She Was More Than An Actress
Jacqueline Susann was the actress-turned-author who had three consecutive best-selling books, including Valley of the Dolls. With a sky-high IQ and a knack for turning celebrity gossip into page-turning fiction, she lit the literary world ablaze.
1. She Had A Humble Home
Jacqueline Susan would eventually conquer the literary world, but she had humble beginnings. Born in August of 1918, she grew up in Pennsylvania in a Jewish household. Her father was a portrait painter while her mother taught at the local public school. Finding her own identity didn’t take any time at all.
Photo by Bruno of Hollywood, Wikimedia Commons
2. She Chose Her Own Spelling
Jacqueline Susann would later develop a reputation for breaking with literary tradition. It was a trait that she might have inherited from her own mother. Rose, Susann’s mother, had added the second “n” to her married name to help her students with the proper pronunciation. Susann kept the distinctive spelling, but she didn’t need any help learning to read.
Happyprince, Wikimedia Commons
3. She Had A Crazy High IQ
Susann was full of promise right from the beginning. When she was growing up, her teachers called her “inattentive but imaginative”. Turns out, she really didn’t need to pay attention to learn. Even in the fifth grade, her IQ was almost off the charts, clocking in at 140! Naturally, she applied her overwhelming intellect to the important things in life—like chasing celebrities.
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4. She Chased Celebrities Down
When Jacqueline Susann was 11, her parents rented a beach house in Atlantic City. It didn’t take long for Susann to learn that a famous actress had “taken up residence” in a hotel nearby. Thrilled at the opportunity of meeting a real celebrity, Susann knocked on the actress’ door only for the starlet to scream, “Get lost!” before slamming the door in her face.
That only seemed to encourage her.
5. She Broke All The Rules—And It Worked
Susann channeled her interest in celebrities and gossip into telling stories. In fact, her innate talent for storytelling was obvious long before she wrote a best-seller. “Jackie should be a writer,” one of her teachers commented. “She breaks all the rules, but it works”. Despite the sage advice, Susann wanted to pursue a different career path.
6. She Took Her Father’s Advice To Heart
After graduating from West Philadelphia High School in 1936, Jacqueline Susann didn’t go to a literary college. Instead, she packed her bags and headed for New York with a head full of dreams of becoming an actress. “If you’re going to be an actress,” her father told her, “be a good actress. Be a people watcher”.
She took his advice—but it didn’t take her where she expected.
7. She Made A Rocky Broadway Debut
Susann’s acting career got off to a rocky start. She quickly landed a role as French maid in a 1937 stage production of “The Women”. Then, during rehearsals, she was fired. Funny enough, the production team called her back, giving her an even smaller role as a lingerie model. The play was a huge hit, running for over 650 performances.
But success was hard to come by.
8. She Had More Flops Than Hits
After “The Women”, Susann appeared in shows like “The Girl from Wyoming” (1938), “My Fair Ladies” (1941), and “A Lady Says Yes” (1945). Unfortunately, all of those Broadway productions flopped harder than a pratfall. The only minor success she had was in “Banjo Eyes” (1941), which lasted 126 performances.
She seemed doomed to obscurity until fate intervened.
9. She Had Love At First Missed Call
While working at Walgreen's, Jacqueline Susann answered a phone call meant for the press agent Irving Mansfield–only to find herself speaking to the man himself. Whatever she said on the phone clearly left an impression as Mansfield immediately fell head over heels for her, and soon used his connections to slip her name into gossip columns.
The wrong number turned out to be the right opportunity.
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10. She Married Her Press Pal
After a short courtship, on April 2, 1939, Susann made it official with Mansfield. But it sounds like their arrangement was more about rumors than romance. Susann admitted that she was impressed by Mansfield’s knack for planting “items” about her in the theater and society pages, boosting her profile and career.
The power couple had a powerful plan.
11. Her Christmas Present Was A Bust
With her acting roles slowing to a trickle, Jacqueline Susann teamed up with the actress Beatrice Cole to write a play, “The Temporary Mrs Smith”. They later renamed the play “Lovely Me” and proudly premiered their work at the Adelphi Theatre on Christmas Day in 1946. Sadly, there was little holiday magic. After just 37 performances, the curtain came down.
She might have been a little too preoccupied to notice.
12. She Became A Mother
Just a few weeks before her first play debuted, on December 6, 1946, Susann became a mother. She gave birth to her only child with Mansfield, a son named Guy Hildy Mansfield, named for his godmother, cabaret star Hildegarde. Sadly, even this shining moment in her life had a dramatic and unexpected twist.
13. She Faced A Family Tragedy
With a Mensa-level IQ, Jacqueline Susann had been a child prodigy. The same, however, could not have been said for her son. When Guy was just three, doctors diagnosed him as severely autistic. Eventually, Susann and Mansfield had no choice but to institutionalize their beloved son. Fearing public stigma, she kept the truth about her son private and rarely spoke of him.
And though she and Irving visited their son often, Susann found somewhere else to channel her love.
14. She Adopted A Very Special Dog
In 1954, Susann added a new “child” to her household: a half-toy, half-miniature black poodle. She named the pretty pooch Josephine in honor of the comedian Joe E Lewis. With a heavy heart for her son, Josephine became more than just a pet. In fact, Josephine would later inspire Susann’s breakout literary success.
15. She Landed Work On Early TV
Between 1948 and 1950, Jacqueline Susann appeared on The Morey Amsterdam Show. While she wasn’t the star, she had a memorable part, playing the “cig girl” Lola. Then, in 1951, she landed her own show, Jacqueline Susann’s Open Door, in which she helped regular people who were down and out on their luck find work.
She was a little out of luck herself.
Screenshot from The Morey Amsterdam Show, DuMont Television Network (1948-1950)
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16. She Was Always The Divorcée
By the 1950s, Susann found that her career, at least on TV, had stalled. As she later admitted: “I got cast as what I looked like—a glamorous divorcée who gets stabbed or strangled”. It wasn’t exactly the Shakespearean range that she had hoped for. Then a rare opportunity came her way.
17. She Became The “Schiffli Girl”
In 1955, Susann switched gears. Instead of chasing down roles, she became the national spokesperson for the Schiffli Lace and Embroidery Institute. And she didn’t just pose for the camera—she wrote, produced, and starred in the commercials herself. For six straight years, she had a solid, steady gig.
Too solid and too steady, apparently.
18. She Was Only Ever One Thing
Jacqueline Susann was happy for her Schiffli success—but it came at a high price. While exiting a New York restaurant a stranger yelled out, “There’s the Schiffli girl!” After 25 years of desperately trying to prove herself as a serious actress, audiences only knew her as the spokesperson for an embroidery company.
Then her life took an even darker turn.
19. She Had A Very Bad Christmas
December 25, 1962 wasn’t merry for Susann. Her husband, Mansfield, was unemployed. Her autistic son was institutionalized. And, worst of all, she had just found a curious lump in her chest. That night, she scribbled in her notebook: “This is a bad Christmas…I can’t die without leaving something—something big”. She had less time than she knew.
20. She Fought Cancer Head-On
Susann immediately had the abnormal lump in her chest examined. Then, at age 44, she got the worst news of her life: she had cancer. Without a second thought, she prepared to undergo a radical mastectomy to save her life. The odds weren’t in her favor—but she made a bargain.
21. She Struck A Deal With God
Susann’s mastectomy was a success—but the threat of remission still lingered. So, during her recovery, she made a dramatic pact: If God gave her 10 more years, she’d become the best-selling writer in the world. Not “a good writer” or “a respected writer”—the best-selling. And she immediately made good on that promise.
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22. Her Dog Wrote Her First Novel—Kind Of
With a little encouragement from her friend Billy Rose, Jacqueline Susann decided to turn her obsessive love for her poodle, Josephine, into a book. Compiling and adapting letters that she had written to Josephine into a book, Susann published Every Night, Josephine!. Suffice to say, it was a barking success.
23. Matching Outfits, Naturally
Every Night, Josephine! went on to sell over 1.7 million copies and landed Susann on the vaunted Time magazine best-seller list. But it wasn’t entirely because of Susann’s literary prowess. In a genius move, Susann often appeared with Josephine in matching outfits to promote her best-selling novel, creating a media sensation.
If Susann knew anything, it was how to drum up drama.
24. She Was A Professional Gossip
Columnist Cindy Adams once called Jacqueline Susann “the ultimate yenta,” and she wasn’t wrong. For years, Susann would call her friends and dish on the latest gossip, scandals, and rumors, turning every day calls into compelling stories. But she saved her best gossip-fueled yarns for the pages of what would become a cultural phenomenon.
25. She Launched Dolls
On February 10, 1966, Susann unleashed Valley of the Dolls. The saga of three women and their dependency on “dolls” (AKA barbiturates and uppers) didn’t just sell—it exploded. As one reviewer put it, the book “took off like a Cape Canaveral space shot”. You might say that Susann had taken aim at the stars.
26. She Dished On The Big Celebrities
The success of Valley of the Dolls was no mistake. Jacqueline Susann channeled her love of gossip and Hollywood insights into the novel, creating thinly veiled versions of real celebrities. Savvy readers recognized the caricaturized versions of stars like Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, and even Dean Martin.
Not everyone appreciated her writing.
27. She Beat The Critics
With Valley of the Dolls hitting number one on the The New York Times best-seller list (and staying there for 65 weeks), readers clearly loved it. However, literary critics were not at all impressed. Time magazine dubbed Valley of the Dolls the “Dirty Book of the Month”. The joke was on them, however. Susann was just getting warmed up.
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28. She Broke Publishing Records
By 1974, Susann’s masterstroke had sold over 17 million copies. The staggering sales made it the Guinness Book of World Records’ best-selling novel in publishing history. All of a sudden, the “failed” actress who had flopped on Broadway had become literature’s most successful author—even if critics refused to admit it.
It was all because of her bon mot.
29. She Would Do Anything For Fame
Susann’s wild success wasn’t entirely thanks to her writing wizardry. Together with her husband, Mansfield, she orchestrated publicity stunts that made PT Barnum look subtle. “No effort was too humiliating, too horrifying, or too tough,” Cindy Adams said about Susann’s publicity stunts. Adams said that Susann’s self-promotion was so overbearing that “you could not turn on a water faucet without getting Jacqueline Susann”.
30. She Turned Book Tours Into Campaigns
Jacqueline Susann wasn’t just a shameless self-promoter—she was a strategic one. Before embarking on a book tour, she would fill notebooks with meticulous details about every reporter, bookshop clerk, and talk-show host she encountered. Her notes included details about their families, hobbies, everything.
She even got the acting she wanted—kind of.
31. She Had A Cameo In Her Own Film
Hollywood transformed Valley of the Dolls into a 1967 film starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, and Sharon Tate. Of course, being a thespian herself, Susann wanted her moment in the spotlight. She appeared only briefly as a reporter in the film. Unfortunately, she would not be looking for an Oscar nomination.
unknown (20th Century Fox), Wikimedia Commons
32. She Hated Hollywood’s Version Of Her Novel
While audiences flocked to the theater to watch Valley of the Dolls brought to life, Jacqueline Susann was less enthusiastic. While aboard the passenger liner Princess Italia she infamously confronted the film’s director, Mark Robson. “This picture,” she said bluntly, “is a piece of [trash]”.
She didn’t let that stop her.
Silver Screen Collection, Getty Images
33. Her Second Novel Broke Bank Records
Susann returned to writing to follow up the success she had with Dolls. In May of 1969 she released a sequel titled The Love Machine. And she proved that she wasn’t a one-book wonder. The Love Machine dominated the New York Times best-seller list for a jaw-dropping 32 weeks, including 13 at the top spot. Once again, Hollywood came calling, with Columbia Pictures dropping a record-shattering $1.5 million for the film rights.
Still, the critics were less than impressed.
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34. She Was A “Truck Driver In Drag”
Jacqueline Susann might have been the best-selling author of her time, but she couldn’t get the respect of her peers. In a shocking appearance on The Tonight Show in 1969, fellow author Truman Capote attacked Susann—but not for her writing. The famously quick-witted Capote took aim at Susann’s looks, saying that she looked “like a truck driver in drag”.
Capote should have known better.
35. She Delivered The Perfect Comeback
Following Capote’s appearance, Johnny Carson invited Suann onto the show to give her a chance to reply. That’s when the literary feud turned into an all-out battle of words. “I think,” Susann calmly replied, “history will prove he’s one of the best presidents we’ve had”. History almost never gave her the chance to fire back.
36. She Narrowly Escaped A Nightmare
Jacqueline Susann was almost a victim of one of Hollywood’s darkest chapters. On August 8, 1969, Sharon Tate invited her to dinner at her house. However, an unexpected change of plans saw Susann cancel at the last minute. The next morning Susann awoke to the dreadful news; everyone at Tate’s residence had been savagely attacked in the Manson incident.
“It could all have happened a lot sooner if we’d gone to Sharon's that night,” Susann later reflected.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
37. She Returned To Her Broadway Roots
Susann’s literary fame couldn’t extinguish her acting ambitions. In 1970, she joined Blanche Yurka’s off-Broadway revival of “The Madwoman of Chaillot”. The following year brought a television appearance on the crime drama Mannix, proving she still craved the spotlight beyond her typewriter.
But, with her attention split, her writing suffered.
38. Her Second Film Adaptation Flopped Hard
Hollywood followed up their Valley of the Dolls adaptation with Susann’s sequel, The Love Machine. However, once again, they proved that they lacked her storytelling prowess. Despite Irving Mansfield serving as executive producer, the film crashed spectacularly with critics and audiences alike. Sadly, her health wasn’t doing any better than her films.
Screenshot from The Love Machine, Columbia Pictures (1971)
39. She Coughed Up Bad News
Susann checked into Doctors Hospital on January 11, 1973, seeking relief from an annoying cough that wouldn’t quit. Seven days later, doctors delivered the devastating news; lung cancer had invaded her body. The bargain she’d made with God was coming due.
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40. She Published Through The Pain
While cancer ravaged her body, Susann published Once Is Not Enough, hitting shelves in early 1973. Once again, the novel dominated the New York Times best-seller list, claiming the top spot for eight weeks and lingering around for 36 weeks in all. Terminally ill or not, she was still shattering records.
41. She Made Publishing History Three Times Over
With Once Is Not Enough topping the charts, Susann earned herself a place in the annals of literary history. Despite the critics and the setbacks, she had become the only writer to publish three consecutive novels to top the New York Times best-seller list. The secret to her success? An unbelievable work ethic.
42. She Typed A Mile A Minute
Susann’s astounding success as a writer was the result of her relentless work ethic. Writing eight hours, fueled almost exclusively by blueberry yogurt and bananas, she churned out manuscript after manuscript. In fact, each manuscript underwent four or five complete rewrites on different colored paper before she was satisfied with a final draft.
All of that hard work paid off. Big time.
43. She Had More Money Than Words
Royalties from Susann’s novels came faster than words on a keyboard. She earned more than $8 million in royalties, but only had a little over $1 million after taxes and expenses. Ever high-IQ woman, however, she savvily invested large sums in tax-free municipal bonds, channeling the rest through two corporations she’d established with Mansfield.
Suffice to say, she had, “screw off,” kind of money.
44. She Put Critics In Their Place
With book sales through the roof and royalties pouring in like rain, Susann had no time for her critics. So, when the critic John Simon challenged her, asking whether she wrote “art or trash to make money”, her reply was scathing. “Little man,” she said, “I am telling a story. Now does that make you happy?”
She was certainly very happy.
45. She Was A Good Writer—Because She Sold
Susann’s approach to writing cut through literary snobbery with surgical precision: “A good writer is one who produces books that people read—who communicates,” she said. “So if I’m selling millions, I’m good”. The critics could keep their awards—she’d take the readers and the royalties instead.
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46. She Had A Watergate Moment
Susann almost extended her record-breaking streak. But then she had a Watergate moment. Her final novel dropped to number two after nine weeks at the top in 1973. “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”.
47. She Wrote Her Last Chapter
Susann battled her lung cancer for as long as she could. Sadly, on her 56th birthday, she checked in to Doctors Hospital for the last time. Days drifted by in a haze of consciousness and comas until September 21, 1974, when the literary titan woman wrote her own final chapter and closed her eyes. But it wasn’t “The End”.
48. Her Legacy Funded Cancer Research
Susann’s surviving family transformed grief into action, establishing the Jacqueline Susann Cancer Research Fund at Rockefeller University. The woman who had fought off chest cancer and battled lung cancer while writing bestsellers would help others fight the same battle she’d ultimately lost.
49. She Wrote About Another Jackie
Before passing, Susann had composed one final work, Dolores. The work dissected the life of Jacqueline Kennedy through thinly veiled fiction. Published in the February 1974 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, her novella made that issue the magazine’s best-selling issue ever. Shockingly, that wasn't her only posthumous triumph.
50. She Published From The Great Beyond
Even from beyond the grave, Susann continued to break literary traditions. Her novel Yargo, a romantic science fiction tale she’d written during the 1950s, emerged from her papers in February 1979. Bantam Books published the posthumous paperback, revealing that Susann had really only just gotten started.
Universal History Archive, Getty Images
51. Her Final Words Were Legendary
Susann’s husband Irving Mansfield, institutionalized son Guy, and mother Rose survived her departure. But she left them with, perhaps, her greatest quote of all time. Her final words to Mansfield captured her spirit perfectly: “Hey, doll,” she had said, “let's get the hell out of here”.
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