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.
Jacqueline Susann James Dunn. For reasons which remain unclear, the play was not produced. In 1970, Susann made a brief return to the stage when she appeared in Blanche Yurka's off-Broadway revival of Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot". Clive Barnes in the "New York Times" panned the production; of the cast, he praised only Yurka, but he did mention that "Jacqueline Susann looks a great deal prettier than the publicity stills on her book jackets might lead you to believe." From 1948 to 1950, Susann appeared on "The Morey Amsterdam Show", a comedy series (telecast first on CBS, then on DuMont),