Dunne, author of "True Confessions" and "The Studio," about the Hollywood movie industry, died of a heart attack, according to his wife, author Joan Didion.

Dunne's early works were journalistic. The first, "Delano: The Story of the California Grape Strike," was published in 1967 and followed Chicano labor leader Cesar Chavez. His second, "The Studio," in 1969, detailed the inner workings of Twentieth Century Fox. In 1974, "Vegas: A Memoir of a Dark Season" examined the author's depression after a nervous breakdown.

Dunne also found success in fiction writing. He chronicled the tormented sensibilities of the urban American Irish Catholic experience in "Dutch Shea Jr." and "The Red, White and Blue." His popular best-seller "True Confessions" was written as a detective novel.

A Hartford, Conn., native, Dunne lived in Southern California during most of his life. He and his wife were living in New York City at the time of his death. His brother, Dominick Dunne, was also a popular author.