On November 20th, the estate of the late Dominick Dunne, reporter, novelist, producer, and television personality, will be up for auction.

This sale will include furniture and decorations from his Manhattan and Connecticut homes, as well as many signed or inscribed books by his contemporaries, Hollywood memorabilia and photographs, and his beloved green Jaguar convertible, “Audrey.” The collection is a reflection of his colorful life and career.

Dunne was known for his impeccable taste in clothes and décor. His terraced penthouse with sweeping views in midtown Manhattan and his colonial style saltbox in Hadlyme, Connecticut represented his evolved sensibilities.

Both were filled with books and an unusual array of objects, including fine Chinese Export porcelain purchased over his lifetime from dealers such as Colefax and Fowler in London. Many pieces in the collection were originally purchased for his Beverly Hills house, which was the scene of legendary parties.

From an early age, Dunne longed for the glamour and intrigue of Hollywood, a world quite removed from his upbringing in West Hartford, Connecticut. Drafted into the Army at age eighteen, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery. Following World War II, Dunne attended Williams College, founding a theater company with classmate, Stephen Sondheim. His early work in live television eventually led him to Los Angeles, where he transitioned from television executive to movie producer of such ground breaking films as The Boys in the Band and The Panic in Needle Park.

Personal and professional failures, however, led to a precipitous fall from grace in Hollywood, followed by the murder of his daughter. But, out of this tragedy, Dunne found his voice and achieved his greatest success as a writer. He chronicled the worlds, criminal and otherwise, of the rich and famous, both as a novelist, publishing such best sellers as The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, An Inconvenient Woman and People Like Us, and concurrently as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, for which he is credited with setting the tone and style of magazine. His fame reached an even wider audience as the host of Court TV’s Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice.

In August of 2009, Dunne died after a long battle against bladder cancer, but his work lives on, including a posthumously published novel, Too Much Money.

The auction will take place at Stair Galleries.