Helen Lawson she has left to play a "character role" in a television series. For the 1967 film adaptation, author Susann hoped that the Bette Davis would play the role, but Judy Garland was hired instead. Garland was replaced by Susan Hayward. Lawson made another appearance in the 2008 novel "Candy Everybody Wants" by Josh Kilmer-Purcell, where she acts as a mentor to the protagonist, 15-year-old Jayson Blocher, as he is beginning his career in Hollywood. Helen Lawson Helen Lawson is a fictional character from Jacqueline Susann's best-selling 1966 novel "Valley of the Dolls", said to be based largely on legendary stage
Jacqueline Susann seller list, and was the third highest-selling novel of its year. Reviews were not favorable; one reviewer in the "New York Times" compared the book to "popcorn... a kernel of an idea... exploded into bite-sized nothingness," while "Time" magazine complained that the book "lacks Valley's primitive vigor. Film rights were sold to Columbia Pictures for a then-record $1.5 million. Directed by Jack Haley, Jr., the film adaptation was released in 1971, starring Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, and John Phillip Law. Despite the fact that Irving Mansfield was executive producer, the movie was a critical and commercial flop. Susann, who had