Who is Molly Luther?

She's supposed to represent one of those all-powerful Hollywood gossip columnists who had the power to make or break a person's showbiz career. I don't know if the debut of a new actor or actress went down exactly as depicted, but it was realistic in the sense that it showed how the press wielded a helluva lot of power over who got to be a star, and who didn't. Google Hedda Hopper or Louella Parsons for some insight on that topic.

There’s always been speculation that Molly was based in large part on New York gossip columnist Radie Harris. She was of the same era as Hedda, Louella, and Winchell but not as nationally known. Harris believed Molly was based on her and threatened to sue Robert Aldrich but they managed to keep it out of court. Harris also had a prosthetic left leg from the knee down as a result of a childhood accident. She and Coral Browne, who played Molly, deeply disliked each other. After Lylah Clare came out, Coral did The Killing of Sister George, playing the predatory lesbian who in the end takes Susannah York away from Beryl Reid. Harris as a gossip columnist retaliated for the Molly Luther caricature by feigning surprise at the many critical accolades Coral garnered for Sister George, saying that Coral hadn’t been acting but merely playing herself. Sometime shortly after that, Coral walked into a party in London where Radie Harris was sitting surrounded by sycophants (like Molly Luther!) and announced “There she sits, all the world at her foot.” She had also made the comment, when Harris tried to sue Aldrich, “She hasn’t got a leg to stand on.”

Coral Browne and Radie Harris did arrive at a more agreeable relationship later on, after Coral married Vincent Price in 1974 and moved to the US. It was in her best interest not to have Radie Harris as an enemy at that point.