Valley of the Dolls was the number 1 best seller in 1966. 

Twentieth-Century Fox purchased the film rights and hired Mark Robson to direct, whose hits included Peyton Place. Jacqueline Susann wanted Bette Davis to play Helen Lawson, Elvis to play Tony Polar and Mia Farrow to play Anne Welles. But Robson had someone else in mind for the role of Helen Lawson, the bitchy Broadway Star: Judy Garland. Unlike the character in the novel, Judy was fragile and insecure and she was famous for being unreliable; but by 1967 she was hungry to make a comeback and Robson decided to take the risk. Judy got the part and on March 02 she faced the press with Jacqueline Susann at her side.  

  March 08 1967 – Sharon Tate made 3 screen tests:

1) Talking to her mother on the phone.

2) Meeting with Tony Polar in the park, with Tony Scotti (below) 

3) Talking to Anne after the biopsy.

  The role of the gorgeous but untalented Jennifer North had first been offered to a sexy young Fox contract player named Raquel Welch who turned it down fearing it would stereotype her as a brainless sexpot. Ultimately the 24-year-old newcomer Sharon Tate was cast in the part and after the success in Peyton Place, Barbara Parkins was cast as the naïve Anne Welles.

  20-year-old Patty Duke was cast as Neely O’Hara. After 3 years in The Patty Duke Show and an Oscar winning role in The Miracle Worker, she thought that that would be the vehicle which would help her make the transition to adult roles.

  Cameras started rolling on March 13.

  During shooting Mark Robson began to clash with Patty Duke and soon they were at each other’s throat. Her way of coping when he said something unpleasant or overly critical was to go to the service table and eat as many dounughts as possible.

  Robert Viharo: "All the young actresses on the set were desperately nervous. There was a lot of bickering and fighting going on. And fighting for attention. It was like it was going to be the film that was gonna make them. The actresses were probably closer to the characters in the book than on the book itself."

  March 14 – Judy reported to work to make a wardrobe test. She was in good spirits but years of intense diet had let her physically emaciated. Her weakness was also apparently when she recorded the newly written tune for the film: “I’ll plant my own tree”. Although she had put her heart to the session, her voice and her confidence were far from steady.

  April 19 – Judy appeared to start filming her scenes and arrived on the set 45 minutes late. And Mark Robson’s worse nightmares seemed to be coming true when she locked herself in her dressing room and refused to step out. Hours later she emerged and after just 6 takes she asked to be dismissed for the day.

  Robert Viharo: “She was a very frightened little girl, very much in need of some comforting and protection. She asked me to come to her dressing room and help her with the lines because she wasn’t able to remember them.”

  Barbara Parkins: “She freaked out and I think she was drinking.”

   She didn’t come out from her trailer until everyone had gone.

  Cinematographer Robert Sidney: “They closed production. When she finally came out (I should never forget) she came out like the big star going on to the set and she says: ‘Where’s everybody?’ “And I thought: This is the end. And it was the end.”

  April 24 – Judy Garland was fired from Valley of the Dolls. The actress stormed out of the set and took her screen wardrobe with her.

  Robert Viharo: “The producers had to do what they had to do but it was a devastating experience to me. It was painful to watch that.”

  To replace Judy Garland the producer hired another Hollywood legend: Oscar winner Susan Hayward.

May 4 – Susan Hayward joined the production.

  Cinematographer Robert Sidney: “I liked Susan but she was a very predatory person. She would go for the jugular too if she had.”

  It wasn’t long before the on-screen animosity between Susan Hayward and Patty Duke characters spilled over into real life war.

  Patty Duke: “Maybe it was the scene we were doing. The situation was created that we were going to do the best we could to sabotage each other.” (Talking about the scene were they literally fight in the lady’s room): “I pushed her the same way I did in the other takes and something went wrong. And she fell. It was a horrifying …moment. The director took the position that I had done on purpose. That hurt me terribly. And it made very angry because it gave Susan the impression that it was a possibility.”

  Robert Viharo: "I didn't feel anybody liked each other. Everybody was competitive with everybody. The only one  that I felt was above it was Sharon Tate. The sweetest, purest, the most open spirit." 

  As the shooting started to go over budget tension only grew and some cast members like Patty Duke refused to hide their contempt for what was being filmed.

  Barbara Parkins: “It was so overdone. The clothes, the hairstyle... It’s funny.”

  On the night of November 14 Valley of the Dolls premiered on a cruise. Attending the premiere were stars Sharon Tate, Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and also Jacqueline Susann, who hated the movie. She wasn’t alone loathing the film. Reviewers across the country attacked the movie with venom mixed with relish.

  Patty Duke: “They showed the film and the projector (because of the generator) was running too fast. That was the first problem. The second problem was that they showed the film.”

  But although the critics tore the movie to shreds the audiences loved it. Valley of the Dolls became the top-grossing movie of 1967. As decades pass Valley of the Dolls refuses to die. Its reputation as a camp classic grew. And in 1999 the movie the critics called ‘trash’ was honored with a tribute in New York City attended by cast members (Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins and Lee Grant) and a host of famous fans, including Whoopie Goldberg.

On the occasion Patty Duke said: “I finally started to like it because people on the streets told me they liked and I thought I shouldn’t insult it anymore.”

  - Barbara Parkins: “Traitor, traitor…”

  - Patty Duke: “In the last few years or so I got to enjoy the fruits of Valley of the Dolls.”

  - Audience: “Laughs…”

  Patty Duke (in 2000): “Last year I saw it on the big screen and the only good thing was that I didn’t have any wrinkles.” (laughs)

  Although now considered a camp classic Valley of the Dolls has refused to surrender its place in the spot light for over 3 decades. And despite that outrageous tone, the film offered audiences the irresistible glimpse of the dark side of celebrity.

  Patty Duke: “It’s a big kick for me now to enjoy and participate in a positive way about it and see that there’s a whole lot of good as well as some bad acting on my part.”