Valley of the Dolls (1967) on Netflix
PG-1319672h 3mDramaMusicRomance
Anne Welles leaves her New England town for a secretarial job at a New York theatrical agency. There she meets Neely O'Hara, an ambitious performer, and Jennifer North, a chorus girl.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.1/1011,017 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes35%
Trailer
Plot summary
Fresh from Radcliffe, Anne Welles works as a secretary at a New York theatrical agency whose clients include Helen Lawson, a Broadway diva who guards her position. When Helen fears that a newcomer, Neely O'Hara, will upstage her, she arranges for the agency to push Neely out of an upcoming production. Anne finds Helen's cruelty hard to watch, though Lyon Burke, her boss's business partner, urges her to stay in the business. Anne and Neely meet Jennifer North, a chorus girl whose looks draw attention she does not want, and the three become friends, sharing their ambition and a habit of falling for the wrong men.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Mikel Angelas Man in Sleazy Hotel Room (uncredited)
- Philippe Auberas Jennifer's Leading Man (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After a week of filming Judy Garland was largely unable to function, due to her onset consumption of alcohol as well as her addiction to Demerol. Jacqueline Susann, cast in a bit part and sharing Garland's dressing room, found the drug on the floor in her closet, and with no footage deemed usable Garland was fired by Fox.
- After being fired, Judy Garland was paid $37,500, half her promised fee, and she kept the copper-sequined pantsuit designer Travilla had made for her role, later wearing it during her final engagement at New York's Palace Theatre that August.
- Co-star Patty Duke said in 2009 that director Mark Robson and others worsened Judy Garland's substance abuse problems on set by deliberately making her wait several hours before shooting her scenes, fully aware she would be bored, upset and drunk by the time filming began.
- Jacqueline Susann created the title for a Jean Holloway-scripted sequel that was rejected by the studio, which then allowed Russ Meyer to film a radically different film with the same title; the suit went to court after Susann's death in 1974 and her estate won damages of $2 million against Fox.
- Raquel Welch turned down the role of Jennifer because she did not want to play a "sexpot," then asked to play Neely instead, but the studio refused; Jane Fonda also turned down a role in the film.
SPOILER
Through the Helen Deutsch and Dorothy Kingsley rewrites the ending was changed to Anne leaving Lyon and her job to return to Lawrenceville, with Lyon later visiting to propose and being refused; the changes were so out of keeping with Anne's established character that Harlan Ellison removed his name from the film.- On July 21, during post-production of the film, producer David Weisbart died while playing golf with the director, Mark Robson.
- The film has developed a cult following, with critics and audiences citing its campy sensibility, and it is particularly celebrated by gay men for its campiness, having become part of the LGBT cultural canon.
