Dominique Dunne

Today I would like to pay tribute to a star who's light never got to shine to it's fullest degree. Dominique Dunne was a TV, film and stage actress who died on November 4, 1982. I would like to take a moment to remember her.

Dominique as a child with father, Dominick Dunne

Dominique Dunne was born on November 23, 1959 to heiress Ellen Griffin and film producer/writer Dominick Dunne. Ellen or "Lenny" as she was called, and Dominick had two daughters die in infancy before Dominique came along. Dunne said she was the combination of all three daughters and he loved her as if she were three daughters. Dominique had two older brothers, Griffin and Alex.

After graduating college, Dominique moved to Italy for a year where she studied acting and learned Italian. She moved back to Hollywood and started appearing in many television roles. Her first role was the television film Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker in 1979. Soon after, she landed guest roles in several popular 80's TV shows including Lou Grant, Hart to Hart and Fame. She scored another TV movie in 1981 on CBS Children's Mystery Theater called The Haunting of Harrington House. 

While her career was blossoming, Dominique met a successful sous-chef named John Thomas Sweeney. The two began seeing each other and after a few weeks of dating, they moved into a one bedroom house on Rangley Avenue in West Hollywood. Dunne's career was skyrocketing. She starred in her first feature film in 1982 called Poltergeist. She played the teenage daughter of a family being tormented by ghosts in their home. Though her part was small, she delivered a solid performance and even spoke one of the most memorable lines in the film: "What's happening!?".

Dominique Dunne (far left) in Poltergeist

After the success of Poltergeist, Dunne appeared in the final season premiere episode of CHiPs and played third fiddle to Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott in the TV movie The Shadow Riders. Despite her success, Dominique was in a crisis in her personal life. Her relationship with Sweeney had been rocky. They constantly fought, and eventually Sweeney began to turn violent. In an argument on August 27, 1982, Sweeney pulled handfuls of hair from Dominique's head from the roots. She rushed to her mother's home in Beverly Hills where Sweeney followed and began banging on the doors and windows. Her mother threatened to call the police, and Sweeney left. Dominique and Sweeney made up and she returned to the house on Rangley Avenue.

In another instance on September 26, 1982, Sweeney grabbed Dominique by the throat, threw her to the ground and started strangling her. A friend staying with them intervened. Dominique told her friend that Sweeney was trying to kill her, but Sweeney insisted he wasn't and told her to come back to bed. She pretended to go with him, and climbed out the bathroom window, got in her car and drove to her mother's house. She broke up with Sweeney over the phone and had him move out. She moved back in to the house they shared after the locks were changed.

Dominique guest starring in Hill Street Blues as a battered girlfriend. She hardly had to wear any makeup due to John Sweeney's second reported attack on her the night before.

On October 30th, Dunne was rehearsing with David Packer at her home. They were both starring in the miniseries V. While they were rehearsing, Dunne took a call from a friend. During the conversation, the operator broke in telling her that Sweeney was trying to call. The last words her friend heard her speak were "Oh God, it's Sweeney. Let me get him off the phone." Ten minutes later Sweeney showed up at her house. Packer remained inside while the two stepped outside to talk. They began arguing Packer then began to hear smacking sounds and screams. He called the police, but they told him it was out of their jurisdiction. Packer then called a friend to tell him that if he died that night, John Sweeney killed him.

Rehearsing V with actor David Packer

Packer went out the back door and found Sweeney crouching near a bush. He told Packer to call the police. When the police arrived Sweeney told them that he had killed Dominique. She was still alive. She was taken to Cidars-Sinai Medical Center and placed on life support. Her father and brothers flew from New Your on the October 31st. By the time they got to the hospital, Dominique Dunne was brain-dead. There was nothing more the doctors could do. She was taken off life support on November 4, 1982. She was 22 years old.

John Sweeney during court proceedings.

John Sweeney went to trial he was only given 6 1/2 years in prison. Judge Burton S. Katz later admitted to making several mistakes during the trial, but it was too little too late. Dominique's mother founded Justice for Homicide Victims, a victim's rights group a year after her daughter's death. Sweeney released three years after he was convicted and landed a job as head chef at an upscale restaurant in Santa Monica. Dominique Dunne's mother and brother found out and passed out flyers to patrons of the restaurant saying "The food you will eat tonight was cooked by the hands that killed Dominique Dunne." Sweeney left the job due to protests and moved out of Los Angeles. Dominick Dunne had a private investigator follow Sweeney for some time, but ended it, not wanting to squander his remaining years on the scum that had killed his daughter.

With Poltergeist co-star, Heather O'Rourke

I was first aware of who Dominique Dunne was when I watched the movie Poltergeist. I was probably 10 or 11, something like that. I thought she was one of the most beautiful creatures ever and I wanted to know more about her. Finding out that we were robbed of such a beautiful and talented actress so early in her career sickened me. The justice system and everything about it sicked me. I'm still in absolute disbelief on how this trial was handled by the judge.

From Poltergeist

People who knew Dominique remember her as a loving and kind spirit. She had several wounded animals that she loved dearly. She loved being an actress, and it shows on what little work she did in her career that her star was only beginning to shine. There's no doubt in my mind that Dominique would have been Hollywood royalty if she had lived. It makes me sad thinking about what could have been, what should have been.

It's true that Dominique Dunne and her family will never have the justice they deserve. I just hope she is remembered as the beautiful young actress, brimming with talent and glowing with youth, youth that she will always have. While her family and friends, people who loved her may never be completely at peace, I hope Dominique Dunne has been able to find it where she is now.

For more information on Dominique Dunne and her works, visit her IMDB page.

To read her father's account of the trial and events surrounding it, click here.