Karen Jensen

ACTOR

Before being signed to a six-month Warner Bros. contract in 1964, you’d won many beauty contests and enjoyed a successful modeling career. You appeared in such movies as Out of Sight and on the Hollywood-centered TV series Bracken’s World. But how did your brush with Valley of the Dolls come about? 

I didn’t really have much to do at WB at all. It seems that the TV and movie business, and WB, were kind of slowing down at the time I got there. They had me do a couple of small roles on their television series and one of those-- Wendy and Me starring George Burns – was used as a kind of screen test. My agent at William Morris was getting some interest from Universal, so we asked to be let out of the contract and went over to Universal. But I found Universal had no real ‘approach’ to my career. It was always of matter of taking what was available and what was offered. They started  putting me in dramatics classes, they brought in a wardrobe person, makeup specialists, hairdressers, lighting experts; they suggested grooming, what to wear, that sort of thing. But that was only towards the end. It was a hard decision to make but I thought leaving was a good idea. There were repercussions, of course. Universal was not pleased. As I said,  I thought leaving was a good idea. In hindsight, I’m not so sure.

How did your brush with Valley of the Dolls come about?

There was a lot of word around town about Valley of the Dolls. People wanted those roles. People were excited about it. I’m not even sure that I ever read the book. I met with the director about playing [Jennifer North] and he was very nice – exceptionally nice and kind. They brought me back two or three times for the role and the director gave me tips about how to play the role, what he wanted for the role, things he thought about the character. He just struck me as open and encouraging and I knew that he was pulling for me. He really wanted me to get that role. So, it was a big deal yet that movie was just one of so many other things that were going. But if there had been any requirement of nudity, I was very against that and always have been. I didn’t want to do anything I’d be embarrassed for my parents to see. I was rather shy and always have been. I don’t remember their saying anything about nudity in playing the girl in Valley of the Dolls but if nudity had come up as a topic or requirement, I would have said no and probably did. 

Did you have any particular reaction when you didn’t get the role?

I remember thinking that there was no real reason or need to see the movie, honestly, because that was just one of so many things going on at the time. It was probably better I didn’t see it. I would have been thinking, How would I have done it?  Would I have done it differently? I was one of three women Robert Altman tested for the role Jo Ann Pflug got in M*A*S*H. Not getting the role in Skidoo was more memorable then Valley of the Dolls for me because working with Otto Preminger in the screen test? – well, he was not an easy man to work with, especially for my temperament. I’m shy and I like to be around gentle people. I was glad I didn’t get that role. As my husband will tell you, I flew all the way to Rome to do a film and then, once there, they started talking about nudity and I turned it down and flew right back to California. Valerie Perrine did the role in Lenny that I turned down because of the nudity. I went in for the interview and Bob Fosse and I were getting along wonderfully. He liked me for the role and we were really talking about it. All of a sudden, the nudity came up and I said, ‘I don’t do that.’ I felt like I had a dropped a bomb in that meeting. It was just kind of a mess no one – my agents, no one -- had communicated as they might have. I had to do say no.

You worked throughout the ‘70s then got out.

I remember leaving town to pursue a dream, which to live a quiet life with animals, a garden, nature. That was my way of saying goodbye. It saved me. That was the path I was meant to be on. Hollywood was not a part of that world anymore.