Sharon Tate: More Than a “Doll”

Sharon Tate as Jennifer North in 1967's "Valley of the Dolls."

So much as been written about Sharon Tate’s tragic ending, that I wanted to write about her brief but intriguing career, and what might have become of the lovely young starlet. Sharon Tate's resume is pretty slim. Somewhat like Marilyn, you get more of a feeling for her charisma by looking at the many photos taken of Sharon than in her few film roles.

Sharon Tate in "Valley of the Dolls." She reminds me of her good friend & equally gorgeous Joanna Pettet here. 

In the early '60s, Tate got a few bit parts on TV shows and played a recurring role on The Beverly Hillbillies, in a black wig. This was producer Martin Ransohoff’s idea, co-founder of Filmways. Ransohoff wanted Sharon to get more camera experience, but without being recognized! The TV producer was also getting into feature films and put Sharon under personal contract. He cast her in the occult thriller, Eye of the Devil, when Kim Novak had just been replaced by Deborah Kerr. Tate got a lot of attention from the film, though it bombed. Sharon’s otherworldly demeanor and spellbinding beauty reminded me of Kim Novak in Bell, Book, and Candle—though Devil was a suspense film.

Sharon Tate as the scary Odile in 1966's "Eye of the Devil."

Then came two more duds with producer Ransohoff: beach party parody Don't Make Waves and Roman Polanski's spoof The Fearless Vampire Killers. In Don’t Make Waves, Sharon plays beach girl Malibu and seems to have been an inspiration for Bo Derek in 1979’s 10. Tate’s innkeeper’s daughter in Polanski’s Vampire Killers film is a classic saucy beauty, like Kim Novak as Moll Flanders. Both stars fared far better as modern day blondes rather than period era redheads. A few critics commented that Tate had a natural flair for comedy in both films.

Sharon Tate as Malibu in 1967's "Don't Make Waves." Inspiration for Bo Derek's beach girl in 1979's "10?

To recap, under personal contract with Martin Ransohoff, Sharon Tate made Devil, Waves, and Vampire Killers, oh my. This was a far cry from the studio system days, where a starlet was carefully brought up the ranks—this was the hit or miss ‘60s. These movies have their cult fans, but for most audiences, they are forgotten oddities. 

Sharon Tate as Sarah, the innkeeper's daughter, in 1967's "Those Fearless Vampire Killers," which introduced her to Roman Polanski.

Valley of the Dolls, with Sharon Tate as Jennifer North, is the 1967 film for which the actress is most famous. The salacious soap made a fortune but got some of the worst reviews of any '60s film. Ironically, Fox starlet Raquel Welch was offered the part of Jennifer but turned it down, fearing she’d be typecast as “the body beautiful.” Raquel was certainly more statuesque than slim Sharon, but was typecast anyway, and missed the chance to star in a hit movie.  Yet Welch would not have brought the warmth or vulnerability that Tate possessed.

Though Sharon Tate possessed a lovely figure, she was hardly "top-heavy,"
as constantly commented upon throughout "Valley of the Dolls."

On the set of Dolls, veteran reporter Bobbie Wygant asked Tate if she had read the Jacqueline Susann book. Sharon answered yes, adding that she liked the character Jennifer best, for that’s who she had the most sympathy. Like so many starlets, Tate had been touted as the next Marilyn Monroe, in Sharon’s case, by the Saturday Evening Post. Sharon quickly nixed that notion, telling Wygant that there was only one Marilyn: “Nobody could ever be Marilyn Monroe.” Good answer! Ironically, Tate was making Dolls at 20^th Century Fox, where MM had been under contract. I must say that as hard as Tarantino tried in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Margot Robbie, there is also only one Sharon Tate. Robbie may be a good actress, but she didn’t have Sharon’s ethereal quality, not to mention Tate’s exquisite bone structure and expressive doe eyes.

When Wygant asked Tate what her long term goals were, and Sharon’s answer was smart and realistic:  “I want to remain myself as much as possible.”

Sharon's Jennifer North ends her life near the finale of "Valley of the Dolls."

Though Dolls author Jacqueline Susann based Jennifer North on her good friend, tragic starlet Carole Landis, Jackie couldn’t help but be influenced by tragic death of Marilyn Monroe in ’62, when she was writing Dolls. There are echoes of Marilyn in the film version of Dolls. The suicide scene, with reporters asking impertinent questions about Jen, such as her measurements, recalls the scene at Monroe’s bungalow the morning after her death.

I watched screen tests of Sharon as Jennifer and thought she came off even better than in the actual movie scenes. And I noticed reader comments saying the same thing. I do know that some of the Dolls actresses did not enjoy working with old-school studio director Mark Robson, who may have intimidated shy Sharon. But in her big scenes, such as Tony’s illness and Jen’s diagnosis, Tate’s quite touching. One thing Sharon had in common with Marilyn was that Tate also had those wistful eyes, even when she was smiling.

Sharon Tate at 24 as Jennifer North in "Valley of the Dolls."

Some people have downgraded Sharon’s performance as Jen, citing her as beautiful but no-talent. I wonder if that’s because in the movie, the other characters are constantly objectifying Jen, while telling her she has no talent. Jen even says so herself. Perhaps audiences thought Sharon was just playing herself. Tate may have not had the greatest range, but she could certainly identify with Jennifer.

Sharon Tate was a wow in this Travilla gown in "Valley of the Dolls." The designer also dressed Marilyn Monroe in several films, including "Gentleman Prefer Blondes."

The next year came yet another spoof, 1968’s The Wrecking Crew, the last and lowest grossing of Dean Martin's Matt Helm spy satires. Sharon Tate’s Freya is a beautiful, glasses-wearing bumbler, rather like Marilyn Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire. Tate’s last film was an international comedy, 12 + 1. During filming she was newly pregnant, and the film was released after her death, in 1970.

Sharon Tate as Freya, the bumbling agent in 1968's "The Wrecking Crew."

Terry-Thomas remembered Sharon in his 1990 autobiography: "On the first day of filming 12+1, on location in London's Jermyn Street, Sharon Tate came up and introduced herself. She said, quietly, 'I must tell you something before we start working together. I can't act, but I somehow get by without anyone realizing, so don't worry.' Actually, Sharon turned out to share a distinction with Lena Horne, they were the only two performers I ever knew who were entirely 'natural' before the camera. Everybody else, method actors (and T-T too!) automatically took on a different stance and manner, as soon as the cameras started rolling. So there were no difficulties with Sharon. We were like a double act. She was nice, intelligent, and pretty."

Sharon Tate as Pat in "12+ 1." Sharon was in her early pregnancy during filming.
The European comedy was released in 1970, after her death.

Where would Sharon Tate’s life and career have gone had she lived?

If Jane Fonda couldn't make a go of it with her European playboy director-husband, Roger Vadim, surely Sharon wouldn't have, either. So, what actress avenue would Sharon have gone down? Reclusive, like Kim Novak? Multiple marriages, like Elizabeth Taylor? Live-in boyfriends, like Jacqueline Bisset? Marry well and/or happily, and retire? For some reason, I don’t think she would have gone the Marilyn route, with breakdowns and addiction. Who can say, really?

In my mind, Sharon Tate, Jacqueline Bisset, and Sharon’s BFF Joanna Pettet were the three young film beauties of the late '60s, and all had a hard time getting good roles, often just cast for their looks or as “the girl.” My guess is, in reality, if Sharon didn't just retire, she would have ended up on TV. The early ‘70s cinema was still casting realistic looking actresses like Karen Black. And pretty girls that got cast usually got panned: Candice Bergen, Ali MacGraw, and later, Cybill Shepherd. Perhaps Tate would have caught the eye of Aaron Spelling and become an angel. Why not? Sharon was in the same age range as the original Charlie’s Angels. Or perhaps she could have starred in a prime-time soap—Sharon Tate as Krystle Carrington?  Tate was just a few months younger than Linda Evans, who also had an episodic ‘60s career and a dominating husband.

I can see Sharon Tate as Jill Munroe on "Charlie's Angels." Sharon also had the "three girls" thing down, too. Perhaps if the show had been on in the '60s, Parkins could have played Kelly, and Duke as Sabrina!

Interesting that when a star dies young, they get locked in time, and while eternal, gradually seem far away. On January 24, 2023, Sharon Tate would have turned 80. Sharon’s been gone for over 50 years, a life and career suddenly ended. I choose to look at Tate’s beauty and career, not who and how they ended her life.

Here’s my fun look at “dream team” casting for Valley of the Dolls: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2017/07/different-dolls-for-valley-of-dolls.html

 

When Sharon as Jen warily watches her "art" films, I flashed on Kim Novak as world-weary star Lylah Clare doing the same the following year. And that Tate would have been much more age-appropriate as that starlet! But who needed both "Dolls" & "Lylah" on their resume!

-

Kim Novak as Elsa Brinkmann/Lylah Clare.

 

Different Dolls for 'Valley of the Dolls?'

Candice Bergen as Anne Welles, with her damned classy good looks?

Raquel Welch as Jennifer North? Boobies! Boobies! Boobies!

Liza Minnelli as Neely O' Hara: The whole world loves me!

Jacqueline Susann’s naughty first novel, Valley of the Dolls, was the publishing sensation of 1966 and film rights were quickly snapped up by 20^th Century Fox.

Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, & Patty Duke in 1967's 'Valley of the Dolls.'

Many superstar actresses and up-and-coming starlets’ names were bandied about before Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, and Sharon Tate were rolled out for yet another update of Fox’s tried-and-true “three girls” template. Said trio were always looking for romance and riches, but often finding heartache and hard times, instead. Duke plays Neely O’ Hara, a singer with a big voice, plus an equally big pill and booze problem; Barbara Parkins is Anne Welles, the secretary turned supermodel; and Sharon Tate plays tragic Jennifer North, a beautiful starlet who only knows how to do one thing! And for dramatic conflict, Susan Hayward plays Helen Lawson, the aging, tough broad Broadway belter, with a black belt at killing the competition.

Susan Hayward as Broadway belter/battleaxe Helen Lawson.

VOTD the novel is significantly different than the film version. The book takes place from the early ‘40s through the mid-60s, versus the movie’s mere few years. Neely’s film career and chaotic personal life are even more obviously taken from Judy Garland’s MGM daze. Anne Welles is a patrician blue-eyed blonde, a poised natural beauty. While patterned after some of Jackie’s model friends, Anne’s archetype perfection and easy rise to superstardom seemed inspired by Grace Kelly. Doomed bombshell Jennifer was actually based on Carole Landis, a 20^th Century Fox‘40s starlet and Susann’s close gal pal, with a nod to another Fox star, Marilyn Monroe, who overdosed when Jackie began writing Dolls. Just as Neely O’Hara mirrored Judy Garland more on the page, Susann wickedly spills the beans on Broadway diva Ethel Merman’s diva antics with Helen Lawson. Like Lawson, Merman liked her vino, but saved happy hour for after work. Merman functioned best on stage, where she controlled everything, just like Helen!

Valley of the Dolls: from book to screen.

As far casting goes, I have no real beefs. Everybody came off  as campy in the film version of Dolls, thanks to the cartoonish script, cheesy direction, harsh lighting, ugly clothes, makeup, and hairstyles (yes, it was the ‘60s, but come on!), and the gawd-awful songs (except for Dionne Warwick’s theme song, which haunts Parkins’ Anne throughout the movie.)

Still, if I could go back into the way back machine, and cast this movie, these would be my dream team dolls.

Liza, younger than springtime, and twice as exciting!

Liza Minnelli as Neely O’ Hara: Why not? Fox originally cast Judy Garland as Helen Lawson! So, good taste was not the hallmark of the movie version of VOTD. Liza playing a fictionalized version of her legendary mother could have been awesome or awful. True, we wouldn’t have had Patty Duke braying every line like she was starring as Martha in a showbiz version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Or Duke predating Seinfeld’s Elaine Benis’ dance moves during her musical numbers. 

"Patty gave me the number of this great dance teacher!"

But I think Minnelli could have been fantastic. For one, you could actually believe this Neely O’ Hara as a once-in-a-lifetime talent. Imagine Liza exuberantly performing Neely’s “rise to stardom” montage, with the help of “dolls.” Minnelli also could have put over those showbiz cliché songs by the Previns. And like Neely, Liza already had a Ted Casablanca in her life, first husband Peter Allen. In Duke’s defense, Patty’s over-the-top performance gives Dolls its little energy. If you want to see what might have been, watch Barbara Parkins’ screentest for Neely on YouTube—her attempt at playing Neely’s “lonely at the top” speech to Anne is pure amateur night.

Candice Bergen may not have gotten to play a "Gillian Girl," but apparently she was a Revlon girl back in the day.

Candice Bergen as Anne Welles: At the time, Bergen was no better an actress than Parkins, but she embodied the novel’s cool blonde WASP and was really a model. Bergen declined, over money or a film role that took the travel-loving actress to a more appealing location than New York and Fox’s back lot. 

Candice as Anne, that natural Gillian Girl!

How fun to picture the future no-nonsense Murphy Brown as a “Gillian Girl” or rolling around the surf in a pill-popping stupor. Parkins, a dull, pretty girl with lots of hair and makeup piled on, acts like a doll on downers from the get-go.

Welch as Jen, primping before her nightly bust exercises!

Raquel Welch as Jennifer North: Already a Fox girl, Raquel turned down the role because she didn’t want to get type cast as a no-talent famous only for her body. I’ll be kind and not list the films Welch appeared in during and after VOTD! Rumor has it Raquel did a screen test for Jennifer. I doubt that she really did, but to paraphrase Hemingway, wouldn’t it be pretty to think so? 

Raquel plays Jennifer's suicide scene?

Sharon Tate gives the best performance in Valley of the Dolls, the one most resembling a human being. Jennifer’s death scene, by suicide in the face of breast cancer, is touching. That’s due to Sharon Tate, not the tacky dialogue or lazy direction by Mark Robson. The area Tate is lacking in is Jennifer North’s fabulous figure, especially her bodacious breasts. Constant boob comments abound in the film, yet Tate is slim and leggy more than anything. Also, it's Sharon's face that mesmerizes.

Raquel as no-talent Jen? "You know how bitchy fags can be!"

Welch on the other hand, basically WAS Jennifer North. Like Jen, Raquel was initially slow to soar in show biz, because of family—in Welch’s case, she was a single mother as a starlet. What a hoot it would be to hear Welch’s breathless delivery as Jennifer, doing her breast exercises in front of the mirror, before declaring, “Oh, to hell with ‘em, let them droop!” I doubt that the then-young and humorless Raquel Welch would have agreed.

"I've Written a Letter to Jac-kie, say-ing, I want to play Helen!"

The possibilities for Helen Lawson, the Broadway “barracuda,” seem endless. Several veteran actresses threw their wigs in the casting ring. Bette Davis publically palled up to Jackie Susann, angling for the part. Can you imagine Bette singing “I’ll Plant My Own Tree?” That would have rivaled her rendition of Baby Jane’s “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy” in the camp department!

"I'll plant my own stilettos in your thighs and watch your pain grow!"

Bette’s co-star Joan Crawford was mentioned for Helen Lawson. However, Joan essentially played Helen in yet another Fox “three girls” movie. Nearly a decade prior, Crawford as the book editor barracuda Amanda Farrow killed it in The Best of Everything. Still, imagine Joan snarling, “Now get outta my way, cuz I got a man waiting for me!” 

Joan flips & rips her wig in 'Torch Song'!

Or later, after getting her wig snatched by Neely, envision
Joan, chin jutted, grandly intoning to the ladies room attendant, “I’ll go out…the way I came in!” And Joan already had experience as a tyrant stage star, who rips her own wig off, in Torch Song!

Would Helen Lawson ride in her limo drinking decaf coffee?

Lauren Bacall coulda been a contender as Helen, a warm up to her own future as a bitchy Broadway diva. I can hear Bacall’s deep brewed flay-vah baritone reminding Neely, “Broadway doesn’t go in for booooze and dope!”

Ethel Merman gets singing lessons from Lucille Ball, for comedic effect!

Or how about Lucille Ball, who once hilariously imitated the Merm when she appeared on Ball’s sitcom? The real life Lucy wouldn’t have had any trouble with the tough as nails part. Maybe Lucy could have added some slapstick while singing “I’ll Plant My Own Tree,” getting tangled up with the mobile tree. Or Ball could have added her trademark “Waaaaah!” as Helen, when Neely rips her wig off!

The irony if Patty Duke had snatched Lucille Ball's wig in 'Dolls,'since Patty later dated Desi Jr., much to Mama Lucy's disapproval! 

Still, I think Susan Hayward is great as the Ethel Merman-type star. Red-headed and brash, tough yet a touch sentimental, Susan gives the movie its only genuine star power. Margaret Whiting’s singing matches up nicely with Hayward’s speaking voice (Susie sang in some of her earlier films) unlike the usual stars lip-synching to Marni Nixon. Like the real Merman, Hayward was a force of nature. And like Bette Davis, audiences enjoyed seeing Susan playing a bitch.

Judy Garland, not ready for her close-up, as Broadway barracuda Helen Lawson. These are the flattering pictures!

Watching Judy Garland’s wardrobe tests as the originally cast Helen Lawson, emaciated Judy looks engulfed by the clothes. Also, Judy was one of those superstars who doted on audience sympathy. While Garland may have been a bitchy at times in real life, she would never play one on the screen—it’d be on par with Doris Day as Helen Lawson. Susan Hayward is the real deal as Helen. Frankly, I think Judy dodged a bullet here.

These are the celebrity connect-the-dot thoughts that have popped into my mind over the years, whenever I pop in Dolls for guilty pleasure viewing. Perhaps changing even one doll would be akin to the butterfly effect in trying to make Valley of the Dolls a better movie, but instead, turning it into an even worse movie!

I look forward to your comments. And remember, all cats are grey in the dark! So, long, pussycats!