Joan Didion dies: Legendary writer was 87

The New York Times

Didion, who died Thursday of complications of Parkinson’s disease, was an influential essayist, novelist, journalist and screenplay writer. Didion was the subject of the 2017 Netflix documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold by her nephew Griffin Dunne. "Joan Didion was the exception to the rule of the danger of getting to know people you've loved from afar," tweeted The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons co-creator James L. Brooks. "She was perfectly her. So small, her voice so soft." He added: "Her soul was her shield. Her art stood strong and healthy at her side back then and until very near her end." Didion and her late husband John Gregory Dunne wrote several screenplays, including for the 1976 A Star is Born remake. They also co-wrote the story for the 1965 NBC Kraft Suspense Theatre episode "Kill Me on July 20th," as well as the teleplay for the 1995 Tom Selleck-led TNT TV movie Broken Trust.