Suzanne Pleshette Went From "The Next Liz Taylor" to TV Star

She was a strikingly beautiful woman with a distinctively sexy voice; it's puzzling why she didn't have a more extensive film career. She was probably fortunate not to have gotten that Gypsy role, though; Merman was such a jealous hag that she probably would have been upstaging Pleshette at best and having her fired from the show at worst. Merman did this to actress Betty Hutton in an earlier show, and she was the basis for Susan Hayward's character, a jealous harridan of an actress, in Valley of the Dolls.