Valley of the Dolls (film) Valley of the Dolls (film) Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 American drama film based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Jacqueline Susann. It was directed by Mark Robson, produced by Robson and David Weisbart, and stars Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Sharon Tate, and Susan Hayward. Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway show, of which legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the arrogant star, while Jennifer North (Tate), a beauty with limited talent, is in the chorus.
Dolores (Susann novel) attorney who likes rich women, but doesn't consider Dolores--with just $30,000 a year--quite rich enough. Finally, Dolores agrees to marry a fabulously wealthy shipping tycoon, who leaves her on their wedding night to go to his mistress. The book, in actuality a novella, is by far the shortest fiction of Susann's career, at just 201 pages. Susann wrote the story for the "Ladies' Home Journal", and it was first published in that magazine's February 1974 issue. "Journal" editor Lenore Hershey had asked Susann to write a piece about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ("Jackie S on Jackie O"), but Susann was unwilling