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What do you get when you cross a glossy all-star business drama with a kinky Italian horror flick, a German crime procedural, and “Fiddler on the Roof?” That insane mix may sound too good to be true, but it’s not — it’s a movie that actually exists. It’s called “Bloodline,” it was released by Paramount in 1979, and after years of intermittent accessibility on home video, it’s now available in a beautiful Blu-ray edition from the boutique label Vinegar Syndrome.

At the time of its release, “Bloodline” wasn’t a success by any criteria, but it was a major release thanks to an international cast consisting of Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Romy Schneider, Omar Sharif, Beatrice Straight (just a few years after her Oscar-winning turn in “Network”), Irene Papas and others. The fact that it was based on a novel by bestselling author Sidney Sheldon — who...

One of the few moments of calm in Lee Daniels‘ new Netflix thriller “The Deliverance” comes when the tormented Jackson family sits down together to watch a favorite movie. The movie Daniels chose to bring three generations together in a communal viewing experience? The 1967 adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s camp classic “Valley of the Dolls.”

For Daniels, it was a tip of the hat to a movie he loves even though he doesn’t exactly think it’s good. “It’s one of my favorite films, and I still don’t know why,” he told IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “It really is camp, but in a bad way camp. Not in a good way. But I love it, I live for it.”

The “Valley of the Dolls” reference in “The Deliverance” isn’t just a tribute to a favorite movie; it’s also a callback to one of Daniels’ unrealized projects.

Sharon Farrell, who starred as the mother of a murderous infant in It’s Alive and contributed strong supporting turns opposite James Garner and Steve McQueen, respectively, in the 1969 films Marlowe and The Reivers, has died. She was 82.

Farrell died unexpectedly May 15 of natural causes at a hospital in Orange County, her son, Chance Boyer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Farrell also played a movie hairstylist in Richard Rush‘s The Stunt Man (1980), the ex-wife of Chuck Norris’ Texas Ranger in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and the mother of the cheerleader portrayed by Amanda Peterson in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987).

On television, Farrell recurred as Det. Lori Wilson on the final season (1979-80) of CBS’ Hawaii Five-o and was Florence Webster, mother of Tricia Cast’s Nina Webster, on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1991-97.

In the horror thriller It’s Alive (1974), written and directed by Larry Cohen and...

Paul Reubens' Pee-wee Herman wasn't always kid friendly.

My introduction to the most lovable dweeb in the history of dweebs came via "The Pee-wee Herman Show," the stage show that, in 1981, announced Reubens as the most inventively bizarre comedic talent since Ernie Kovacs. The production caught fire at Los Angeles' Groundlings theater, and eventually moved to the Roxy, where a performance was taped as an HBO special. I was eight years old when I saw a promo for the special, and I was both excited and perplexed. Why was something this zany and childlike airing at 10 Pm, which was, with few exceptions, exactly my bedtime?

Fortunately, one of those exceptions was the weekend, when I was allowed to stay up for "Saturday Night Live." While 11:30 Pm was a tall order for an eight-year-old who woke up early for cartoons, 10 Pm was doable. Honestly, any excuse to skip "Fantasy Island" was welcome.

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Beyond the Sea” and the books mentioned.

Black Mirror’s darkest, bleakest episode yet is stuffed to the brim with references to film, television, and music. From the obvious visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as the key name “David” taken from that film, to the romantic dance around a car in a barn taken from Witness, to the highly appropriate lyrics of the featured song “Beyond the Sea,” heard only in French in the episode, to the perhaps surprising plot similarities to Red Dwarf’s “Bodyswap,” in which Rimmer tries to convince Lister to lend him his body repeatedly, this episode is steeped in pop culture history.

But there is another set of pop culture references that really stand out in this episode. The books that come to form part of the plot are all carefully chosen...

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Beyond the Sea.”

Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 3

David Ross (Josh Hartnett) has it all – a beautiful family, a designer home, wealth, good looks, and the kind of job that makes young guys stop him at the movies because they want to shake him by the hand. The man we meet in the opening scenes of Black Mirror’s “Beyond the Sea” is everything American society in 1969 told men they should be – except real.

The fact that David and his colleague Cliff Stanfield (Aaron Paul) are robotic replicas on Earth who timeshare their consciousnesses with their human bodies while they man a mission up in space is not this episode’s Black Mirror twist. That comes much later, and is not so much a twist as the sobering reminder that nothing is so dangerous to women and children as a man with a bruised ego.

Joseph Williams was eight years old when his father John earned his first Academy Award nomination for scoring the sudsy big-screen adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls." Yes, the legendary composer whose music would whisk moviegoers off to a galaxy far, far away, and make us believe a man could fly once flung us into the ugly, pill-popping drudgery of 1960s Hollywood.

John Williams was the son of jazz drummer Johnny Williams, so music has always coursed through the blood of this brood. But while John could occasionally knock out a magnificently jazzy score, he didn't become the Max Steiner of his era until he delivered the nerve-jangling, two-note motif for Steven Spielberg's "Jaws." Almost 50 years later, he is the most beloved scorer of the post-New Hollywood era. He's practically a rock star. Wherever he conducts an orchestra, there will be a roaring, sold-out crowd.

Joseph...

Maureen Arthur, an actress best remembered for her performance as secretary Hedy La Rue in Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and its 1967 screen adaptation, died June 15 of natural causes in Beverly Hills. She was 88.

Arthur’s friend, the actor Ilene Graff, announced the news on Facebook. “The world is a little less sparkly without her,” wrote Graff, “but I am so glad I got to be her friend. Her memory will definitely be a blessing.”

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Although her signature role arrived in the early ’60s with her scene-stealing performance on Broadway in How To Succeed…, she quickly became a familiar presence on television. Bachelor Father, Perry Mason and I Spy were a few of her early credits before Arthur moved more consistently to comedy: By the mid-1960s, she was guesting on Get Smart, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,...

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Maureen Arthur, who starred on Broadway and the big screen as the ambitious mistress and secretary Hedy La Rue in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, has died. She was 88.

Arthur died Wednesday of natural causes at her home in Beverly Hills after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease, her brother Gerald told The Hollywood Reporter.

The vivacious Arthur also portrayed a nudie-magazine cover girl opposite Don Knotts and Edmond O’Brien in The Love God? (1969), a divorced woman who romances Bob Hope in How to Commit Marriage (1969) and an office tramp alongside John Phillip Law in The Love Machine (1971), based on a Jacqueline Susann novel.

Arthur played the bubble-headed Hedy in the national touring company of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which had opened on Broadway in October 1961 en route to a spectacular run of more than 1,400 performances,...

Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which played an important role in his 1997 breakthrough film “Boogie Nights,” which looked at Valley’s porn industry during the ‘70s and 80s. In his new United Artists release “Licorice Pizza,” Anderson returns to the Sfv for a nostalgia-tinged comedy-of-age story set in 1973 starring Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim. Both young performers received strong notices with the L.A. Times’ Justin Chang declaring Haim as the true star of “this boisterous, bighearted movie and its raison d’être.” And Bradley Cooper has earned positive notices for his funny turn as hairdresser turned film producer Jon Peters, who ironically was a producer on Cooper’s 2018 “A Star is Born.”

So, what was the world like in 1973? It was the year of Watergate, Roe Vs. Wade and “The Exorcist” hitting the big screen. Let’s travel back almost half a century to look at the top films,...

The year of 1969 saw the moon landing of the Apollo 11’s Eagle module, Richard Nixon sworn in as the 37th president of the United States, the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village ushering in the gay rights movement, the Tate-La Bianca murders by the Manson Family, the landmark Woodstock Music and Arts Fair which attracts 400,000, the tragic and violent Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Speedway and even Tiny Tim marrying Miss Vicki on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

But one major event was basically ignored by the mainstream media: the Harlem Cultural Arts Festival which took place June 29-August 24 at the Mount Morris Park. Founded by Tony Lawrence, the festival celebrating Black pride, music and culture features such landmark performers as Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, The Fifth Dimension and Mahalia Jackson. And when the NYPD refused to supply security,...

Jackie Collins epitomizes one of the 20th century’s favorite types of star: the celebrity novelist who gets rich and famous writing scandalous best-sellers about fictionalized scandalous celebrities. She rode in from England to Hollywood to take up her throne as the queen of the delectably trashy sex-and-shopping paperbacks, peaking in the Eighties, right around the time her real-life big sister Joan Collins starred in the prime-time soap Dynasty. Jackie turned herself into a wildly successful one-woman factory for fantasies with nuanced titles like The Bitch and The Stud. Yet...

Jacqueline Susann's novel Valley of the Dolls, published in 1966, is still one of the best-selling books of all time — more than 31 million copies to date. The novel, which centers on women finding success in New York City, grew more popular after the story was adapted for the big screen — but its journey to the screen was not all an easy path.

In Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, The Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time (Penguin), out Tuesday, author Stephen Rebello takes readers on a deep dive into the creation ...

Jacqueline Susann's novel Valley of the Dolls, published in 1966, is still one of the best-selling books of all time — more than 31 million copies to date. The novel, which centers on women finding success in New York City, grew more popular after the story was adapted for the big screen — but its journey to the screen was not all an easy path.

In Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, The Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time (Penguin), out Tuesday, author Stephen Rebello takes readers on a deep dive into the creation ...

Nathan Lane is one of the most diverse actors to ever work in Hollywood. Although primarily steeped in the world of theater, Lane has tallied 85 film and TV credits since making his small-screen debut via Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls in 1981. Among those titles, Lane has done comedy, drama, animated voice-work, documentaries, children and family films, you name it.

Related: 10 Scariest Moments On Penny Dreadful, Ranked

Up next for Lane is a plum role on Network's brand new spinoff series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, which is set to premiere on April 26, 2020. To get us all ready for the show, here are Nathan Lane's 10 Best Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes!

Judy Garland's life story is so notorious that author Jacqueline Susann cribbed it and former child star Lindsay Lohan relived it. The chanteuse was plucked from vaudeville obscurity as a child and processed through the Hollywood abattoir, commanded to lose weight, work herself sick, sing like an angel, maintain a pristine "girl next door" persona and rely on pills to pump or zap her energy at will. Audiences are witness to the harrowing lifelong effects of these early traumas in biographical drama Judy.

The Renée Zellweger vehicle is the kind of hagiographic musical biopic the Academy gobbles up —...

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Judy Garland's life story is so notorious that author Jacqueline Susann cribbed it and former child star Lindsay Lohan relived it. The chanteuse was plucked from vaudeville obscurity as a child and processed through the Hollywood abattoir, commanded to lose weight, work herself sick, sing like an angel, maintain a pristine "girl next door" persona and rely on pills to pump or zap her energy at will. Audiences are witness to the harrowing lifelong effects of these early traumas in biographical drama Judy.

The Renée Zellweger vehicle is the kind of hagiographic musical biopic the Academy gobbles up —...

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This time on the podcast, David Blakeslee and Catherine Stebbins discuss the 1967 Hollywood blockbuster Valley of the Dolls.

Cutthroat careerism, wild sex, and fierce female protagonists are all on offer in this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann’s sensational and wildly popular novel. Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, and Sharon Tate star as three friends attempting to navigate the glamorous, pressurized world of big-time show business—the “valley” is not a place but a narcotized state of mind, and the “dolls” are the pills that rouse them in the morning and knock them out at night. Blending old-fashioned gloss with Madison Avenue grooviness, director Mark Robson’s slick look at the early days of sexual liberation and an entertainment industry coming apart was a giant box-office hit, and has become an unforgettably campy time capsule of the 1960s.

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Episode Links Criterion Wikipedia ValleyOfTheDolls.

High camp or just plain trash? A cultural-cinematic swamp in perfectly rotten taste, this adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's supermarket 'dirty book' seeks out tawdry sleaze like no American movie had before. Junk beyond belief, and great entertainment if you're in a sick frame of mind. Valley of the Dolls Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 835 1967 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 123 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 27, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, Paul Burke, Sharon Tate, Susan Hayward, Tony Scotti, Martin Milner, Charles Drake, Alexander Davion, Lee Grant, Naomi Stevens, Robert H. Harris, Jacqueline Susann, Robert Viharo, Joey Bishop, George Jessel, Dionne Warwick, Sherry Alberoni, Margaret Whiting, Richard Angarola, Richard Dreyfuss, Marvin Hamlisch, Judith Lowry. Cinematography William H. Daniels Film Editor Dorothy Spencer Conductor / Music Adaptor John Williams Written by Helen Deutsch, Dorothy Kingsley Jacqueline Susann Produced by Mark Robson, David Weisbart Directed by Mark Robson

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I...

On this day as it relates to showbiz history...

1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution. That one that caused Spencer Tracy so much trouble in Inherit the Wind.

1882 Tchaikovsky debuts his "Overture of 1812". It's still used in movies two centuries later in a truly diverse range of movies including The Iron Lady, Laurence Anyways, V For Vendetta and The Blind Side

1918 Novelist Jacqueline Susann is born. Her trashy best-sellers become hit movies and even turn Oscar heads: Valley of the Dolls (1967 best score nomination)  and Jacqueline Susann's Once is Not Enough (1975, best supporting actress nomination)

1931 Fright haired boxing promoter Don King is born. Sixty-six and a ½ years later Ving Rhames wins the Golden Globe playing him in a TV movie. Remember that sweet but odd moment when Ving Rhames invited Jack Lemmon on stage with him to share the award he had just lost for 12 Angry Men? King's...

September tends to be the time of year that movie studios start busting out the big guns, and 2016 finds the Criterion Collection following suit, as the boutique home video label will be releasing one of the most significant cinematic landmarks on which they’ve yet to put their stamp.

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s mammoth “Dekalog” makes the company’s September lineup something of a bumper crop in and of itself, but — lucky for us — it’ll be accompanied by an essential Kenji Mizoguchi classic, two ample doses of Jacqueline Susann-inspired campiness, some old school Coen brothers and much more. Check out the full release slate below, listed in rough order of our excitement for each title.

1.) “Dekalog” (dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988), Spine #837

This would be at the very top of the list regardless of what else Criterion is releasing in September. One of the greatest achievements in all of film (though...

Patty Duke, best known as Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for headlining her own sitcom, has died, She was 69. In 1985, just ahead of her 40th birthday, the actress sat down with People to discuss love, career and her troubled past. Read the profile below:

"Little Patty Duke is gonna be 40 next year? Wow! How can that be? I'd swear she was 18 just a minute ago!"

Little Patty Duke – and at an even five feet she still Is little – giggles at her self-parody. "That's exactly how I feel about it," she says, "like someone who's been watching...

Acclaimed actress Patty Duke has died at the age of 69. USA Today reports that the actress passed away earlier this morning due to sepsis from a ruptured intestine.

Duke won an Oscar at the age of sixteen for her portrayal of Helen Keller in 1962's "The Miracle Worker" which led to the successful 1963 ABC sitcom "The Patty Duke Show" and the controversial film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's "The Valley of the Dolls".

After years of struggle with an undiagnosed mental illness, Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed lithium, which she credits with saving her life and led to her becoming an advocate for mental illness treatment.

She married "The Addams Family" actor John Astin and ultimately had three children (two with him). One of her sons, "The Lord of the Rings" actor Sean Astin, released the following statement on Facebook:

I love you mom.Our Family Statement...

This is my film review and it Freaks Me Out!  Girlie-art legend Russ Meyer and then- tyro critic Roger Ebert fashion the most garish, vulgar and absurd satire of wild Hollywood that they can think of, a camp vision of joy straight from the dizzy imagination of a breast-obsessed glamour photographer. All your favorites are here -- Erica Gavin, Dolly Read, Marcia McBroom, Cynthia Meyers, Edy Williams. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls + The Seven Minutes Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD Arrow Video (UK) 1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date January 18, 2016 / Available from Amazon UK £17.99 Starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Meyers, Marcia McBroom, Erica Gavin, John Lazar, Michael Blodgett, David Gurian, Edy Williams, Phyllis Davis, Harrison Page, Duncan McLeod, Charles Napier, Haji, Pam Grier, Coleman Francis, The Strawberry Alarm Clock. Cinematography Fred J. Koenecamp Editors Dann Cahn, Dick Wormell Original Music Stu Phillips Written by Roger Ebert, Russ Meyer Produced and...

By Darren Allison

(This review pertains to a region 2 UK release).

Mark Robson’s Valley of the Dolls (1967) became something of commercial success, despite being generally panned by the critics. Following the murder of Sharon Tate, the film was re-released in 1969 and once again proved to be a success with audiences. In December 1969, filming began on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), a film that was intended as a direct sequel to Robson’s movie. Jacqueline Susann, the original author of Valley of the Dolls had been approached to write a screenplay, but declined the offer. Instead, director Russ Meyer and film critic Roger Ebert, took on and completed the task in just six weeks. Ebert described it as ‘a satire of Hollywood conventions’ while Meyer leant more towards ‘a serious melodrama, a rock musical […]and a moralistic expose of the nightmarish world of Show Business’.

This film is set around a female band,...

Joan Collins in 'The Bitch': Sex tale based on younger sister Jackie Collins' novel. Author Jackie Collins dead at 77: Surprisingly few film and TV adaptations of her bestselling novels Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of film and TV star Joan Collins, died of breast cancer on Sept. 19, '15, in Los Angeles. The London-born (Oct. 4, 1937) Collins was 77. Collins' tawdry, female-centered novels – much like those of Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz – were/are immensely popular. According to her website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloidy BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has become a key source, apparently), every single one of them – 32 in all – appeared on the New York Times' bestseller list. (Collins' own site claims that a mere 30 were included.) Sex...

Something amazing happened over the weekend: Elizabeth Berkley, who once riled us with caffeine melodrama as Jessie Spano on "Saved by the Bell," embraced a critical part of her past. She voiced support for the cult phenomenon of "Showgirls," her wildly over-the-top 1995 bomb that has become arguably the campiest piece of '90s iconography. She gave a wonderful speech to a rapt La audience, who rigorously salted their French fries in approval. But not everybody can be as cool as Berkley. (Looking at you, Faye Dunaway.) Here are ten actors who've embraced the silly, dubious, or campiest movies in their filmography. 1. Jane Fonda, "Barbarella" After "Barbarella," Jane Fonda scored seven Oscar nominations, two wins, and a brand new reputation as one of the more strident celebrities of the '70s. It took her awhile to acknowledge the campy fun in "Barbarella," the swingin' sci-fi sex adventure she made her then-husband Roger Vadim,...

Movie geeks, get ready to camp out.

On Sunday, a new series on Logo called Cocktails & Classics brings together the people behind some of the most beloved – and, yes, often over-the-top – films of all time with the entertainment fixtures who have made a career out of obsessing over them.

An exclusive episode from Cocktails' premiere episode, which accompanies 1989's Steel Magnolias, reveals the insider-y, chatty flavor of the series, which host Michael Urie tells People is all about digging into "finding out what it is about these films that made them classics."

Unlike many movie companion series, Cocktails & Classics is "not just trivia,...

I have been engrossed for the last week in Infidel, an autobiography that chronicles the life and times of political activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali and how she became who and what she is. Ms. Ali will be familiar to those readers of this column, who, like me, strive to never miss an episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. She has also appeared on Fox News, CNN, and just about every news organization around the world – though I don’t know if she has ever been invited onto Al-Jazeera, even here on the U.S. version.

But if not, here’s a short version of Ms. Ali’s biography. Born into a traditional Muslim family in Somalia in 1969, her father was Hirsi Magan Isse, a leader of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front and who was actively involved in the Somalian Revolution against the Siad Barre government.

Comedian Josh Gad ("Frozen," TV's "New Girl," the upcoming "The Wedding Ringer") is in talks to star as film critic Roger Ebert opposite Will Ferrell's Russ Meyer in "Russ & Roger Go Beyond," producer David Permut told Hollywood Elsewhere in Palm Springs on Sunday. With a script by "SNL"'s Christopher Cluess, the buddy comedy chronicles Ebert and director Meyer's collaboration on the salacious, 1970 cult melodrama "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"—the first and only screenplay Ebert ever wrote. More a parody than a sequel of the 1967 Jacqueline Susann adaptation "Valley of the Dolls," the X-rated, sex-filled farce about a girl band was penned in just six weeks. Though the deal has yet to be set in stone, Gad is on board according to Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells (who takes issue with his casting) and The Wrap. Permut originally wanted Jonah Hill to play Ebert, but that fell through.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the classic children's book about a poor kid who thinks a Golden Ticket is good enough proof that he should run a gigantic chocolate empire, turns 50 this year. To celebrate, Penguin is releasing the book with a new cover. Oh my god, this cover. The thing is, I get it. Roald Dahl is a macabre author (and morally dubious person, by the way) whose stories contain scary, creepy, and downright mean moments often directed at children. Surely Dahl, a fan of the grotesque, would relish the weirdness of this cover. But is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" really about superficiality or vanity or plasticine values, as this photo depicts? I think it's more about Charlie realizing his conscience is worth a splendid factory of goodies. Veruca and Violet are merely sideshows in the underdog tale at hand, and they're the ones being represented here.  That said,...

Will Ferrell is circling the role of soft core film producer Russ Meyer in "Russ & Roger Go Beyond," an indie film about the making of cult classic "Beyond The Valley of the Dolls".

The story is set in the very late 1960s when cheap counterculture films made big money. Meyer was the outlaw helmer of soft-core pulp films such as "Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill" but wanted to make a legitimate studio film.

At the time, 20th Century Fox was in desperate need of a low-cost, high returning hit after a series of flops. Meyer agreed to take on the film, originally a sequel to but ultimately a parody of the film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's enormous hit "Valley of the Dolls".

There was one condition, that a third string movie critic at the time named Roger Ebert would pen the script. Ebert was one of the few people who...

Now that Miss Robichaux’s Academy is closed for business after a season which played out like the bastard offspring of Dennis Wheatley and Jacqueline Susann, American Horror Story fanatics are already filled with a giddy sense of anticipation at what demented devilry the show’s creators will serve up when the fourth season rolls around in the fall.

The kind of creative risks and innovative storytelling displayed in American Horror Story might well have proven the kiss of death for a show in less capable hands. Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk cunningly side-stepped this by utilizing an anything-goes format and taking a familiar core concept (i.e. haunted house, institution, witches coven) in a refreshingly bold direction where nothing is outside the realm of possibility (and in many instances: of plausibility) and absolutely nothing is sacred.

So it begs the question: where will they go next? We know that...

In perhaps the strangest casting rumor of the year so far, the likes of Madonna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Emmy Rossum are all said to be up for roles in a new darkly comedic adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's novel "Valley of the Dolls" for 20th Century Fox.

The book spans two decades and covers the career highs and ultimate self-destruction of three female best friends: Anne Welles, who works at a Broadway talent agency; Neely O’Hara, a vaudeville star; and Jennifer North, a showgirl. The title refers to the barbiturates (sleeping pills) they all become addicted to.

An instant success, 'Dolls' has sold more than 30 million copies and essentially gave birth to the modern genre of female authors (like Jackie Collins) who write sexually scandalous stories in the roman-a-clef style - telling the stories of real-life rich and famous people under the guise of fiction.

The book...

20th Century Fox is gearing up to remake the 1967 cult classic Valley of the Dolls, with the studio eyeing actresses such as Madonna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Emmy Rossum for starring roles.

The original movie, based on Jacqueline Susann's novel, starred Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate as starlets Anne Welles, Neely O'Hara and Jennifer North, with the story charting their rise and fall in the movie and theater industry. The remake, which is being written by Paul Rudnick (The First Wive's Club, In & Out), is centered on the modern-day music business in Hollywood, particularly centering on Neely O'Hara's fall from grace. The remake is being conceived as a dark comedy.

Madonna is being courted to play Broadway star Helen Lawson, a role originally portrayed by Susan Hayward which was initially intended for Judy Garland. Jennifer Lawrence is being eyed to play Jennifer North, Anne Hathaway is...

August: Osage County takes two minutes to prove that Meryl Streep, still racking up Oscar nominations like Skee-Ball tickets at age 64, will brutalize herself and you for the sake of a movie. As the loopy Oklahoma grandmama Violet in the new adaptation of Tracy Letts‘ Pulitzer-winning play, she stumbles around almost gratuitously, gargles profanities at Julia Roberts, and basically refuses to endear us for the movie’s entire duration. If you thought June Squibb was broad in Nebraska, you’ll be shocked at the kabuki-type insanity of Meryl’s work. She practically draws a sword and impales Margo Martindale for disgracing the emperor.

As such, August: Osage County polarizes. But who doesn’t love when Meryl gives us polarizing work? After all, her weirdest, kookiest, and potentially funniest movie of all time is also her most divisive: Death Becomes Her. The dark 1992 farce may feel like the snobbish Hollywood cousin...

SNL & "The Simpsons" scribe Christopher Cluess has sold his true story script "Russ and Roger Go Beyond" to Sobini Films, Permut Presentations and Chautauqua Entertainment.

The film will deal with the unique relationship between filmmaker Russ Meyer and legendary critic Roger Ebert during the making of the 1970 cult classic "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls".

The story is set at the end of the 1960s when Meyer was known for his soft-core pulp films like "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!".

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox was coming off a string of flops and then studio head Richard Zanuck offered Meyer the directorship of 'Beyond'. The film was originally intended to be a sequel to 1967's adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls," but it ultimately became a parody of it.

Meyer agreed to the gig on the condition that budding young Chicago Sun Times film critic Ebert would write the script.

Betty Hutton bio: The Blonde Bombshell Energetic, electric, exuberant, effusive, brassy, spunky, hyper, manic — these are all qualities that could (and most likely have been) used to describe Betty Hutton, a top 1940s Paramount star also known as "The Blonde Bombshell," "The Blonde Blitz," and/or "The Incendiary Blonde." (Photo: Betty Hutton ca. 1945-1950.) Throughout the years, Betty Hutton’s fiery blondeness entertained some, while turning off others and leaving others yet exhausted. She seemed to be perennially in hyperkinetic mode, whether playing 1910s film serial heroine Pearl White in The Perils of Pauline or fretting about (possibly) being pregnant — without knowing which of several happy sailors is the baby’s father — in Preston Sturges’ The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. But she "wasn’t all just a zany comedian," as Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne recently remarked. "The thing about Betty Hutton was she could also sing a song and break your heart,...

Ebert's scripts: 'sexploitation' cult fare As found on the IMDb, Roger Ebert wrote scripts for a total of three movies, "sexploitation" fare directed by maverick independent filmmaker Russ Meyer. The first of those was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which follows three young (and good-looking) women who find sex (lesbian and straight), drugs (of various sorts), and unhappiness in Hollywood. Distributed by the then-daring 20th Century Fox (Fox also released Raquel Welch and Mae West's Myra Breckinridge that same year), Beyond takes Jacqueline Susann's trashy bestseller Valley of the Dolls and its 1967 Mark Robson-directed filmization to an even higher degree of tacky campiness. Among the movie's cast members were Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom (all three seductive beauties are pictured above), John Lazar, and frequent presence on the Academy Awards red carpet, Edy Williams. The second Roger & Russ collaboration was Up!, a movie whose tagline...

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The Grammys are just a week away, and I feel that justifies an exploration of one of my favorite topics: wonderful music from god-awful movies. Here are my 10 favorite tunes specifically produced for the soundtracks of wretched movies.

10. Michelle Pfeiffer, "Cool Rider" from Grease 2

Grease 2 is a confounding mess from start to finish, but it's a complete blast if you're into campy singalong experiences. The movie's best tune is undoubtedly the brassy, kicky "Cool Rider" where The Greatest Catwoman croons like Benatar over a rip-roaring pop hook. It's damn replayable, which is something not often said about Grease 2.

9. Alanis Morissette, "Uninvited" from City of Angels

City of Angels is one of those infuriating movies that dares to take its ridiculous melodrama seriously. It's a feature-length Creed video. Thankfully its soundtrack was a rightful blockbuster featuring original tracks by U2 and -- perhaps most famously -- the Goo Goo Dolls,...

The "American Horror Story: Asylum" ending fans saw wasn't the original way Ryan Murphy planned to end the Briarcliff saga.

In an interview with EW, Murphy revealed the original final episode was going to be the complete first act: Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) and her documentary about taking down Briarcliff.

"The original finale was gonna be Sarah Paulson now free, a Jacqueline Susann/Truman Capote type, gets a kick in her conscience from Kit and goes back in and shuts that down," Murphy told EW. "And we were gonna have the whole last hour be a documentary of her doing that."

What changed? "I think when we were working on that I thought 'I don’t want to see feces smeared people for an hour. It’s so grim.'"

The plot took a turn while Episode 10 of the "Asylum" was filming, according to Murphy. "We thought let’s give Jude a happy ending,...

[Spoiler Alert If You Haven't Watched The Season Finale Of American Horror Story: Asylum]

We’ve never seen anything quite like the 13 hours of American Horror Story: Asylum. Nuns. Aliens. Nazis. Anne Frank. Denture Christmas ornaments. Mutant Mark Consuelos. Chloe Sevigny sans legs. And it all culminated in an utterly satisfying and brilliant season finale. Lana (Sarah Paulson) became a Barbara Walters-esque media star while Jude (Jessica Lange) and Kit (Evan Peters) forged a surprising, almost-familial bond. EW chatted with co-creator Ryan Murphy about Ahs: Asylum for one final time and got a few more details about the third season.

Entertainment Weekly: First thing I wanna talk about is how incredibly brilliant...

One night during my college years, I was pulling an all-nighter studying for finals when I caught an old movie on TV; a flick called Willa that concerned a divorced mother who becomes a truck driver.

I saw a lot of myself in Willa, the shy, smiling blonde with the heart and will of a lion. And seeing this movie got me to thinking, “What can I do?”

Deborah Raffin, the actress who played Willa, passed away Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 after a battle with leukemia. In her all too brief existence this woman accrued a vast list of accomplishments that reflected her boundless talents.

As an actress her regal demeanor and angelic beauty served her well in glittery romances like 40 Carats and Jacqueline Susann’s Once is Not Enough. Yet she also played heroines whose strength, intellect and resourcefulness were of far more importance than her grace and fashion sense.

Before founding the profitable audio-book company Dove Books-on-Tape in the mid-’80s,Deborah Raffin was a busy actress. The Los Angeles native landed parts in the 1973 film 40 Carats and in 1975′s Once Is Not Enough adapted from the steamy Jacqueline Susann novel. In the 1980s, she became something of a TV-movie staple appearing in such memorable fare as Mind Over Murder and Noble House.

But it.s her role as the girlfriend of Charles Bronson (an actor 32 years her senior) in Death Wish 3 (1985), one of American cinema.s finest hours, that will forever endear her to this movie geek. Raffin played public defender Kathryn Davis, who tracks down suspected vigilante Paul Kersey (Bronson), invites him to dinner, falls in love with him and, because she.s a love interest in a Death Wish movie, is promptly blown to smithereens. Raffin also had roles in Larry Cohen.s ambitious cult...

Actress Deborah Raffin, who went on to found a profitable audio-book company, died Wednesday after a battle with leukemia, the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 59. Raffin's brother William told the Times that she had been diagnosed with the disease approximately a year ago. She died at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Also read: Notable Celebrity Deaths of 2012 The Los Angeles native landed early parts in the 1973 film "40 Carats" and in 1975's "Once Is Not Enough," adapted from the steamy Jacqueline Susann novel. In the 1980s, she became...

Actress Deborah Raffin, who became the quintessential California blonde TV movie/mini-series ingenue and heroine during the three decades when the genre thrived in the 1970s-1980s-1990s, died on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times quoted her brother as saying she’d had leukemia for the past year and passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was 59. Though she starred in several features, she was best known for her TV work and most recently took recurring roles on The Secret Life Of The American Teenager (2008-2010) and 7th Heaven (1996-2005). Also, later in life, she started what eventually became the multimilliondollar Dove audio books with her then husband, showbiz entrepreneur Michael Viner. (They sold the company in 1997.) Los Angeles-born Raffin was the daughter of 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marshall and became a TV star when she was discovered in an elevator by an agent. With...

Actress Deborah Raffin, who became the quintessential California blonde TV movie/mini-series ingenue and heroine during the three decades when the genre thrived in the 1970s-1980s-1990s, died on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times quoted her brother as saying she’d had leukemia for the past year and passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was 59. Though she starred in several features, she was best known for her TV work and most recently took recurring roles on The Secret Life Of The American Teenager (2008-2010) and 7th Heaven (1996-2005). Also, later in life, she started what eventually became the multimilliondollar Dove audio books with her then husband, showbiz entrepreneur Michael Viner. (They sold the company in 1997.) Los Angeles-born Raffin was the daughter of 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marshall and became a TV star when she was discovered in an elevator by an agent. With...

NBC continues developing author Jacqueline Susann's 1966 novel "Valley of the Dolls", for 20th Century Fox TV and Chernin Entertainment, to be adapted and directed by Lee Daniels ("Precious").

"....'Anne Welles' moves to New York City from Lawrenceville, Massachusetts, and finds employment with a talent agency representing the Broadway musical 'Hit the Sky'. She meets 'Neely O'Hara', a vaudeville star living in her building, and recommends her for a role in the show’s chorus. 'Jennifer North', a beautiful showgirl with limited talent, appears in the play as well. The three women become fast friends. Over the next twenty years, the women embark on careers that bring them to the heights of fame and eventual self-destruction..."

In 1967, the novel was adapted into a feature directed by Mark Robson, starring Susan Hayward, Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, Patty Duke, and Paul Burke.

The novel was then adapted into the 1981 TV mini-series,...

Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy — his follow-up to 2009′s Precious — is bound to be divisive. At Cannes, the film garnered both boos and a 16-minute standing ovation. (EW’s own Owen Gleiberman understands both reactions: “I wanted to do a catcall and clap encouragingly at the same time,” he wrote after seeing its premiere.) It’s fitting, then, that the movie’s just-released trailer also seems divided against itself. The clip’s first 45 seconds or so seem to promise a relatively straightforward thriller about a southern belle with a no-good fiance (Nicole Kidman) and the short-shorts-clad kid who pines for her...

On Monday (May 14), the cast of "Mad Men" -- including Jon Hamm, January Jones, Kiernan Shipka, John Slattery and Christina Hendricks -- sits down with "Inside the Actors Studio" host James Lipton to talk about their critically acclaimed show, currently in the midst of Season 5 on AMC.

Creator Matthew Weiner, who was also along for the trip, explains in the clip below why Hamm (who plays the dashing Don Draper) had to audtion six or seven times for the part: "Someone said that he wasn't sexy."

Whatevs.

Also, Jones explains the origins of her calendrical first name:

"It is from a book called 'Once Is Not Enough' by Jacqueline Susann," she says. "I think at the end of the book, not to spoil it, but, she trips on acid and gets abducted by aliens after being married and divorced to her father's best friend. It's entertaining... [my parents] just thought...