Jacqueline Susann - Posthumous Works

Posthumous Works

In the late 1970s, Susann's romance/science fiction novel Yargo was published. Written in the late 1950s, the novel is a radical and somewhat bizarre departure from her later works. It is likely that it was only published due to the continuing interest in Susann's writings. Those who knew Susann noticed a strong physical resemblance between Yargo and the actor Yul Brynner, on whom Susann had been infatuated with during her youth.

Susann's last novel, Dolores, is a thinly-veiled presentation on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy. It was published in 1976. A condensed version of the novel was published in the Ladies' Home Journal, under the title "Jackie by Jackie." When her severe illness prevented Susann from completing Dolores, her close friend and fellow writer Rex Reed anonymously took over.

In 1987, a biography of Susann by Barbara Seaman, Lovely Me, was published. The book was, in part, the basis for the year 2000 movie, Isn't She Great?, which stars Bette Midler as Jacqueline Susann and Nathan Lane as Irving Mansfield. Marlo Thomas played Susann in the play, Paper Doll, which also starred F. Murray Abraham as Mansfield. Michele Lee and Peter Riegert played Susann and Mansfield in the made-for-TV movie, Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story.

Before her death, Susann had planned a direct sequel to Valley of the Dolls. In 2001, author Rae Lawrence wrote the novel Shadow of the Dolls, which was based on the notes that Susann left for her intended sequel.