Jacqueline Susann
| Jacqueline Susann | |
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Susann in 1951.
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| Born |
August 20, 1918 Philadelphia |
| Died | September 21, 1974 (aged 56) Manhattan |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Spouse | Irving Mansfield (1939-1974; her death) |
| Children | Guy Mansfield |
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Jacqueline Susann (August 20, 1918 – September 21, 1974) was an American writer. Her first novel, Valley of the Dolls (1966), is one of the best-selling books in publishing history. With her two subsequent works, The Love Machine (1969) and Once Is Not Enough (1973), Susann became the first author to have three consecutive #1 novels on The New York Times Best Seller List.
Jacqueline Susann was born on August 20, 1918, in Philadelphia, to Robert Susan (1887-1957), a portrait painter, and Rose Jans (1892-1981), a public schoolteacher. As a child, Susann was an inattentive but imaginative student, and in the fifth grade scored 140 on an IQ test, the highest in her school. An only child, devoted to her father, Susann was determined to carry on the family name., She decided to be an actress, despite the advice of a teacher, who said, "Jackie should be a writer. She breaks all the rules, but it works." In 1936, after graduating from West Philadelphia High School, she left for New York to pursue an acting career. Her father told her, "If you're going to be an actress, be a good actress. Be a people watcher."
In New York, in 1937, Susann landed a small role in the Broadway company of The Women, the caustic comedy by Clare Boothe which had opened on December 26, 1936, and would run for 657 performances. She subsequently appeared in such Broadway shows as The Girl from Wyoming (1938), My Fair Ladies (1941), Blossom Time (revival, 1943), Jackpot (1944), and A Lady Says Yes (1945), which starred Hollywood siren Carole Landis. Only one of her shows following The Women was a hit: Banjo Eyes (1941), starring Eddie Cantor, ran for 126 performances.
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