Beyond The Valley of The Dolls - Character Influences

Character Influences

Roger Ebert revealed that many of BVD's themes and characters were based upon real people and events, but because neither Ebert nor Russ Meyer actually met these people, their characterizations were based on pure speculation.

• Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell - The fictional eccentric rock producer turned Carrie Nations manager was loosely based on real life producer Phil Spector. More than three decades later Spector was convicted of murder after the body of Lana Clarkson was found at his mansion, which is somewhat reminiscent of the events of the film's climax.

• Randy Black - The heavyweight champ character was loosely based on the real World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali.

• The climactic, violent ending, which was not in the original script, was inspired by the real life Tate-LaBianca murders perpetrated by the Manson Family. The film began production on December 2, 1969, shortly after the murders, which were covered heavily by the media. Valley of the Dolls star Sharon Tate was among the murder victims, as was Jay Sebring. Vocalist Lynn Carey, who was dating Sebring and had been invited to join him the night of the Tate-LaBianca murders, refused his invitation, according to her comments on the DVD extras.

• Porter Hall - This scheming lawyer shares the name of a character actor who often played movie villains.

• Susan Lake and Baxter Wolfe were, in an original draft script, Anne Welles and Lyon Burke from Valley of the Dolls. Their back-story stated in BVD ("He proposed to her but it was the wrong time", "It's been three years..."), matches the ending of the original. Following Jacqueline Susann's legal-action proceedings against 20th Century Fox, the characters were renamed and recast. Barbara Parkins, who played Anne, was originally under contract to appear in BVD and was disappointed when she was abruptly removed from the project. The BVD special edition DVD features a screen test with Michael Blodgett and Cynthia Myers enacting the bedroom scene between Lance and Kelly. Obviously based on an early script, the dialogue has them make reference to Anne Welles, not Susan Lake, as Kelly's Aunt.