Joan Collins

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Joan Collins
Born Joan Henrietta Collins
23 May 1933 (1933-05-23) (age 75)
London, England
Years active 1951 - present
Spouse(s) Maxwell Reed (1952-1956)
Anthony Newley (1963-1971)
Ronald S. Kass (1972-1983)
Peter Holm (1985-1987)
Percy Gibson (2002-)

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE (born 23 May 1933) is a Golden Globe Award-winning English actress and bestselling author.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Collins was born in London, the daughter of Elsa (née Bessant), a dance teacher and nightclub hostess, and Joseph William Collins, an agent whose clients included Shirley Bassey, The Beatles and Tom Jones.[1][2] Collins's South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican.[3][4][5] She has one sister, the author Jackie Collins, and a brother, Bill Collins. Collins was educated at the Francis Holland School and then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Collins' childhood was spent in and around Maida Vale and was, according to Collins, an idyllic one with plenty of love, comfort and security. However her father was also a strict disciplinarian and exerted a strong hold over her gentle mother an attitude which came to irritate her daughters who sought to rebel against it. Collins has said of her father that 'He was detached, cold, hard, critical, difficult, acerbic and everyone had to please him.' He himself said 'I love my daughters but I am not the kind of parent who deludes himself that his children are superior to everyone else's. I did not think of them as particularly outstanding in any way.'

At the age of 17 Collins was signed to the J. Arthur Rank Film Company, a highly profitable British studio.

[edit] Early career

In 1951, she made her feature debut as a beauty contest entrant in Lady Godiva Rides Again and in 1952 she starred in the film I Believe in You based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. After mild success, she was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1954 as their answer to MGM's Elizabeth Taylor.

Her notable guest appearances on American TV during the 1960s included Batman, Mission: Impossible, Police Woman, and the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever".

In the 1970s, Collins made several movies then starred in the film versions of her sister Jackie Collins' racy novels The Stud and The Bitch. The films were smash hits in England, becoming the most profitable films since the James Bond series and are still vastly popular on DVD today. Collins has worked with some of the biggest names and movie legends in Hollywood and include Richard Burton, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Gene Kelly, Laurence Harvey, Bob Hope, James Mason, Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Edward G. Robinson, Rod Steiger, Joanne Woodward, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Nigel Hawthorne to name but a few.

[edit] Dynasty

In the 1980s, Collins' was offered a role in the then-struggling prime time TV soap opera Dynasty (1981 - 1989) by producer Aaron Spelling. In Dynasty, which was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro, Collins was hired to play the role of tycoon Blake Carrington's vengeful ex-wife, Alexis.

The role successfully relaunched Collins as a powerful sex symbol and icon of independence. Her performance helped the struggling show and it ultimately became a ratings hit, rivaling Dallas. In 1985, Dynasty was the #1 show in the US, and Collins also went on to become the highest-paid actress on television at the time. She arguably became the most celebrated television star of the 1980s and her character, Alexis, perhaps the most infamous clotheshorse and villainess of the decade. Colllins won many awards for this role and Dynasty was shown in more than 80 countries and is still internationally syndicated. Collins won many awards.

With Dynasty at the height of its success, Collins also began producing and starred in two successful CBS mini-series, Sins and Monte Carlo. She also appeared on the cover of and in a twelve page layout shot by George Hurrell for Playboy magazine at the age of 49 and was often referred to as "the worlds No.1 sex symbol" and "the most beautiful woman on Television".

In Aaron Spelling's final press interview he said of Collins: "We didn't write Joan Collins. She played Joan Collins. Am I right? We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work."

[edit] Later career

After the end of Dynasty in 1989, Collins took time off to be with her family. Over this period she made frequent guest star appearances on series such as Roseanne, The Nanny and Will & Grace while dabbling in films like Decadence and A Midwinter's Tale in the mid 1990s.

In 1992, Joan made her successful Broadway debut in an adaptation of Noel Coward's Private Lives. She also guest starred in six episodes of Aaron Spelling's prime time soap opera Pacific Palisades in 1997. In the late 1990s she appeared in several theatrical tours with the likes of George Hamilton and Stacey Keach. Additionally, she appeared in a West End production of Over the Moon with Frank Langella in 2000.

In 2002 she appeared in a limited run on the legendary daytime soap opera Guiding Light to favorable reviews. She also appeared on South African television, depicting the role of South African journalist, Jani Allan in a comedic spoof. In 2004 she toured the United Kingdom with a revival of the play Full Circle to great success and much critical praise. In 2005 she proved to be a formidable guest host of the popular British quiz show Have I Got News For You, often making quick jokes with the audience.

In early 2006, Collins toured the United Kingdom in A Evening With Joan Collins, a one-woman show in which she detailed the highs and lows of her roller coaster career and life, directed by her husband Percy Gibson. In late 2006 she began a tour of North America in the play Legends! with former Dynasty co-star Linda Evans, which concluded in May 2007 after a successful 30 week, multi city, tour. However, Collins and Evans did not get along during the production, according to Collins, who wrote about her experience on the road in her column in the U.K. Daily Mail. The article was entitled, "Why I'll Never Work With Linda Evans Again,". Collins having said once, Evans knocked her unconscious during the famed 1983 lilypond catfight scene on Dynasty, which Evans denied.

Collins joined the cast of the hit British television series Footballer's Wives for a limited run as a glamorous magazine mogul, named Eva de Wolffe. She also guest starred in the BBC series Hotel Babylon in 2006 as a lonely aristocrat desperate for romance.

In the summer of 2007, Collins signed on to be the new face of the expensive cosmetic brand, Cellex-C and has been promoting Cellex-C Age-less 15 Skin Signaling Serum.

Aside from acting and writing, Collins also has a very successful brand of sunglasses in the UK with 'Atlantic Optical' and in the US with 'New York Eye'.

[edit] Personal life

Collins separated from her first husband, Maxwell Reed and she eventually divorced him in 1956. Her first serious boyfriend after Reed was Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin however she left him for Arthur Loew Jr whom she moved in with after divorcing Reed. The relationship with Loew ended in a row at a New Year's party with Loew screaming at Collins 'you're a fucking bore' and Collins, a raised eyebrow quipping, 'and you're a boring fuck'.

At 26, she embarked on a serious affair with an as then unknown Warren Beatty which would last for two years, at 22 he was four years younger than her. They became engaged and Collins was the only woman Beatty proposed to until Annette Bening.

Collins regularly consulted an astrologer who told her that one day she would be very successful and always saved from physical and financial disaster at the eleventh hour. The gossip mills were set ablaze when Collins walked away from her Hollywood contract and a successful career in the early 1960s to marry Anthony Newley, an award winning singer, actor and film composer. With Newley she had two children, a daughter, Tara (now a writer and TV presenter) and a son, Sacha (who is now a highly regarded artist).

In 1972 Collins married her third husband, Ron Kass, who had been the president of Apple Records during the reign of The Beatles. During their marriage Collins had her third and final child, a daughter, Katyana (a photographer). In 1980 Katy was struck by a speeding car and went into a coma. Collins and her husband bought a trailer and parked it in the hospital parking lot in order to sit beside their daughter day and night. Katyana emerged from her coma a few months later, although it would take years for her to fully recover.

Collins' third marriage ended in divorce in 1983, although she and Kass remained very close until his death from cancer in 1986. In 1985, Collins married Swedish singer Peter Holm in a ceremony in Las Vegas. The marriage lasted a year and the divorce proceedings lasted just as long with a media circus ensuing. Collins left Los Angeles and returned to London where she lived with art dealer Robin Hurlstone for over a decade.

In 2001, Collins met theatrical company manager Percy Gibson, a man 32 years her junior. (When questioned about the age difference, Collins quipped "If he dies, he dies.") They married on February 17, 2002 at Claridge's Hotel in London and they have remained exceedingly happy since and are working together on may projects.

[edit] Personal politics

After decades of flirting with British politics on May 24, 2004, Collins joined the United Kingdom Independence Party.[6] In October 2004, Collins stated she was not a supporter, but rather a patron of the party.

In early 2005, Collins commented that she had rejoined the Conservative Party, stating, "The Labour Party doesn't care about the British people".[7]

She also continues to contribute as The Spectator Magazine Guest Diarist, something she has done since the late 1990s. Collins also writes occasionally for The Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph, and in the USA, Harpers Bazaar.

She has commented that she was a huge supporter of former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Collins is also a devout monarchist, remaining loyal to the British Royal Family.

[edit] Charitable work

Collins has publicly supported several charities for several decades. In 1983 she was named a patron of the International Foundation for Children with Learning Disabilities, earning the foundation's highest honour in 1988 for her continuing support. Additionally, 1988 also saw the opening of the Joan Collins Wing of the Children's Hospital of Michigan. In 1990 she was made an honorary founding member of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1994 Collins was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the Association of Breast Cancer Studies in Great Britain for her contribution to breast cancer awareness in the UK. In 2003 she became a patron of the Shooting Star Children's Hospice in Great Britain while continuing to support several foster children in India, something she has done for the past 25 years.

[edit] Homes

Although a US resident, with a condo in the popular Los Angeles highrise Sierra Towers, as well as a condo on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Collins still maintains British citizenship and owns a home in the fashionable neighborhood of Belgravia in London as well as a villa in La Croix Valmer, a small seaside village outside St. Tropez in the South of France.

[edit] Books

Collins has also established herself as an author. In addition to her bestselling novels (Prime Time, Love & Desire & Hate, Infamous, Star Quality, Misfortune's Daughters) she has written 5 lifestyle books (The Joan Collins Beauty Book, My Secrets, My Friends' Secrets and Joan's Way: The Art of Living Well) and memoirs (Past Imperfect, Katy: A Fight for Life and Second Act).

In September 1991, Joan Collins delivered a 690-page manuscript to Random House. However, the publishing firm later demanded the return of its $1.3 million advance from Collins, claiming she failed to deliver completed books as per her contract. In court, Collins stated that Random House had received her novel, The Ruling Passion, in 1991 plus another novel, Hell Hath No Fury, in September 1992. She also contended that Random House had not provided the editorial assistance she had expected.

Her Random House contract, negotiated by agent Irving Lazar, required that she was to be paid even if her completed manuscripts were not published. On February 29, 1996, a jury determined that she could keep the advance for the first novel, but the publisher did not have to pay for the second manuscript since it was a reworking of the first. Judge Ira Gammerman then ruled that Random House owed Collins $925,000 plus interest for a grand total of $1.3 million. Collins became a heroine to many writers who had been treated badly by their publishers.

The Guinness Book of World Records cites Collins as holding the record for retaining the world's largest unreturned payment for an unpublished manuscript.

  • Past Imperfect: An Autobiography (1978)
  • The Joan Collins Beauty Book (1980)
  • Katy: A Fight for Life, A Memoir (1982)
  • Portraits of a Star (1987)
  • Prime Time, a novel (1988)
  • Love and Desire and Hate, a novel (1990)
  • My Secrets (1994)
  • Too Damn Famous, a novel (1995)
  • Health, Youth and Happiness: My Secrets (1995)
  • Second Act: An Autobiography (1996)
  • Infamous, a novel (1996)
  • My Friends Secrets (1999)
  • Joan's Way: Looking Good, Feeling Great (2002)
  • Star Quality, a novel (2002)
  • Misfortune's Daughters, a novel (2004)
  • The Art of Living Well: Looking Good, Feeling Great (2007)

[edit] TV adverts

Beginning in the early 50s' Collins appeared as a teenager in a Gas Board Commercial, then in the early 70s, Collins appeared in television and magazine advertisements for British Airways, in which she was referred to as their "Most Frequent Flyer of First Class" a title which she has maintained, having promoted the airline for more than three decades. In 1978, she appeared alongside Leonard Rossiter in a series of Cinzano TV commercials in which the drink was spilled down her character's dress. This was named as one of the Top 100 British Adverts in a Channel 4 poll. In the mid 1980s, Collins appeared in print advertisements for Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Sanyo and was the face of Revlon's Scoundrel perfume. In 1992 she appeared in internationally broadcast television commercials for Marca Bravaria beer while also acting as the face of the perfume Spectacular. Also around this time, she starred in an advert for the Rover Metro. Since 2000 she has appeared in TV ads for UK retailer Marks & Spencer, Olympus cameras, Old Navy and Marriott hotels. In 2007 Collins fronted two high profile advertising campaigns. The first was as the face of skincare company Cellex-C's Ageless 15 Skin Serum. The second was as the face of the British Royal Mail's Christmas campaign.

[edit] Music

In 1956 she sang the title song in the musical The Opposite Sex.

In 1959 she sang It's Great Not To Be Nominated at the Academy Awards with fellow British actress Angela Lansbury and Dana Wynter.

In 1962 she sang Lets Not Be in the film The Road to Hong Kong with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

In 1963 she teamed up with husband, Anthony Newley and Peter Sellers to record the album Fool Britannia which made the UK Top 10.

In 1968 she sang a zodiac-themed duet with Anthony Newley in Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? called Chalk & Cheese.

In 1979 she sang in The Bitch.

In 1983 she sang "The Boys in the Back Room" a Marlene Dietrich song from the 1930s film Destry Rides Again in an episode of Dynasty.

In 2001 she sang several numbers in These Old Broads with Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine.

[edit] Titles

In 1997, Collins was granted the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in honour of her contribution to the arts and ongoing charity work.

[edit] Awards

  • 1957: Motion Picture Magazine Award, Most Promising New Star
  • 1978: Saturn Award nomination, Best Actress in a Science Fiction film, Empire of the Ants.
  • 1982: Golden Globe nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1982: Hollywood Women's Press Club, Female Star of 1982.
  • 1982: Golden Apple Award, Female Star of the Year.
  • 1983: Emmy Award nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1983: Golden Globe, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1983: Cable ACE Award nomination, Best Actress in a Drama Series, Faerie Tale Theatre's Hansel and Gretel.
  • 1983: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Career Achievement.
  • 1984: Soap Opera Digest Award, Outstanding Villainess in a Primetime Drama Series, Dynasty.
  • 1984: Golden Globe nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1985: People's Choice Award: Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, Dynasty.
  • 1985: Soap Opera Digest Award, Outstanding Villainess in a Primetime Drama Series, Dynasty.
  • 1985: Golden Globe nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1986: Soap Opera Digest Award nomination, Outstanding Villainess in a Primetime Drama Series and Outstanding Actress in a Comic Relief Role in a Primetime Drama Series, Dynasty.
  • 1986: Golden Globe nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1987: Golden Globe nomination, Best Actress in a TV Series (Drama), Dynasty.
  • 1988: Soap Opera Digest Award nomination, Outstanding Villainess in a Primetime Drama Series, Dynasty.
  • 1996: OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II for her contribution to the arts and ongoing charity work.
  • 1999: Millennium Award of Achievement, Golden Camera Film Council.
  • 2001: Golden Nymph, Outstanding Female Actor, Monte Carlo Television Festival.
  • 2002: Icon Award, Maxim Magazine UK.
  • 2005: Lifetime Achievement Award, San Diego International Film Festival.
  • 2008: Legend Award, Los Angeles Italia-Film, Fashion and Arts Festival.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Theatrical credits

[edit] Television credits

[edit] References

  1. ^ Joan Collins Biography (1933-)
  2. ^ Welcome to stacks.ajc.com
  3. ^ Joan Collins: low cunning and high drama - Telegraph
  4. ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF3F1C6E5E94DE&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
  5. ^ Search Results
  6. ^ http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2971850
  7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3964151.stm

[edit] External links