Dennis McDougal, a prolific author, Hollywood muckraker and Peabody Award-winning documentarian, died on Saturday from injuries sustained in a car crash in Southern California. He was 77.

His death, in a hospital near Palm Springs, was confirmed by his stepson, Dennis Fitzgerald Dearmore. Mr. McDougal’s wife, Sharon (Murphy) McDougal, 76, who was also critically injured in the crash, died at the hospital on Monday, Mr. Dearmore said.

Mr. McDougal’s car was rear-ended in a collision involving multiple vehicles on Interstate 10 near Desert Center, in Riverside County. The couple were driving from their home in Memphis to Hawthorne, Calif., to spend time with their grandchildren.

“The Last Mogul” (1998), about the talent agent and head of Universal Studios Lew R. Wasserman, was reviewed in The New York Times, which said that Mr. McDougal “marshaled reams of documents and hundreds of interviews to show exactly how MCA used its muscle — from making friends with Presidents to strong-arming network executives and devising intricate tax shelters for star clients.”

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