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 in which she played Lola (later Jackie) the Cigarette Girl to Amsterdam's nightclub emcee. In 1951, she hosted "Jacqueline Susann's Open Door" (DuMont), the premise of which was to help people—most of whom had experienced hardships—find jobs. She also appeared in such series as "Danger" (CBS), "Studio One" (CBS), and "Suspense" (CBS), but found herself typecast: "I got cast as what I looked like—a glamorous divorcée who gets stabbed or strangled." In the summer of 1956, she appeared in NBC's revival of the panel show "This Is Show Business", which was produced by her husband. In addition to her acting