CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : SINS .. NEW WORLD TELEVISION .. USA 1986 ..

 

CBS / NEW WORLD TELEVISION 

Presents

JOAN COLLINS as Helene Junot

In

SINS

Starring

JEAN PIERRE AUMONT as Count DeVille

MARISA BERENSON as Luba Tcherina

STEVEN BERKOFF as Karl Von Eiderfeld

JOSEPH BOLOGNA as Steve Bryant

ELIZABETH BOURGINE as Jeanne

JUDI BOWKER as Natalie Junot

CAPUCINE as Odile

NEIL DICKSON as Hubert DeVille

JAMES FARENTINO as David Westfield

PAUL FREEMAN as Mueller

ARIELLE DOMBASLE as Jacqueline Gore

ALLEN GARFIELD as Adam Gore

GIANCARLO GIANNINI as Marcello D'itri

LAUREN HUTTON as ZZ Bryant

GENE KELLY as Eric Hovland

CATHERINE MARY STEWART as Young Helene

WILLIAM ALLEN YOUNG as Jacques Danvers

TIMOTHY DALTON as Edmond Junot

FEODORE AKINE as Chameleon

FAITH BROOK as Julie Westfield

JOHN MCENERY as Defense Lawyer

REGINE as Madame Liu

ALEXANDRA STEWART as Countess

PETER VAUGHN as Chief Prosecutor

VIVIANE VENTURA as Odette

JUDITH BRYER as Carla

VICTOR SPINETTI as Susumu

Screenplay by Laurence Heath

Based on the Novel by Judith Gould

Music bt Frances Lai  / Michel Legrand

Theme song 'It's Hard To Be Tender' Sung by Carly Simon

Costumes for Joan Collins by Valentino

Produced by Steve Krantz & Joan Collins

Directred by Douglas Hickox

(c) 1986 .. New World Television .. 420 mins .. Colour ..

Joan with Marisa Berenson, Lauren Hutton & Arielle Dombasle

Nothing was too much for Hélène Junot
She was the most successful woman in the fashion world. Women envied her. Men desired her. With her beauty and her brains she built the greatest magazine empire on earth.

But Hélène never forgot the horrors of her childhood in war-torn France, her mother’s brutal murder, the rape of her sister by the Nazis, her nightmarish years as a penniless orphan. And she vowed to repay the sins visited on her family seven-fold as she brilliantly schemed her way to the top.

Promo magazine cover

When it comes to the mini series, there is no better example than the glamour and high adventure of 'Sins'. While the 70's mini series were filled with drama, the excesses of the 80's had yet to engulf tv and series like 'Rich Man Poor Man' '79 Park Avenue' & 'The Moneychangers' ( also featuring Joan) although featuring big business, were high on drama and low on glamour and spectacle. The bulk of the 70's mini series were historical dramas and it wasn't till the success of 'Dallas' & 'Dynasty' that the mini series took off in high style with the racy bestseller as the scource.. Series like 'Lace', 'Hollywood Wives' ,'Mistral's Daughter', 'I'll Take Manhattan', 'Deceptions' among many others were top of the ratings. 

Joan discusses a scene on set..

Nicholas & Rhea ( Judith Gould )

Joan was riding high on 'Dynasty' and since she began on 'Dynasty' she had spent her hiatus between series filming tv movies produced by others, never having much input into the productions.. So she decided in 1985 that she would form her own project and with the help of New World Productions, they found a suitable subject, an exciting bestseller 'Sins' by author Judith Gould. It was the first beseller from Gould, who are actually partners Nicholas Bienes & Rhea Gallagher and 'Sins' was their first book. They since have gone on to write eighteen bestsellers. Joan read the book and loved it and knew it would make compelling viewing on a grand scale. She was excited to be executive producer on the project and with highly respected producer Steve Krantz, she knew it would be a stellar production. Producer Steve Krantz was no stranger to bestsellers as his wife Judith was a multimillion selling authoress herself, having penned 'Scruples', 'Princess Daisy', 'Mistral's Daughter' & 'I'll Take Manhattan' and he had produced the mini series of those titles. Joan was also excited that she would be involved in casting the series as she had her own ideas of who would be ideal for each role. She fought to have Marisa Berenson and Lauren Hutton who were synonymous with style and fashion and she wanted Timothy Dalton to play Helen's lover David. However the network didn't think Timothy was sexy enough and decided on James Farentino, with Timothy getting the role of Helene's tortured brother Edmond. After a search for an actor to play the evil Nazi, Karl Von Eiderfeld, it was decided cult actor Steven Berkoff fitted the bill. Steven was in awe of Joan and in 1994 he cast her in his film version of his play 'Decadence' which is essentially a two hander. She was also delighted to have her old Hollywood friend Gene Kelly on board as one of Helene's husbands Eric Hovland. Gene was thrilled to be working with Joan and he was impressed she was producing the series..

Joan with Gene Kelly

'' Good for you kid. That's showing them that a gal can do it too!''

Joan was also delighted that her good friend legendary designer Valentino would be creating Helen's modern wardrobe of which there were 35 different costumes. In fact the total of Joan's wardrobe changes on the series ran to 85 costumes, a Guiness World record for the most changes by a single production. CBS were delighted with the rushes of the show and were confidant it would be a hit with viewers. 

Joan with Judy Bryer, Giancarlo Gianinni & Madeleine Curtis..

The rival network NBC decided they needed a rival to compete for viewers and came up with a historical mini series 'Peter The Great'. This had also a wonderful cast of veterans, Vanessa Redgrave, Laurence Olivier, Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole. Joan was worried that the star power involved would attract a larger audience than 'Sins'. However Steve Krantz a seasoned veteran with watching the ratings assured her that the general audience would think 'Peter The Great' to cultural for their tastes. Another plus was the fact Joan was still as popular on 'Dynasty' and audiences loved the high drama and glamour of the night time dramas. When the show finally aired, it proved to be a ratings winner and the network were so pleased they wanted Joan to star in another mini series, which turned out to be 'Monte Carlo'. 

Joan on location in Venice with James Farentino

Joan commented to the press at the time..

'' I enjoy projects like 'Sins' as I consider myself an entertainer first and an actress second. I have no longing to appear in the flour sack! Some people make things loved by the critics but no one looks at. I'll take an audience! I also like that my character Helene Junot was not a bitch. I wanted to get away from the 'Dynasty' character a little. This woman is the heroine. She is a strong assertive woman. That's not the same thing as a bitch! Although viewers love Alexis on 'Dynasty' so I did not want to shortchange them. I play Helene very soft and vunerable for the first hour and then she does what she has to do.'' 

Press Card

Judith Krantz who became good friends during the shoot had great memories of the series and commented...

''CBS had been so delighted with the success of 'Mistral's Daughter', that they asked Steve to do another mini-series, the project was called 'Sins'. It was from a book of the same name, all they had going for it in the beginning was the fact Joan Collins had agreed to star in it. A suite had been taken at The Ritz for Joan, plus an additional room for her clothes and yet another room for the excercise equipment she was bringing with her. Steve had made an

Joan with Judith Krantz at launch party

arrangement with Valentino to make a large number of haute-couture outfits for her to wear in her role as a fashion designer and the wardrobe department had created other lavish costumes. 

Joan would be spending the summer in France, with her was her assistant and best friend, Judy Bryer, a delightful woman. I had only watched 'Dynasty' once or twice, but of course I knew what kind of woman Joan Collins was. I would never have guessed that she would turn out to be a major exception to the rule that a movie star can't be a real friend... That the day would come when we'd think of Joan as a down to earth, hospitable, cozy, terrific broad, with a sense of humour all her own, a platoon of loving friends and as a totally devoted mother who has an admirable fortitude that has enabled her to survive a lot of difficult moments. The first time I met her revealed nothing. She was calm, cool and distinctly reserved during a welcoming dinner at the Tour d'Argent. On the first day of shooting, Joan was two hours late, nobody said anything to her about it. On the second and third days, she was also two hours late! Finally Steve decided that he had to intervene by having a serious discussion about her turning up on time. The following day she was three hours late! She made her point. It was decided to rearrange the schedule around the star.. However once she was ready to work, nobody could be more thoroughgoing professional than Joan. She gave her best every moment she was on the set, her best was compellingly watchable. The important thing to understand about her was that she had an absolute daily and addictive need to shop. Those first hours in the morning were the only time during the day when she could look in store windows and spot things she'd later have sent to her hotel to try on, without this she simply wasn't happy.

The entire 'Sins' company would later in the summer, spend ten days in Venice. There Joan worked in costume and showed up right on time for nine days, with only one day off, a Sunday during which we bumped into her on the Lido dressed in jeans. However the day before we were due to leave, I discovered Judy Bryer buying seven new Vuitton suitcases for Joan!

"How could she possibly need them?" I asked.. "She hasn't had a minute off to go shopping since we have been here."

Judy answered... "You'd be surprised!" I later discovered that the Venice shops were sending boatloads of things across the lagoon to Joan's hotel, 'The Cipriani', for her to pick from every night, after she finished work.

Joan takes a break to shop for prints with James Farentino in Venice

Her shopping addiction aside, I discovered that Joan could be irrestibly charming and deliciously funny. That side of her is best described by a story Tony Newley told me one night.

"You know Joan and I used to be married and before our divorce I was quoted correctly as saying that I'd rather kiss Hitler than her! Well, this afternoon I had to spend several hours with Joan discussing our kids schools and Judy, so help me God, I damn near fell in love with her all over again."

The real difficulty on 'Sins' came from Peter Holm, who one day actually stole the books from the production office to study them, looking to find places in the budget where they had been cheated. Of course he found nothing, Peter fomented trouble whenever he could.  Joan was to marry this perfectly dreadful man, we went to the wedding reception she gave at her house in Los Angeles and she would soon divorce him! Call it a giant lapse in judgment..I am sure she would have a more colourful term!''

Joan with James Farentino

'Sins' is certainly one of the most glamorous mini series of the 80's and with a wonderful cast and production values its a must watch..

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'Sins' has been on dvd from various companies over the years, however all these releases are no longer available..

USA Region 1 cover from Olive Films