Valley of the Dolls Photos

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Cast

Barbara Parkins
as Anne Welles

Patty Duke
as Neely O'Hara

Sharon Tate
as Jennifer North

Paul Burke
as Lyon Burke

Tony Scotti
as Tony Polar

Susan Hayward
as Helen Lawson

Alexander Davion
as Ted Casablanca

Lee Grant
as Miriam

Martin Milner
as Mel Anderson

Charles Drake
as Kevin Gilmore

Naomi Stevens
as Miss Steinberg

Robert H. Harris
as Henry Bellamy

Jacqueline Susann
as Reporter

Robert Viharo
as Director

Mikel Angel
as Man in Hotel Room

Barry Cahill
as Man in Bar

Richard Angarola
as Claude Chardot

Joey Bishop
as MC at Telethon

George Jessel
as MC at Grammy Awards

Judith Lowry
as Aunt Amy

Richard Dreyfuss

Jeanne Gerson
as Neely's Maid

Linda Peck
as Telephone Girl

Pat Becker
as Telephone Girl

Corinna Tsopei
as Telephone Girl

Robert Street
as Choreographer

Robert Gibbons
as Desk Clerk at Lawrenceville Hotel

Leona Powers
as Woman at Martha Washington Hotel

Barry O'Hara
as Assistant Stage Manager

Peggy Rea
as Neely's Voice Coach

Norman Burton
as Neely's Hollywood Director

Margot Stevenson
as Anne's Mother

Jonathan Hawke
as Sanitarium Doctor

Marvin Hamlisch
as Pianist

Richard Hoyt
as Reporter

Dorothy Neumann
as Neely's Maid

Charlotte Knight
as Neely's Maid

Darlene Conley

Robert L. McCord III
as Bartender at New York Theater

Gertrude Flynn
as Ladies' Room Attendant

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News & Interviews for Valley of the Dolls

Critic Reviews for Valley of the Dolls

Audience Reviews for Valley of the Dolls

• May 29, 2015

  A terrible film that feels tremendously dated today, as I imagine it did just as well back in the 1960s (although obviously not from a thematic point of view), like a mawkish vintage soap opera that is not ashamed of its laughable dialogue and absurd situations.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer
• Sep 01, 2011

  A fairly good take at the life of the 60s but I didn't care for it very much.
  Cassie H Super Reviewer
• Oct 07, 2010

  This is campy in a gentler way that most fans of camp are probably accustomed to, but the ridiculousness crackling beneath the surface is impossible to deny. The cast's incredible conviction in their material, all of them oblivious to how roundly awful it actually is, is what truly sells Valley of the Dolls. Patty Duke in particular is a delight; never in a million years would you believe that this ham beyond hams was an Oscar winner, hollering her name at the top of her lungs in a filthy alley and clamoring feverishly for her "dolls." You have to commend her dedication, because she truly does embody the character. Unfortunately, that character is less an actress on the fringes of self-destruction as she thinks it is, and mostly just a ridiculous woman with a pill problem. Sharon Tate offers us a woman who the film is trying to tell us, against all visual and inscribed evidence, is not mentally retarded; the challenge we have believing it is its other exciting bit of characterization. The plot is ordinary and sort of tired, honestly, but the excitement comes out in how the little details interface with the big picture. I kind of love its woozy tightroping between luridity and prudishness. The film's total chagrin at nudity, breasts and sex in general (the total disdain for the French "nudie flick") seems kind of hilarious when it's exploiting feminine suffering in just about every other way possible. It's like, don't pretend you're too good to whip out some hoots every now and then. The movie's not misogynist, necessarily, inasmuch as any film with a female character encountering difficulty is, but its portraits aren't particularly flattering either. The only stable female character is a numbingly boring one, as if to suggest that a career-minded, anhedonistic woman is the only kind that can be successful. Gender politics aside, I don't really know if Valley of the Dolls was a very incisive look at Hollywood back in 1967, but I think its relative toothlessness in this day and age is pretty apparent. There's no doubt in my mind that shit like this still occurs, but the problems here feel endemic and our heroines are so chronically up against the wall that these people aren't really relatable. Poor Jennifer North runs across one of the most brutal streaks of bad luck ever committed to celluloid, but when you step back and look at it, it just reads as exploitative. And that's what I love about Valley of the Dolls: despite its delusions of grandeur, it isn't afraid to treat its characters like complete shit for no real reason. All this said, I still prefer Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. All the verve, twice the bizarreness.
  Drew S Super Reviewer
• Sep 05, 2010

  Maybe it's a bit slow and we've seen this theme often, but this movie has something, it's very timely for the late sixties, and the cast is great. It's a good drama, even though some people think of it as campy now, I still like it.
  Aj V Super Reviewer

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