbJT_vC0rs Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a moment when Dominick Dunne was asked to write an introduction for Elizabeth Taylor's 2002 book about all of her famous jewels. Turns out, Our Man Nick's words didn't make the cut for the release, but we have them in today's episode. From May of 2007, in a special feature from Vanity Fair, Dunne gives a little insight into his multi-decade friendship with Elizabeth Taylor including trashy tidbits about his last film Ash Wednesday, Richard Burton, Robert Evans, Michael Jackson, and jewelry. You know Elizabeth loves her jewelry. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Done and Dunne, we conclude the current arc of Mart Crowley. Packed into this one are his years after The Boys in The Band, and a few stories about his besties, including Natalie Wood and Kay Thompson. Also included, his travels and his eternal legacy. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on ⁠Patreon⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we explore the life of high society grande dame Oatsie Charles. Her southern childhood and early life are connected through Santa Rosa and Montgomery, with a whole lot of eccentric family tales. We do have a Tallulah Bankhead connection as well, before we move onto Oatsie's later years, where she partied it up in Georgetown and her Newport home, Land's End. Connected to all the players in every era, including JFK, Ian Fleming, Katharine Graham, and Nancy Reagan too – Oatsie is a lady who is hard to forget. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on Patreon! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigators, Alicia got her hot little hands on Graydon Carter's book When The Going Was Good, and there is so much tea to spill. Graydon was Dominick Dunne's Editor at Vanity Fair for years and he shares many stories about so many characters in our universe. First up on these tales, you know we have to begin with Our Man Nick. Continue your investigation with ad-free and bonus episodes on⁠ Patreon⁠! To advertise on Done & Dunne, please reach out to ⁠info@amplitudemediapartners.com⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com. 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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com. 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. Sources: Claudine Longet | The Murder of Spider Sabich | Crime Documentaries (YouTube link)Andy Williams Says of Claudine (people.com)Andy Williams denies calling ex-wife Claudine Longet a ‘crazy-type girl' at her 1977 trial (nydailynews.com)27 Sep The Incandescent Life and Untimely Death of Spider Sabich (tahoequarterly.com)Moon River – Andy Williams (YouTube link)Andy Williams ‘Battle Hymn Of The Republic' 45 rpm (YouTube link) 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! 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. 

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.

In this last episode of 2025, we honor and celebrate the life of Jacquline 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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 info@amplitudemediapartners.com.