Dominique Dunne Movies
American actress Dominique Dunne was a celebrity to the Manor born. She was the daughter of authors Dominick Dunne and Ellen Griffin Dunne, the sister of actor Griffin Dunne (star of the quirky After Hours [1985]), and the niece of writers John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. Given an elite education at the exclusive Taft School of Watertown, Connecticut, the Fountain Valley School of Colorado Springs, the British Institute and the Michelangelo School of Florence, Italy, Dunne seemed predestined for a career in the Arts. She chose acting as her avocation, and soon her aristocratic beauty was gracing a myriad of TV series. Starring in the 1982 shocker Poltergeist as the oldest daughter of Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, Dunne proved she was an accomplished actress and not a mere "presence." Dunn was preparing to star in the science fiction TV miniseries V, when her career and her life came to an abrupt, violent end. Less than five months after Poltergeist was finished, Dominique Dunne was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney. Despite the concerted efforts of her father Dominick Dunne and other concerned parties, Dunne's murderer received a reduced voluntary manslaughter sentence, and walked out of jail in 1986 after serving only four years of a mere 6 1/2-year sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1982
Dominique Dunne stars in this mild made-for-TV teen haunted-house movie. Dunne stars as a curious teenager who decides to get the bottom of the story of the allegedly haunted Harrington House by investigating strange events and people. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
In this made-for-TV movie, two brothers who battled on opposing sides of the Civil War return home at the end of the war to discover that their family has been kidnapped by Confederate forces. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott, (more)
With Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hopper, Steven Spielberg had his first great success as a producer. Released around the same time as Spielberg's E.T., the film presents the dark side of Spielberg's California suburban track homes. The film centers on the Freeling family, a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. The father, Steve (Craig T. Nelson), has fallen asleep in front of the television, and the dog saunters around the house revealing the other family members -- Steve's wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen-year-old daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old son Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke). Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake ("They're he-e-ere!"). As curious events continue, Carol Ann is repeatedly drawn to the television, where she begins to talk to "the TV people." Soon Carol Ann is sucked into a closet, disappearing from this reality plane. Unable to find his daughter, Steve consults Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), a para-psychologist from a nearby college. Lesh finds that paranormal phenomena is so strong in the Freelong household she is unable to deal with it and sends for clairvoyant and professional exorcist Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) to examine the house in hopes of finding Carol Ann. Tangina makes a horrifying discovery: Carol Ann is alive and in the house, but is being held on another spectral plane. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, (more)
- 1981
Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper play a married couple on the brink of divorce in The Day the Loving Stopped. Ally Sheedy plays the younger of the couple's two daughters; the story of the breakup is told primarily from her point of view. The dissolution of Weaver and Harper's marriage is contrasted with the impending wedding between older sister Dominique Dunne (in one of her last appearances before her brutal murder) and James Canning. The Day the Loving Stopped was based on a novel by Julie Autumn List.The made-for-TV film debuted October 16, 1981. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
The made-for-TV Valentine Magic on Love Island was accurately dismissed by one reviewer as a "bubble headed brew of I Dream of Jeannie and a Club Med Vacation." Janis Paige stars as Madge, a benign sorceress who runs a lavish tropical resort with the help of her nephew Jimmy (Christopher Knight) and niece Cheryl (Dominique Dunne). Through mystical, magical means of her own (manifested in a bouquet of enchanted roses), Madge sets about to transform eight of her unattached hotel guests into four loving couples. Naturally, the supporting cast is top-heavy with celebrity guest stars, among them Adrienne Barbeau, who was seen in one of the two Fantasy Island pre-series specials, and Bill Daily, an alumnus of the aforementioned I Dream of Jeannie. The pilot for an unsold weekly series, Valentine Magic on Love Island first aired February 15, 1980, on NBC; in syndication, it was retitled simply Magic on Love Island, apparently to avoid the "holiday special" onus. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1979
The first "new" ABC network TV movie of the 1979-80 season, this one was advertised under the slightly more lurid title Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. Filmed in quasidocumentary fashion, the story chronicles the melancholy tale of rebellious, 17-year-old Trish Thurston (Katy Kurtzman), who, in defiance of her parents' wishes, hangs out with a group of teenagers who enjoyed thumbing rides for kicks. Trish's fascination with the wild, unpredictable side of life leads to a disastrous rendezvous with a crazed killer. Diary of a Hitchhiker originally aired on September 21, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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