(1918 – 1974) Potboiler author of scandalous novels set in the entertainment industry. Valley of the Dolls shocked the 1960s with descriptions of sex and loose lifestyles, while the film version of the novel (1967) became a camp classic. Ms Susann also wrote Every Night, Josephine, The Love Machine (another roman a clef set in network television), Once Is Not Enough, Delores (a thinly veiled portrait of “the other Jackie”) and Yargo (an attempt at science fiction). A biography by Barbara Seaman shows that her own life was replete with bisexuality and pills. In 2000 Bette Midler depicted Ms Susann in Isn’t She Great.