Writer Dominick Dunne arrives at a Vanity Fair party for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, in April 2008. (Peter Kramer/Associated Press)

Dominick Dunne, the Vanity Fair writer and chronicler of celebrity life, died Wednesday at his Manhattan home, according to the magazine. He was 83.

Dunne had been suffering from bladder cancer.

Dunne became widely known for his coverage of the trials of O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, Michael Skakel, William Kennedy Smith, and Phil Spector, as well as the impeachment of former U.S. president Bill Clinton.

A former Hollywood producer, he had been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair since 1984 and a special correspondent since 1993.

His monthly column on celebrities captured readers with its insider's view of high society.

He also wrote novels such as The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and People Like Us and the memoir The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper.

Born in Hartford, Conn., on Oct. 29, 1925, Dunne is the brother of author John Gregory Dunne and brother-in-law of the writer Joan Didion.

He won a Bronze Star for his service in Second World War and graduated from Williams College in 1949.

Began with Howdy Doody

Dunne began his career in New York City as the stage manager of The Howdy Doody Show and in 1957 he moved to Hollywood, where he directed Playhouse 90.He became the executive producer of the television series Adventures in Paradise and vice-president of Four Star Productions.

Dunne also produced feature films, including The Boys in the Band, Panic in Needle Park, Play It As It Lays and Ash Wednesday.

In this period, he developed a taste for the celebrity lifestyle and rubbed shoulders with Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Kirk Douglas, David Niven, Liz Taylor and Truman Capote.

He recalled his first A-list Hollywood party at Humphrey Bogart's house in a 2008 interview.

"Sinatra sang, Judy Garland sang and Lana Turner lived next door. Lana Turner was so fantastic at that time, and Spencer Tracy was there that night and David Niven was there that night and Hank Fonda was there that night. And it went on and on. I mean I thought I'd died and gone to heaven," he said.

But he soon had both financial problems and problems with alcohol and drugs. His marriage, to Ellen Griffin, called "Lenny," dissolved in 1965.

His 1970s films Ash Wednesday and Play It As It Lays were box-office flops and in 1975 he withdrew from the world, sobered up and began to write.

Started new career

His novel, The Two Mrs Grenvilles, sold over two million copies and launched him into a new career.

However, life took a grim turn in 1982 when his daughter, Dominique, was killed by a former boyfriend.

The night before flying to Los Angeles for the trial of Dominique's killer, Dunne sat next to Tina Brown, who was about to take up the role of editor of Vanity Fair magazine. Brown urged him to keep a journal of the court case and it was his first contribution to Vanity Fair.

"Tina Brown literally discovered me. She found something in me that I didn't know I possessed," Dunne said.

He went on to write regularly for Vanity Fair and also focused on high society and celebrity downfall in his novels, which included People Like Us (1988), An Inconvenient Woman (1990) and A Season in Purgatory (1993), which was adapted into a CBS mini-series. Dunne also hosted the television show, Dominick Dunne Presents: Power, Privilege and Justice on Tru TV.

His last book, Too Much Money: A Novel, is scheduled for publication in December by Random House.

Dunne is survived by sons Griffin of New York and Alex of Portland, Ore., and a granddaughter, Hannah.