Valley of the Dolls The screenplay was written by Helen Deutsch ("National Velvet") and Dorothy Kingsley ("Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"), and produced by Robson and David Weisbart. Reviews were scathing, but the film was an enormous box-office hit, becoming the sixth most popular of the year with $44 million at the domestic box office. Susann, who had a cameo as a news reporter, hated the film, reportedly telling director Robson that it was "a piece of shit." The novel was adapted for television in 1981 as "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls", a mini-series executive-produced by Susann's widower Irving Mansfield and directed by
Jacqueline Susann child, Susann was an inattentive but imaginative student, and in the fifth grade scored 140 on an IQ test, the highest in her school. An only child, devoted to her father, Susann was determined to carry on the family name. She decided to be an actress, despite the advice of a teacher, who said, "Jackie should be a writer. She breaks all the rules, but it works." In 1936, after graduating from West Philadelphia High School, she left for New York to pursue an acting career. Her father told her, "If you're going to be an actress, be a good