PHOTO OF THE DAY EXTRA : JOAN IS A REAL GEM FOR SKETCHY DAVID!

JOAN WITH DAVID AT CLARIDGE'S TO CREATE THE SKETCH

JOAN RELAXES BETWEEN POSES

Continuing her busy schedule of events and projects, Joan spent the morning at Claridges with superb artist David Downton, whom Joan is a big admirer off, as David is of Joan.. David who created wonderful portraits of Joan over the years from the tour poster of her 2004 play 'Full Circle', to the cover of her latest book 'The World According To Joan',  will have his own permanent exhibit of his sketches in the lobby of Claridges..

DITA VON TEESE ONE OF THE SUBJECTS

 Depicting famous and fashionable faces who have graced the timeless hotel, Joan will of course be a standout no doubt..David celebrated the launch at a glamorous lunch back in July at Claridges with some of his favourite ladies, Erin O' Connor, Marie Helvin and the timeless always elegant Carmen Dell' Orefice, who is one of Joan's favourite style icon's.

DAVID'S MOST RECENT SKETCH OF CARMEN

 No doubt these ladies will be part of the gallery when it is unveiled along with Burlesque Queen Dita Von Teese..

DAVID'S TRIBUTE TO THE LEGENDARY DAME ELIZABETH

DAVID WITH CARMEN AT THE LAUNCH

David was thrilled to be chosen as the iconic hotel's first 'Artist in Residence' and commented.
"Glamour and an effortless assurance are the hallmarks of Claridges. I am excited and honoured to be the first ever artist in residence at high fashions home from home!"
 Watch this space for updates.. Thanks to Joan for sharing these wonderful shots from this morning..

JERRY HALL ANOTHER OF DAVID'S FAVOURITE LADIES

ON THE COVER REVISITED : TITBITS..JANUARY 1981..

This cover feature a pre-Dynasty Joan from 1981..

PHOTO OF THE DAY : JOAN'S A TAPESTRY OF COLOUR!

This rare shot of Joan was for a magazine fashion shoot from the 80's ...

PHOTO OF THE DAY : TWO'S COMPANY WHEN ENTERTAINING!

This lovely photo of Joan and Percy taken for a OK! magazine shoot, was not used in the final magazine.. Joan looks sensational as ever, Percy ain't too bad either!

EVENT UPDATE: MASTERCLASS THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET..WED SEPTEMBER 28TH 2011..

MYSELF WITH JOAN AT THE THEATRE ROYAL



MASTERLASS RECEPTION TICKET

MYSELF WITH JOAN'S DAUGHTER TARA NEWLEY

PROGRAM FROM THE EVENT

I spent a lovely day in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket to attend a Masterclass by Joan, followed by a special afternoon Champagne Tea, catered by The Ritz Hotel to benefit the Masterclass Charity.. No photos were allowed during the on stage speech by Joan.. However will try and get a photo from the theatre as they did film the event for their student program.. However I did get some photos with Joan at the reception..  Other friends took lots of photos which I will share in due course.. Here are the available ones and the ticket and program..

JOAN BACKSTAGE WITH TARA AND KATY
(THANKS TO JOAN FOR SHARING THIS LOVELY PHOTO)

SHOW NOTES

JOAN WITH MY FRIEND JOHN FRENCH WHO CAME FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO SEE HIS FAVOURITE GAL!

PHOTO OF THE DAY : REGAL JOAN. DRESSED TO IMPRESS A QUEEN.

This rare photo features Joan in a wardrobe photo in a gown for the film 'The Virgin Queen', which also starred Bette Davis and Richard Todd..

VIDEO UPDATE.. 60 MINUTES JOAN .. SEPT 2011

PROMO UPDATE : SAINSBURY'S LIMITED OFFER..THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JOAN..

Just a reminder that Sainsbury's limited time offer offering a copy of Joan's new best-seller, 'The World According To Joan', for £5, will end on October 4th...  So grab your copy now!

PHOTO OF THE DAY : PRETTY IN PINK..THAT'S JOAN!

Joan recently appeared on Lorraine Kelly's ITV morning show.. I did feature a small photo from the show, but here is a full scale shot from the show...

ON THE COVER : PICTUREGOER .. FEBRUARY 1959

To tie-in with the photo of the day, here is one of many cover's featuring Joan on the classic 'Picturegoer' magazine....

PHOTO OF THE DAY : JOAN HEADS THE CLASS AS A PARTY GOER!

This rare photo from 1953 features Joan at the annual Picturegoer Magazine party.... Joan has appeared in the magazine on many an occasion...

PHOTO OF THE DAY : GLAM-MA JOAN HAS A SHOULDER TO LEAN ON!

This lovely portrait features Joan with son Sacha and his daughter Ava Grace.....

FILM FOCUS : ELLIS IN GLAMOURLAND.. 2004...

UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Presents
AN INDEPENDENT FEATURES BENELUX PRODUCTION
ELLIS IN GLAMOURLAND

Starring

LINDA DE MOL as Ellis

JOAN COLLINS as Susan

CHRIS TATES as Gigs

KEES HULST as Meindert Jan

TJEBBO GERRITSMA as Jack

HORACE COHEN as Jos

JOAN NEDERLOF as Kitty Mendoza

JACQUELINE BLOM as Anita

TJITSKE REIDINJA as Roosje

NELLY FRIJDA as Moeder Ellis

HYLKE DE HAAN as Thijsje

RUBEN VAN DER MEER as Vriend Jack

     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Screenplay by Mischa Alexander
  Edited by Eija De Lange
    Cinematography / Piotr Kukla
       Music by Martijn Schimmer
       Produced by Alain De Levita / John Nijenhuis
                Directed by Pieter Kramer

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ellis feel's her life is going nowhere, a single mother with a mundane job as a cleaner in a top class hotel and no man in her life.. But her life is about to change when she comes to the attention of the Ultra Glamorous Romance Guru, Susan, who is at the hotel to launch her new book .. 'How To Marry A Millionaire'.. Susan chooses Ellis to take part in her 'find a rich man course' and the scene is set for a transformation of the highest order.. Where one day as a scrubber can turn into many days of excitment as we follow Ellis In Glamourland!

 2004 100mins  Dutch/English   R12  colour Reg 2 dvd Universal .

JOAN WITH LINDA AT THE PREMIERE

This enjoyable comedy drama features popular European TV star Linda De Mol as the hotel cleaner who finds her life changing at a rapid rate.. Joan makes an appearance as the glamorous international relationship guru, in town to launch her new book and teach a selected few the art of bagging a millionaire.. Joan spent a few days in the Netherlands filming her scenes and the entire cast and crew were in awe of her.. The dialogue in the film is dutch, but Joan's scenes are in English.. The film was a box office hit in the Netherlands and even won The Golden Film Award, which recognises domestic  box office achievement in the Netherlands.

PREMIERE INVITE

Screenwriter Mischa Alexander won The Golden Calf Award at the 2004 Netherlands Film Festival, for best screenplay... All in all a charming film that is worth a look, with Joan as an added bonus...

(C) 2011 .. Mark McMorrow..

PROMO UPDATE : ELLIS IN GLAMOURLAND TRAILER ..2004.

PHOTO OF THE DAY : TIME FLIES FOR JOAN!

Here is a rare photo of Joan arriving in Rome to start filming the biblical epic 'Esther and the King'.. It may have been 1960, but Joan is still globetrotting and is airborne again to return to London from the South of France for her latest round of engagements....

PROMO FLASHBACK : A PRIME TIME PROMOTION..

Here is the cover for a glossy USA press kit produced to promote Joan's first novel 'Prime Time' in 1988....

BETWEEN THE COVERS : JOAN'S A PRIME TIME STAR FOR AARON!

This week's book exerpt is from the highly enjoyable 1996 autobiography 'A Prime Time Life', by legendary producer Aaron Spelling, published by St Martins Press. The producer of such tv classics as 'The Love Boat', 'Fantasy Island', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Hotel', Starsky & Hutch', 'Hart To Hart', 'Vegas' and of course 'Dynasty', Aaron was also a good friend of Joan's and one of her biggest admirers.. Joan equally full of praise for Aaron called him 'The P.T.Barnum of television.' This exerpt is edited...
'I've been blessed with at least one smash hit for every decade. In the 1960's it was The Mod Squad.. Charlie's Angels in the 1970's and of course nothing was bigger for me than Dynasty in the 1980's.. The story of greed, lust and unhappiness amongst the rich in Colorado. It all started on the three hour Dynasty pilot, created and written by the very talented Esther and Richard Shapiro. Dynasty was a big hit because it showed that rich people have as many problems as poor folks and there is nothing TV viewers love more than to see rich people skewered. Like Charlie's Angels, Dynasty was pure camp. Women wore fashionable hats and designer gowns and fought continuously with each other. There were long lost sons and mothers, lost babies, kings and queens of foreign lands, illegitimate offsprings, divorces, secret pasts, insatiable sex lives, beautiful mansions and sleek cars.

Dynasty was responsible for showing that people over forty still fall in love and have sex. We had a terrific cast, headed by John Forsythe, Joan Collins and Linda Evans. The show was developed as our answer to CBS' Dallas. Prime time serials were in then and ABC wanted one of their own. Esther Shapiro, a former vice-president of programming of ABC, left the network with a commitment to get a show on the air and she came to us to do the show with her. Originally it was titled, Oil, we hired George Peppard to play Blake Carrington. But after a few days of filming, it was clear we had made a mistake and had to let George go. He was a fine actor, but just wasn't right for the part. He played Blake much softer than we envisioned him. I called my friend John Forsythe, who had been the voice of Charlie for me on Charlie's Angels. John was better known for movies and his role in the sitcom Bachelor Father. John's a real trouper and got to the set for us within days, he flew in from Arizona without even reading the script. I had not seen Linda since The Big Valley days. Like Farrah and Jackie on Angels, Linda started out in commercials and did guest spots on many 1960's shows, like My Favourite Martian, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Bachelor Father, where she played a girlfriend of John Forsythe's niece! Her big break was being cast as Audra, Barbara Stanwyck's daughter on The Big Valley. When Linda came into my office to read for the part, we all knew instantly she was Krystle Carrington. She brought a vulnerability to the role that could have easily became bland, compared to others. Krystle was the heroine of Dynasty, in other words, an angel in flowing, broad-shouldered gowns! The show that Dynasty was in the beginning bore no relation to what it became. Audiences just didn't care until we realised we needed to shift gears and become a glossy soap about the rich and focus more on the women. What really turned it around was the introduction of our J.R, super bitch Alexis Colby, Blake's former wife. Viewers love a good villain and Esther and Richard wrote her brilliantly. We originally had our eyes set on Italian legend Sophia Loren for a role on Dynasty and in fact spent many weeks negotiating with her husband. But we couldn't work things out. I don't think Sophia was ready to do television, which operates at a different speed than movies. Sophia was still a big movie star, it didn't make any sense for her to plunge into TV at that time. I hit upon the idea of British actress Joan Collins as Alexis after she played Cleopatra on an episode of Fantasy Island. She camped up the role so beautifully that I was blown away. Others, however didn't agree with me about Joan as Alexis. We finally convinced ABC, luckily for them and us!

JOAN AS CLEO ON FANTASY ISLAND

Joan was best known as the sexy British movie star of the 1960's who had also appeared on such shows as Batman, as The Siren, Star Trek and Space 1999. When she joined Dynasty, she made a smashing entrance in our second season premiere as the surprise new villainess. Our only problem, once we hired Joan, was that she wouldn't be available for four months, as she was contracted to do the play 'Murder in Mind' in England. But we believed so strongly in her that we agreed and on the first season cliffhanger we had an extra in dark glasses, standing in as Alexis. If anyone ever proved that life began at 40, it was Joan. In 1983, at the age of 50, she posed seminude for Playboy and the issue was an instant sellout. In 1985, TV Guide named her the most beautiful woman on television.

Some observations on Joan... She's a real character, very funny and carefree. The press always reported that she was tough to deal with. The truth is that if a man says something, he's strong, but if it comes from a woman, she's a bitch, that's just not fair. Joan was a real trouper for the show, but she's also a character, that's the fun of Joan. She has an attitude that if you don't know her may come off as haughty, but it's all an act. She puts people on beautifully. I think Joan carries some of Alexis with her when she goes out and who wouldn't! It's a great, campy character. People confuse Alexis with Joan because she's so damn good at it. When we created Models Inc, we narrowed our choices down to two actresses to play the head of the modeling agency, Joan and Linda Gray. Fox said we could go with either one, but Joan made the decision for us. She was unavailable when we wanted to start.

Another major star of the show was Nolan Miller and his incredible clothes. We spent a fortune just on the costumes alone and no one had ever seen extravagent clothes like that on television. The principal actors would change clothes sometimes as often as six or seven times per episode. After nine great years it was time to sign off. Thanks to the efforts of Esther and Richard Shapiro, who had the original idea and stayed with us all the way. Dynasty had a fantastic run. It is still playing all over the world and just recently it debuted in Russia. I can't wait to hear John, Joan, Linda and Heather dubbed in Russian!
(c) AARON SPELLING 1996...

PHOTO OF THE DAY : JOAN'S ALL WRAPPED UP AND READY TO GO!

This photo features Joan and Percy on one of their many jaunts through Heathrow Airport!

Joan is all packed and ready to return to London from her St Tropez home to prepare for a series of events in the next few weeks.. Next Wed she will appear at The Theatre Royal Haymarket for a special Masterclass where she will discuss her career, followed by an exclusive Afternoon Champagne Tea hosted by Joan.. On Saturday and Sunday October 1st /2nd Joan will appear at The Leicester Square Theatre for her one woman show 'One Night With Joan'.. The show runs for three performances only on Sat 1st at 7.30 pm, with a matinee Sunday 2nd at 3.00pm and Eve at 7.30pm.. I will be attending the Masterclass event plus One Night With Joan.. Watch this space for all the updates!

PHOTO OF THE DAY : CHECK OUT JOAN.. SHE RANKS AS A TOP STARLET..

This rare photo from 1952, features Joan at a shoot when she was a rank starlet...