NEW YORK — Griffin Dunne says he's grateful his parents raised him with what he affectionately calls ''benign neglect" in 1970s and '80s Los Angeles because it encouraged creativity and risk-taking that led to some wild experiences he chronicles in his new memoir.
''The Friday Afternoon Club, A Family Memoir,'' out Tuesday from Penguin Press, is filled with raucous tales of growing up in Hollywood — from sneaking into his parents' dinner parties with guests like Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, to Sean Connery saving him from drowning in a pool (see, neglect!), to acting class with Linda Lovelace, and smoking weed with Dennis Hopper.
The actor, producer and director infuses the book with humor, but also covers the tragic aspects of his life: his mother's early MS diagnosis, his father's (writer Dominick Dunne) addictions, his brother's mental health challenges and his sister's murder. Dominique Dunne was 22 and starting a promising acting career (she debuted in ''Poltergeist'') when her ex-boyfriend strangled her at her West Hollywood home in 1982. Beyond the impressive name-dropping and pedigree — his aunt and uncle are writers Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne — Dunne, 69, has a gift for storytelling.
He recently sat down with The Associated Press to discuss fame, his friendship with Carrie Fisher and his complex past. Answers are edited for brevity and clarity.
AP: You have a complicated relationship with fame and success — why were you afraid of it?
DUNNE: That came, actually, as I was writing the book. I was taking my career — which I'm now very proud of with the diversity of being able to act and produce and direct — but at the time, it was so scattered. And I was rather hard on myself for missing opportunities to become a movie star. But now I'm rather pleased with how my career turned out and where it's all going. But I think I arrived at that by writing about it. I went, ‘Wow, look at all that stuff I did!'
AP: You have a lot of compassion for your family. How did you come to appreciate your parents' unconventional parenting style?
DUNNE: Before I wrote this book, I needed the blessing of my brother, who's the only (living) member of my immediate family. He said, ‘You can write whatever you want about me. Just have it come from a place of love.' I realize that that's the note that carries me through the whole book. I'm writing about some pretty questionable behavior, but I know that I love them, and I know that's going to come through. I was raised with what I would call benign neglect, which I am really grateful for. They didn't know or even notice that I was hitchhiking in Los Angeles at 13, sneaking out of the house, disappearing overnight, taking drugs way too soon, having sex way too soon. It was all so important that we shed our childhood and try to be grownups. I'm glad I didn't have them hovering.
