- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- Jackie
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Jacqueline Susann was an extraordinarily successful writer who turned
her dynamic charm, chutzpah, and personality into a formidable
marketing machine. Despite a less than spectacular career as an
actress, singer, and playwright, she never lost confidence in herself.
Blessed with sensual looks and unbounded confidence, Susann went from
unknown to the best selling author of the 1960s. Her marriage to public
relations/publicity guru
Irving Mansfield was a a union of great
advantage. Their only child, Guy, was born autistic. Despite a stormy
life together, marked by her constant affairs, Mansfield was devoted to
his wife. Her scandalous private life included passionate involvement
with Ethel Merman, the basis for "Helen
Lawson" in "Valley of the Dolls", and numerous actors and writers.
After her mastectomy, she apparently ended her philandering, but became
even more determined to find fame. By the time of her death, she had
become one of the cultural icons of the 1960s and had set numerous
publishing records.- IMDb Mini Biography By: bpeace98@aol.com
- SpouseIrving Mansfield(April 2, 1939 - September 21, 1974) (her death, 1 child)
- Her first novel, "Valley of the Dolls", was the top selling novel of
1966. It has sold over ten million copies to date. - Her only child, a son named Guy, was diagnosed as severely autistic and
was institutionalized most of his life - Godmother of Phoebe Cates.
- Was so disappointed by the movie Valley of the Dolls (1967), an
adaptation of her best-selling book of the same name, that she referred to it
as a "piece of shit". - She was unflatteringly described by Truman Capote as looking "like a truck driver in drag".
- [when told not to be upset upon news of the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy in 1963] What do you mean don't be upset? My
tour's been canceled! - Way back then, they didn't think [William Shakespeare] was a good writer. He was
the soap opera king of his day. - When W. Somerset Maugham wrote a book everyone would say, "Oh, God, who is Willie writing about now?" When Gustave Flaubert wrote "Emma Bovary", twenty women said they were Emma. I start writing with a theme in my mind. Then I start asking, what kind of a personality? And because I have a good ear, I unconsciously pick up certain people. But that doesn't mean those people have led that life. Going back to Shakespeare's time, there was a Hamlet, but not such as he wrote it.
- Acting is glamor, but writing is hard work, so I'm going to be an actress.
- I don't think any novelist should be concerned with literature.
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