Judy Garland wasn’t offered the role of O’Hara because she was 45 at the time, according to the New York Daily News, too old to play the ingenue. But she was the right age for the Ethel-Merman-inspired Lawson, The Judy Room. “Let’s face it: the role calls for an old pro over 40,” Garland said of her casting at the time. “That’s for me. It’s for sure I am no longer Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ … The part of Helen Lawson is no more me than the part in ‘Judgement at Nuremberg.’ It doesn’t pertain to me.”
Judy Garland’s participation in “Valley of the Dolls” didn’t last long, however. She began to work on the film on March 27, 1967, and was reportedly fired exactly one month later, according to The Judy Room. There are several opinions as to what happened. Some say that Garland objected to obscenities and nude scenes in the film or the similarities between herself and the Neely O’Hara character. Others say that author Jacqueline Susann persuaded her that the part was not right for her. Still, others that she objected to the script or that director Mark Robson disagreed with her approach to the character.
