Stimulating Facts About Actress And Valley Of The Dolls Author Jacqueline Susann
Before she turned to the written word, Jacqueline Susann was known as a stage actress who also broke into the emerging world of television. To give a sense of how early she was on television, the first show she hosted aired on the DuMont network.
However, that was only the beginning of her rise to prominence, as Susann would end up enjoying the kind of literary success that would rival Stephen King. As great as her accomplishments were, however, there was even more to her than that. Today, we're going to learn all about it.
Quiet, Humble Beginnings For A Future Star
Jacqueline Susann later rose to extraordinary fame in publishing, but her early life was more modest and ordinary. Born in August 1918, she was brought up in Pennsylvania within a Jewish family.
Her father, Robert, earned a living painting portraits, while her mother, Rose, worked as a teacher in the local school system. From an early age, she showed little hesitation in shaping a strong sense of self.
Her Family Were Never Chained To Conventions
Although Susann eventually became known for defying literary convention, it was a trait she exhibited at a young age. To a small extent, it was also a quality she may well have inherited from her mother.
Rose, determined to make pronunciation easier for her students, added an extra "n" to the family's surname. Jacqueline retained the unique spelling, though she required no assistance when it came to mastering reading herself.
She Had The Highest IQ At Her School
Susann showed signs of brilliance from an early age. As a child, her teachers described her as "inattentive but imaginative." In truth, she didn't seem to need close attention in order to excel.
By fifth grade, her IQ reportedly reached 140 — an exceptional score. Yet, how she applied her wits when she was young will either be surprising or precisely what one would expect of a teen, no matter how brilliant.
Her Intellect Was Matched Only By Her Audacity
When Susann was 11 years old, her parents rented a beach house in Atlantic City. She soon discovered that a well-known actress was staying at a nearby hotel.
Eager for a chance to meet a genuine star, Susann boldly knocked on the woman's door —only to be met with a sharp "Get lost!" before it was slammed in her face. Rather than discouraging her from the glamorous yet sinister world of celebrity, however, the rejection only fuelled her determination.
A Teacher Saw Her Potential And Appeal Before Anyone
Susann transformed her fascination with celebrities and gossip into storytelling. Her natural flair for crafting tales was evident well before she became a best-selling author.
One teacher even remarked, "Jackie should be a writer. She breaks all the rules, but it works." Despite this encouragement, Susann initially set her sights on a different career path.
Her Father Had Good Advice For Her Future Work
Upon her graduation from West Philadelphia High School in 1936, Susann didn't apply for any college with any particular literary focus. Instead, she moved to New York, brimming with dreams of becoming an actress.
"If you’re going to be an actress," her father advised, “be a good actress. Be a people watcher.” She followed his guidance, but the path it set her on was far different from what she had imagined.
Her Broadway Start Wasn't The Most Encouraging
Susann got off to a bumpy start in acting. In 1937, she briefly secured a part as a French maid in the stage production of The Women, only to be dismissed during rehearsals. Apparently, this was because her French accent wasn't up to snuff.
Ironically, the production team later rehired her for an even smaller role as a lingerie model. The play went on to become a massive success, running for more than 650 performances. Still, personal success remained elusive.
She Floundered On Broadway
Following The Women, Susann appeared in several productions, including The Girl from Wyoming (1938), My Fair Ladies (1941), and A Lady Says Yes (1945). Unfortunately, each of these Broadway shows failed spectacularly and closed quickly.
Her only modest success came with Banjo Eyes (1941), which managed 126 performances. She appeared destined for obscurity — until fate stepped in.
A Chance Encounter With The Love Of Her Life
While working at Walgreen's, Susann accidentally answered a call intended for press agent Irving Mansfield — only to end up speaking with Mansfield himself. At that time, some of New York's showbiz movers and shakers used the Walgreen's phone booths as informal offices.
Her words made such an impression that he quickly became smitten and soon leveraged his contacts to get her mentioned in gossip columns. What began as a wrong number turned into the perfect opportunity.
She And Mansfield Moved Quickly And Cleverly
After a brief courtship, Jacqueline Susann and Irving Mansfield tied the knot on April 2, 1939. Their union, however, seemed driven as much by strategy as by romance. Susann later admitted she was captivated by Mansfield's skill at placing "items" about her in theater and society columns, raising her profile and advancing her career.
For his part, Mansfield admitted in his memoir Life With Jackie that, "I can't really claim that Jackie and I were propelled into each other’s arms by an irresistible passion." Together, they became a formidable power couple with a clear plan.
Her First Big Foray Into Writing
As acting opportunities dwindled, Susann collaborated with actress Beatrice Cole to write a play titled The Temporary Mrs. Smith. The work was later retitled Lovely Me and debuted at the Adelphi Theatre on Christmas Day, 1946.
Unfortunately, the production failed to capture the holiday spirit, closing after just 37 performances. Susann, however, may have been too absorbed in other matters to dwell on the disappointment.
She and Mansfield Started A Family At A Busy Time
Just weeks before her play premiered, on December 6, 1946, Jacqueline Susann welcomed her only child with Irving Mansfield.
Her son was named Guy Hildy Mansfield, honoring his godmother, the cabaret performer Hildegarde. Yet, even this joyful milestone carried a dramatic and unforeseen twist.
Her Son Needed Some Serious Help
When Guy was only three, he was diagnosed with severe autism. Over time, Susann and Mansfield made the difficult decision to place their cherished son in specialized care.
Concerned about public perception, Susann kept his condition private and seldom discussed it. Though she and Mansfield visited Guy frequently, Susann grew close to another companion who could stay at home with her.
Adorable Little Josephine Meant A Lot To Her
In 1954, Jacqueline Susann welcomed a new family member: A half-toy, half-miniature black poodle. She named the elegant pup Josephine, after the comedian Joe E. Lewis.
Amid the sadness surrounding Susann's son, Josephine became far more than a pet — later serving as the inspiration for Susann's breakthrough in literature.
Going From The Stage To The Screen
Between 1948 and 1950, Jacqueline Susann appeared on The Morey Amsterdam Show. Though not the lead, she left an impression as the "cig girl" Lola.
In 1951, she hosted her own program, Jacqueline Susann's Open Door, assisting ordinary people struggling to find work. Ironically, she faced her similar share of misfortune during this time.
Some Very Strange And Specific Typecasting
By the 1950s, Jacqueline Susann realized her television career had plateaued. As she later confessed, "I got cast as what I looked like — a glamorous divorcée who gets stabbed or strangled."
It was far from the dramatic range she had envisioned. Still, this run of small roles likely set the stage for a rare opportunity to appear.
A Surprisingly Busy Undertaking
In 1955, Susann made a little career change. Rather than pursuing acting roles, she took on the role of national spokesperson for the Schiffli Lace and Embroidery Institute.
But she didn't just appear on camera — she wrote, produced, and starred in the commercials herself. For six years, she enjoyed a reliable, steady job. Yet, if she had problems with typecasting before...
A Wish On A Monkey's Paw
Susann appreciated her success with Schiffli, but it carried a steep cost. Leaving a New York restaurant one day, a stranger shouted, "There's the Schiffli girl!"
After 25 years of striving to be recognized as a serious actress, the public only saw her as the face of an embroidery company. However, that would be a blessing compared to the next dark turn her life took.
One Of The Saddest Christmases Ever
Christmas Day, 1962, brought no joy to Susann. Mansfield apparently found himself suddenly out of work. The wounds of having to put her son in institutional care were still fresh. And most alarming of all, she had just discovered an unusual lump in her breast.
That evening, she wrote in her notebook, "This is a bad Christmas…I can't die without leaving something — something big." She had far less time than she realized.
A Courageous Fight
Susann wasted no time getting the suspicious lump examined. At just 44 years old, she received devastating news — she had cancer.
Determined to survive, she agreed to undergo a radical mastectomy without hesitation. The prognosis was grim, but she resolved to fight — and made a private bargain of her own.
A Nervous Habit That Turned Prophetic
As Mansfield once said, Susann "was treating God like the William Morris office." That meant that she had a habit of attempting to make bargains with Him, with one example being a promise to quit smoking if her son's condition improved.
Yet, while such bargains didn't seem to accomplish much in his case, there was one that's hard not to see as eerie in retrospect. After undergoing a full mastectomy and visiting what she called her "Wishing Hill" in Central Park, Susann made her biggest bargain ever: If God gave her ten more years, she could become the number-one writer. In other words, the best-selling in the world.
Her First Book Was About Her Dog
Although publishers who read her first book Every Night, Josephine! were impressed by her prose and charmed by her witty, affectionate tales of the titular poodle's life, they were reticent to publish it. In one case, it was because they had already published a similar book. While this sent Susann into a spiral, it also spurred her to hustle even harder to promote the book, including with the clever idea to appear with Josephine in matching outfits.
Eventually, the hard work paid off and by 1973, Every Night, Josephine! had sold 1.7 million copies and found itself at number eight on Time Magazine's top bestseller list. The experience also taught Susann how to create a media sensation.
One Of Her Biggest Talents Was Weaving Gossip Into Gold
Considering how many contacts Susann made in her life and the scenes she involved herself in, she always had stories to tell and exactly what details in those stories to emphasize. That was the opinion shared by gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who positioned it as the secret to Susann's appeal.
As he put it, "Jackie was the quintessential, the ultimate yenta — by which I mean 'storyteller.' Individually, the tales she’d tell over the phone would never have interested me. But she would extract the most delicious, wonderful parts, and with her incredible memory for detail she’d weave stories about the love lives, the chicaneries, the Machiavellian ways, the lies and limitations of the people she knew."
Gossip Defines Susann's Most Famous Work
On February 10, 1966, Susann released Valley of the Dolls. It was the story of three women struggling with addiction to "dolls" (barbiturates and stimulant pills) and it didn't just sell — it skyrocketed.
One critic even remarked that the book “took off like a Cape Canaveral space shot.” That was partially because this wasn't just a general story of the vices of celebrities — it was one that told secret stories about specific and real people.
Just About Everyone Knew Who Susann Was Talking About
The triumph of Valley of the Dolls was deliberate. Susann poured her fascination with gossip and insider Hollywood knowledge into the book, crafting characters that mirrored real-life celebrities.
Astute readers spotted exaggerated portrayals of stars such as Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, and even Dean Martin. Yet while this image suggests that Garland took her depiction in stride, Susann's approach didn't win over everyone. And it wasn't just that Merman was incensed by what Susann had written about her (not that Susann cared, as the two former friends had already fallen out by then).
More Critics Hated Valley Of The Dolls Than Liked It
Valley of the Dolls soared to number one on The New York Times bestseller list, holding the spot for an impressive 65 weeks — proof that readers couldn't get enough.
Critics, however, were far less enthusiastic. Some gave the book some faint praise, but others didn't hold back at all. Time magazine mockingly named it the "Dirty Book of the Month." However, Susann was only just getting started.
Valley Of The Dolls Broke All-Time Sales Records
By 1974, Susann's landmark novel had sold more than 17 million copies. The record-breaking numbers earned it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling novel in publishing history.
Suddenly, the "failed" Broadway actress who had struggled for recognition had become one of literature’s most commercially successful authors — even if critics clearly weren't happy about that fact. Her triumph all stemmed from her sharp instinct for a captivating story.
The Couple Could Not Have Promoted It More Aggressively
Susann's extraordinary success wasn’t solely due to her writing talent. Alongside Mansfield, she staged audacious publicity stunts and Mansfield would pressure friends to buy multiple copies of the book wherever they went.
As columnist Cindy Adams remarked, "No effort was too humiliating, too horrifying, or too tough." Bernard Geis added that Susann’s self-promotion was so relentless that “you could not turn on a water faucet without getting Jacqueline Susann.”
Susann Was More Strategic Than It Seemed
Susann wasn't merely a relentless self-promoter — she was a master strategist. Before heading out on a book tour, she filled notebooks with precise information about every reporter, bookstore clerk, and talk-show host she met while promoting Every Night, Josephine!, cataloging details about their families, hobbies, and more.
Through this careful planning, she even managed to secure the acting opportunities she had long sought — though in an unusual way.
Susann's Only Film Appearance
Hollywood adapted Valley of the Dolls into a 1967 film featuring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, and Sharon Tate.
Naturally, as a performer herself, Susann wanted a cameo — and appeared briefly as a reporter. She can be seen to the right in this shot from the film. Naturally, it wasn't anywhere near a substantial enough role to earn her an Oscar nomination. Yet, as she saw it, the film wasn't likely to score many anyway. Interestingly, it was nominated only for John Williams' score.
She Thought They Massacred Her Book
While audiences poured into theaters to see Valley of the Dolls on the big screen, Susann was far from impressed. An incensed viewer had apparently poured his Coca Cola on Fox president Dick Zanuck, and Susann likely wanted to do the same when she saw it in Venice.
From the casting to the happy ending to the fake hair involved, Susann had reason after reason to feel the filmmakers had ruined her book. During a voyage aboard the passenger liner Princess Italia, she famously confronted the film's director, Mark Robson and wanted to be flown off the boat. Still, she stayed and didn’t allow her disappointment to slow her down.
Another Book Means Another Bestseller
Determined to capitalize on the success of Valley of the Dolls, Susann returned to writing. In May 1969, she published a sequel, The Love Machine, proving she was no one-hit wonder.
The novel dominated The New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing 32 weeks, including 13 at number one. Hollywood quickly took notice, with Columbia Pictures paying $1.5 million for the film rights. Critics, however, remained unimpressed, with some even saying they preferred Valley Of The Dolls.
Truman Capote Took One Of His Famous Shots At Her
Susann may have been the best-selling author of her era, but that clearly didn't impress some of her fellow authors. In a notorious 1969 appearance on The Tonight Show, Truman Capote launched a sharp attack — not on her books, but on her appearance — remarking that she looked "like a truck driver in drag."
It was just another flick of Capote's famously acerbic tongue to him, as she was hardly the only prominent figure he publicly insulted on The Tonight Show. Yet, it seemed that Capote underestimated her resilience.
A Classy Show Of Ignoring Capote
Although Mansfield initially wanted to sue, he was instead counselled to secure Susann's appearances on both The Tonight Show and Today, as well as a daytime game show also airing on NBC. However, when Johnny Carson asked what she thought of "Truman," she pretended to think he was talking about Harry Truman, saying, "I think history will prove he's one of the best presidents we've had."
Instead, she got her real venom out in her next book, Once Is Not Enough, where she referred to him as a "fat little capon" who hadn't written anything for years but instead languished on talk shows and in celebrity parties.
One Of The Darkest Moments Of The '60s Nearly Killed Her
On August 8, 1969, Sharon Tate had invited Susann to dinner at her home while she was staying at The Beverly Hills Hotel. A sudden change of plans, however, led Susann to cancel at the last moment. Film critic Rex Reed paid her a surprise visit and she decided to stay in with him.
The following morning, she was inconsolable after awoke to the horrific news: Everyone at Tate's residence had been brutally murdered in the Manson Family attack. As she darkly recalled to Reed when she neared the end of her life, "It could all have happened a lot sooner if we’d gone to Sharon’s that night."
A Return To Stage And Screen Alike
Despite her literary success, Susann never abandoned her acting dreams. In 1970, she appeared in Blanche Yurka's off-Broadway revival of The Madwoman of Chaillot.
The next year, she made a guest appearance on the television crime series Mannix, showing that her desire for the spotlight extended far beyond the page. Unfortunately, she was also on the cusp of a familiar disappointment.
Not Even Audiences Liked The Love Machine Movie
Hollywood moved ahead with a film version of The Love Machine, the follow-up to Valley of the Dolls. Yet once again, the adaptation failed to capture Susann's narrative spark.
Even with Mansfield credited as executive producer, the movie faltered badly, drawing harsh reviews and disappointing audiences. Tragically, her health was declining just as sharply as the film’s fortunes.
Her Final Days Were Coming
On January 11, 1973, Susann checked into Doctors Hospital, hoping to find relief from a stubborn cough that refused to go away. However, what she received instead was heartbreaking news about its source.
Just a week later, physicians delivered crushing news: The cancer she had once battled had returned — this time spreading to her lungs. The promise she had once made to herself — to leave behind something "big" before her time ran out — suddenly felt heartbreakingly close to its reckoning.
Triumphing One Last Time
Even as cancer tormented her body, Susann refused to slow down. In early 1973, she released Once Is Not Enough — and proved yet again that illness couldn't dim her commercial power.
The novel shot to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list, holding the number-one spot for eight weeks and remaining on the list for a total of 36 weeks. Terminal diagnosis or not, Susann was still doing what she had always done best: Dominating the charts and defying expectations.
Her Swan Song Made History
With Once Is Not Enough climbing to number one, Susann secured her place in literary history. Despite relentless critical scorn and personal setbacks, she became the only writer at the time to have three consecutive novels reach the top of The New York Times Best Seller list.
Her secret wasn't luck or scandal alone—it was discipline. Susann approached writing like a full-time campaign.
Her Writing Process Was As Serious As It Got
Susann's meteoric rise wasn’t built on glamour alone — it was forged through discipline. She wrote for eight hours a day, reportedly sustained on little more than blueberry yogurt and bananas, hammering away at draft after draft. Perfection didn’t come easily. Each manuscript went through four or five complete rewrites, often typed on different colored paper so she could track revisions with precision.
She treated storytelling like both an art and a campaign — rewriting, refining, and relentlessly polishing until everything landed exactly as she intended. And that obsessive dedication paid off in spectacular fashion. Her novels didn’t just sell — they dominated, shattered records, and turned her into one of the most commercially successful authors in publishing history.
She Was A Savvy Investor
Susann's royalties poured in at a remarkable pace. Yet, while she earned over $8 million from her novels, taxes and expenses trimmed her take to just above $1 million.
Ever sharp and strategic, she invested substantial sums in tax-free municipal bonds and blue-chip stocks. According to Vanity Fair, this was out of concern for her son's future care and overall financial security.
She Had A Celebrated Rebuke For A Critic
On Mansfield's 61st birthday, Susann joined a panel of journalists on the David Frost Show. As she understood, no sparks would fly because the panel consisted of the aforementioned Rex Reed, future screenwriter and director Nora Ephron, and Jimmy Breslin. Although all of these people were friendly to her, Breslin was replaced last minute by John Simon, who notably wasn't.
Simon harshly accused Susann of writing "trash" for money and smiling through "false teeth." As Reed later told Vanity Fair, "It was terrible. Simon was spitting all over Nora Ephron's arm and Nora was sitting there like a caged animal. It was the only time I ever saw Jackie lose her cool." Even so, she ended her response with a succinct, punchy response for him: "Little man, I am telling a story. Now does that make you happy?"
Susann Was Content With Her Status And Readership
Susann dismissed literary snobbery with unapologetic pragmatism. "A good writer is one who produces books that people read — who communicates," she declared. “So if I'm selling millions, I’m good.”
Awards and critical approval could go to someone else — Susann was content to claim the readers, the influence, and, of course, the royalties.
The Watergate Scandal Kept Her From Selling More
Susann came close to extending her record-breaking streak — but fate intervened in the form of a national scandal. Her final novel, after nine weeks at number one in 1973, slipped to the second spot.
"Watergate has knocked off everything," she lamented. “When women get home at night, they want to turn on the television set and watch the hearings on replay, not read novels.”
Her Final Spark Of Wit
Susann fought her lung cancer with unyielding determination. Tragically, on her 56th birthday, she was admitted to Doctors Hospital for the final time.
Days passed in a blur of consciousness and comas until September 21, 1974, when Susann spoke her final words, full of charm and personality, to her husband: "Hey, doll, let's get the hell out of here." She was survived by Mansfield, her son, and her mother. Yet while Susann's life ended on that sad, fateful day, her story did not.
A Deeply Personal Gift To The World
Susann's surviving family turned sorrow into purpose, founding the Jacqueline Susann Cancer Research Fund at Rockefeller University.
The woman who had confronted chest cancer and battled lung cancer while penning bestsellers would, through this legacy, help others fight the very disease she had ultimately succumbed to.
A Posthumous Work About Another "Jackie"
Before her death, Jacqueline Susann completed one final work, Dolores, a novella that explored the life of Jacqueline Kennedy through thinly veiled fiction.
Released in the February 1974 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, it turned that edition into the magazine’s best-selling issue ever. Remarkably, this posthumous success was just the beginning of her legacy’s continued impact.
A Resurfaced Novel From Before The Fame
Even after her death, Jacqueline Susann kept defying literary conventions. Her novel Yargo, a romantic science-fiction story penned in the 1950s, surfaced among her papers and was published posthumously in February 1979 by Bantam Books.
The release confirmed that Susann's creative fire had barely begun to burn out.
She Had Planned Other Books If She Had Survived
During her last years in the 1970s, Susann revealed ideas she had for further books. Possibly the most developed among them was The Comedy Twins, a novel about show business brothers who break through in the Vaudeville scene.
Other ideas she grew interested in included a novel about a female poet called The Heroine, a sequel to Valley Of The Dolls that told the story of Neely O'Hara's sons, and an autobiography. While we can only imagine how those books would have turned out, Susann's legacy remains secure as-is.
Mason Zimmer
