Jackie Collins

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Jackie Collins
Born	Jacqueline Jill Collins October 4, 1937 London, England
Occupation	Novelist
Children	Tracy Lerman b. 1960? Tiffany Lerman b. 1966 Rory Lerman b. 1968
Parents	Elsa Bessant Joseph William Collins
Relatives	Joan Collins (sister) Bill Collins (brother)
Website http://www.jackiecollins.com

Jacqueline Jill "Jackie" Collins (born 4 October 1937^[1][2]), is a British-born novelist. She is the younger sister of actress Joan Collins. Twenty-four of her twenty-five novels have been on the New York Times bestsellers list^[3].

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Writing career 1.3 Later career 2 Other career highlights 2.1 Personal life 3 Bibliography 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Collins was born in London, the daughter of Elsa Bessant and Joseph William Collins, a theatrical agent whose clients included Shirley Bassey, The Beatles and Tom Jones.^[4] Collins's South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican.^[5] A middle child, Collins has one sister, actress Joan Collins (b.1933), and a younger brother, Bill Collins (b. 1946).

At 15, Collins was expelled from school^[6][3]; after she had been expelled, she threw her school uniform in the Thames^[7].

[edit] Writing career

Collins' first novel, The World Is Full Of Married Men, was published in 1968. Its open sexuality caused novelist Barbara Cartland to call it "nasty, filthy and disgusting"^[8], and it was banned in Australia^[6] and South Africa^[9]. This scandal bolstered sales in the United States and United Kingdom.

Collins' second novel, The Stud, was published in 1969 and followed the sexually charged affairs of married Fontaine Khaled, who owns a fashionable London nightclub. It soon made the bestseller lists.

Collins' third novel, Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick, (first published under the title The Hollywood Zoo in the UK and then retitled Sinners worldwide in 1984) was published in 1971 and again made the bestseller lists.

Lovehead followed in 1974 (retitled The Love Killers in 1989). This novel was Collins' first foray into the world of organised crime — a genre that would later prove to be extremely successful for her. The plot concerned the organised murder of women's right activist and feminist Margaret Lawrence Brown. Three women, two who are Margaret's half sisters and one who she saved from a life of working in the porn industry, plan revenge on the mobster responsible, Enzio Bassalino.

Following this, Collins released two more novels in the mid 1970s: The World Is Full Of Divorced Women in 1975 and her longest novel, Lovers & Gamblers, in 1977.

[edit] Later career

In 1978, Collins co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of her 1969 novel The Stud, starring her older sister Joan as gold-digging adulteress Fontaine Khaled. Following this, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her first novel The World Is Full Of Married Men, which was released in 1979. She also released her seventh novel, The Bitch, a sequel to The Stud, which was also made into a successful film the same year, with Joan reprising her role. The film version of The Bitch was written and directed by Gerry O'Hara, based on Collins' source novel. Also in 1979, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film Yesterday's Hero.

In the 1980s, Collins and her family moved to Los Angeles on a full time basis. Her next novel was Chances, published in 1981 and which she described as her first Harold Robbins-type novel. It was also the first novel to introduce her most famous character, Lucky Santangelo, the "dangerously beautiful" daughter of a one-time gangster Gino Santangelo. While living in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, Collins collected the knowledge and experience to write her most successful novel, Hollywood Wives which was published in 1983. The novel hit the New York Times bestseller list at number one, and went on to sell fifteen million copies worldwide^{[citation needed]}. Marketed as a "scandalous exposé", the novel placed Collins in a powerful position and made her a celebrity of almost equal status to sister Joan, whose own career had taken an upwards direction with her role in the hit US soap drama Dynasty. In 1985, Hollywood Wives was also made into a highly rated mini-series, produced by Aaron Spelling and starring Candice Bergen, Stefanie Powers, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Hopkins, Suzanne Sommers and Mary Crosby. Though credited as "Creative Consultant", Collins later stated that she was never consulted during production and that she did not agree with some of the casting choices. She then went on to write the sequel to Chances entitled Lucky, published in 1985, Hollywood Husbands in 1986, Rock Star in 1988 and a third Lucky Santangelo novel, Lady Boss, in 1990. Also in 1990, Collins wrote and co-produced a mini-series that combined her first two Santangelo novels entitled Lucky Chances.

In 1992, Collins experienced a tremendous loss when her husband of twenty six years, Oscar Lerman, died of cancer. Around this time, Collins also wrote and produced another mini-series based on her Lucky Santangelo novel Lady Boss. She went on to pen several more bestsellers; American Star in 1993, Hollywood Kids in 1994 and the fourth Lucky Santangelo novel Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge in 1996. In the mid-1990s, Collins met Los Angeles businessman Frank Calcagnini to whom she became engaged. Sadly Calcagnini also died of cancer in 1998 as Collins's attempted foray into talk television also floundered. She soon penned a new novel, Thrill, and wrote a four-part series of mini novels to be released in a newspaper every six weeks called L.A. Connections, introducing a new heroine in the form of journalist Madison Castelli. Dangerous Kiss, the fifth Lucky Santangelo novel was published in 1999 and she soon brought back Madison Castelli in Lethal Seduction, published in 2000. In 2001 she published Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, which itself was later turned into a television movie starring Farrah Fawcett and Melissa Gilbert. Deadly Embrace, the sequel to "Lethal Seduction", was published in 2002 and Hollywood Divorces was published in 2003. Her last two recent bestsellers were Lovers & Players in 2006 and Drop Dead Beautiful in 2007. Collins initially said on her website that this would probably be her final Lucky Santangelo novel, but has apparently since refuted this in an interview on BBC Radio 4 on 31st October 2007. Her new novel Married Lovers concerning the affairs of personal trainer Cameron Paradise will be published on June 10th 2008. Colllins is currently working on a new novel, A Very Beverly Hills Murder, about three strong, sexy, powerful women.

The Sunday Times Rich List estimates Collins' personal fortune at £70 million GBP (about $135 million USD) as of 2006. To date she has sold over 400 million copies of her novels which have been translated into 40 languages.

[edit] Other career highlights

In 2004, Collins created a series of specials for E!, which she hosted to great success. She also left her publisher of nearly twenty years, Simon & Schuster, in favour of St. Martin's Press as she grew restless with her current publishing situation. She has also signed a new deal with Fremantle Television to create a television series based on heiresses entitled Rich Girls.

[edit] Personal life

Collins married her first husband, Wallace Austin, in 1959. They had a daughter, Tracy, within the first year of their marriage but divorced after four and a half years.

In 1966 Collins married for the second time to art gallery and Ad-Lib Nightclub owner Oscar Lerman on 15 June 1966, in the home of sister Joan and (then) husband Anthony Newley. Together Collins and Lerman had two daughters, Tiffany (whom she gave birth to only months after her marriage to Lerman in 1966) and Rory in 1968. Lerman also formally adopted Collins' daughter Tracy.

[edit] Bibliography

• The World Is Full Of Married Men (1968)
• The Stud (1969)
• Sinners (first published as Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick) (1971)
• The Love Killers (first published as Lovehead) (1974)
• The World Is Full Of Divorced Women (1975)
• Lovers & Gamblers (1977)
• The Bitch (1979)
• Rock Star (1988)
• American Star (1993)
• Thrill (1998)
• Lovers & Players (2006)
• Married Lovers (2008)
• A Very Beverly Hills Murder (Pending 2009)

Hollywood Series

• Hollywood Wives (1983)
• Hollywood Husbands (1986)
• Hollywood Kids (1994)
• Hollywood Wives: The New Generation (2001)
• Hollywood Divorces (2003)

The Santangelo Novels
See main article The Santangelo Novels

• Chances (1981)
• Lucky (1985)
• Lady Boss (1990)
• Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge (1996)
• Dangerous Kiss (1999)
• Drop Dead Beautiful (2007)

Madison Castelli Series

• L. A. Connections (serialised novel):
  • Power (1998)
  • Obsession (1998)
  • Murder (1998)
  • Revenge (1998)
• Lethal Seduction (2000)
• Deadly Embrace (2002)

[edit] See also

• List of bestselling novels in the United States

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jackie Collins.com - The Official Jackie Collins Web Site
• Jackie Collins at the Internet Book List
• [1] Jackie Collins at NNDB
• Jackie Collins: Getting personal, video interview with stv.tv.