Book Soup is very excited to welcome Jackie Collins’s daughters, Rory Green and Tiffany Lerman for a special q&a and to share their stories about their mom, the Original Romance Rebel!
Celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Jackie Collins's Hollywood Wives with this gorgeous special edition, the first title in the iconic Hollywood series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author and "queen of sexy stories" (Daily Mirror, London).They're a privileged breed--glamorous, glossy, and demanding. When life is this fast, there are no guarantees. Status is everything, and you're only ever as popular as your husband's latest box-office hit. Elaine Conti: Bronx girl turned Hollywood hostess, determined to relaunch her husband's fading acting career back into orbit. Angel Hudson: Married to a hot young actor and an innocent beauty prey to Hollywood's most unscrupulous men. Montana Grey: Gorgeous renegade, ambitiously driven to succeed in the male-dominated world on the other side of the camera. Hollywood Wives is a scorching blockbuster that exposes the glittering microcosm that is Beverly Hills before racing to a gripping and unexpected climax. Captivating, fun, and deliciously sexy, this classic is its own version of Hollywood magic. (Gallery Books)
Special gift with purchase of the 40th Anniversary edition of Hollywood Wives: A Jackie Collins celebration card and a Laki Naturals Cocktail Bath Soak
Laki Naturals, founded by Jackie's daughter Tiffany Lerman, creates natural bath, body and wellness essentials that help you prioritize self care rituals, nurture the soul, calm the mind and cherish the body. @lakinaturals lakinaturals.com
Please note: You must be present at the event to get the special gift, no phone or online orders will be eligible and a limit of one per person.
Dame Joan Collins has had an illustrious Hollywood career, and has lifted the lid on her showbiz life in her new book, Behind the Shoulder Pads: Tales I Tell My Friends...
By Marc Baker ..
There’s an old-school glamour about Dame Joan Collins that today’s Gen Z actors can only hope to match.
Looking every inch like movie royalty, Joan meets with S Express to give an update on her new book and tour, where she will reminisce about her extraordinary career and days as one of Hollywood’s brightest starlets.
As frank and funny as ever, Joan admits she is not sure the younger generation will experience Tinseltown in the same way she did – and that she wouldn’t necessarily recommend an actor’s life.
“I would not advise anyone to start this unless they are made of steel,” she says when we meet at the Kite Festival in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire.
“You have to face so much rejection and hard times, and it is very hard today to be an actress.”
Joan is here to talk about her new autobiography, Behind The Shoulder Pads, due to be published in September. She’s also looking forward to embarking on a tour in the autumn, with her husband, theatrical manager Percy Gibson by her side.
“He is the light of my life,” she smiles. “We are going to show lots of clips. I have pictures of me eight months pregnant doing the twist, and home movies and lots of films with famous people like Sammy Davis Jr and Diana Dors.
"We’ll just talk, and for the second half people get to ask me questions – whatever they like. The favourite questions are like, ‘Who was your favourite kisser on screen?’ And I would always answer Paul Newman.”
But these days Percy is the only man for the star, who is straight-talking about her exes as well as the love she feels for her husband of 21 years.
“Percy is my rock. We are joined at the hip,” she says. “Hopefully, we will be forever.”
“We became great friends before we started our romance. In the book, I talk about it for the first time as it is very special. He has got everything right.”
The marital bliss Joan has today is a far cry from life after her first walk down the aisle. Talking about her first husband, actor Maxwell Reed, she says, “He was 32 and I was 18. I was a big starlet and he tried to demean me and he was rough and hit me a few times. We had what is called an abusive relationship that lasted a year.
“Percy is a spectacularly special man and that is something that does not happen very often. I am sure there are many, but I just did not happen to marry them before.”
Although it’s clear her confidence has bloomed over the years, as a youngster, Joan remembers disliking her body as she hit puberty.
“I would dress, look and act like a boy. I went to football games with my father, wearing corduroy and brogues and sweaters to hide my body. That only lasted for six months, I am happy to say!” she says.
Despite any childhood struggles, Joan, who tells us she was “a feminist before we knew what a feminist was”, was determined to follow her passions.
“I always wanted to be an actress, and even though I loved movie stars I wanted to be on the stage,” she says.
Joan was discovered at 15, while at drama school RADA, and by 20 she was in Hollywood. She recalls feeling on top of the world when she arrived.
“I got offered $1,000 a week but I wanted $2,500. My agent said I was insane and said I should stay in England and learn my craft. But they gave me the money and I got to play top roles. I was very lucky,” she says.
A long way from home, life may not have been easy for Joan, who negotiated her way through Hollywood well before the #MeToo movement shone a spotlight on predatory types in the movie business.
Thankfully, she’d been given solid advice by her dad, Joseph, who was also in showbiz, about how to deal with unwanted advances.
“There were no stars I dreaded sitting next to, certain producers but not stars. The stars were all gentlemen then,” she tells us.
“But he was concerned about me being a young and pretty girl – he was right as that did happen. As an agent, he saw what young girls were put through.
“He had a very good way of dealing with that and said, ‘Just kick them in the nether region, darling.’”
With a list of handsome co-stars such as Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, Joan certainly encountered some of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs, but which one remains in her memory most?
“Roger Moore,” she says, without hesitation. “I met him when I was 14 – my father was his agent. He was the best-looking man I had ever seen. He came over and said, ‘Hello, I am Roger Moore’ and I was like, ‘Of course you are.’”
Joan adds, “I don’t spend too much time in Hollywood now. Back then we were invited to all the top parties and it was magical. But I took it all for granted as I was so young.
“The parties I go to now are kind of dull. They are like red carpet things in which everybody behaves themselves. If you don’t behave now you are going to get outed and cancelled, or whatever it is they call it.”
Still most famous for her portrayal of Alexis in glossy primetime soap Dynasty, Joan explains that, even in the 80s, being a star was very much about toeing the line for legendary TV producer, Aaron Spelling.
She laughs, “During Covid, Percy and I watched a box set. I thought, ‘Why did they put me in those terrible hats?’ They were appalling. When Aaron Spelling first saw me, he said, ‘We have got to put a lot of hats on that gal,’ so I either had terrible hats or terrible wigs.”
Explaining how both she and Dynasty co-star Linda Evans were also expected to look “really thin”, she reveals that any actresses on set were certainly not encouraged to tuck into the on-set catering.
“They had all this food like doughnuts, pies, bacon butties, chips and sweets on one side and on the other it was carrots, lettuce and celery and that is where we had to eat,” she remembers.
Now, she contemplates how body-positive stars are changing how bodies are seen in real life as well as on screen.
“That feels like progress to me,“ she smiles. “I don’t have to hold my stomach in any more.”
As we enjoyed Joan's latest magazine cover over the weekend, here is a flashback to one of her very 1st covers, this one from 1952 for a very popular women's weekly magazine 'Home Chat', which was in circulation for 64 years! In this issue Joan was a model for a dress pattern for a then fashionable sun frock!
Plain-speaking Joan Collins talks Old Hollywood, famous friends, dreadful hypocrites and why it’s best not to pretend others look glamorous…
Best
What was it like as a young woman in Hollywood?
My father was concerned that, being a young pretty girl, I was going to get ‘#MeToo-ed’. He was right, as that did happen. Then an agent saw what young girls were put through. He had a very good way of dealing with that and said, ‘Just kick them in the nether regions, darling.’ Little tricks for getting out of tricky situations. I did not see a future Hollywood legend when I looked in the mirror when I was younger. I always wanted to be an actress, but in the theatre. Even though I loved movie stars, I wanted to be on the stage.
So, you started out treading the boards…
Yes, I passed my test at RADA aged 15, did three months at rep and learned all the ropes… I also started to do teen modelling, and I got discovered. I was whisked off when I was 20 and it was fantastic. I was not treated at all like a precious young starlet. I did not want to go to Hollywood, I wanted to be in the theatre. I got offered $1,000 a week, but I wanted $2,500 a week. My agent said I was ‘insane’ and said I should stay in England and learn my craft. But they gave me the money and I got to play top roles. I was very lucky. I don’t spend too much time in Hollywood, now.
Are stars better behaved today?
I think people behave themselves, but I can’t speak for Generation Z. The parties I go to now are kind of… dull. They are like Red Carpet things in which everybody does behave. If you don’t behave now you are going to get cancelled. I like young stars, with lots of glamour. I think Nicole Kidman is fabulous and Margot Robbie is one of the great beauties.
You met Frank Sinatra once, didn’t you…?
Joan with Roger Moore & Oscar Lerman
I was once seated between Frank and Gregory Peck at Roger Moore’s birthday party. Frank Sinatra was a tiny bit past his prime when I met him. Barbara Sinatra was sitting beside him saying, ‘Have you taken your pills, Frank?’ He said, ‘That woman never stops!’ He was around 80 then and had a tough life. I thought he was amazing. Back then you had three things going for you in Hollywood and it was youth, beauty and a contract. Those
were solid advantages.
We were invited to the top parties every Saturday night, it was magical.
And Roger Moore…
We met when I was 14 and my father was his agent. I met him in the library of our home. The best-looking man I’d ever seen. He came over and said, ‘Hello, I am Roger Moore.’ I replied, ‘Of course you are.’
Do today’s stars have the same appeal as those from the Golden Age?
Brad [Pitt] and Keanu [Reeves] do. Particularly Brad, he is like one of the movie stars of the Golden Age.
Any fashion advice for Boris Johnson?
I give good fashion advice, but where do you start? The black socks and the sandals and then the shorts. No, I can’t even go there, it would take too long. He’s quite charismatic and very funny and very charming, though. Whatever you may think of him, that is my opinion.
How is your other half, Percy?
Percy is my rock, and we are joined at the hip. Hopefully, we will be forever. He is a spectacularly special man… I am sure there are many, but I just did not happen to marry them before. We became great friends before we started our romance. In my new book, Behind the Shoulder Pads, I talk about it for the first time as it is very special. He has got everything right. Husband number one was 32 and I was 18, I was a big starlet and he tried to demean me. He was rough and hit me a few times. We had an abusive relationship, which lasted a year.
Any guilty pleasures, Joan?
I tell you what I do like, these days… In the afternoons on Channel 5 at 2.15pm, they have old-fashioned movies like My Horrible Neighbour Next Door or My Mother Stole My Boyfriend. They’re good for relaxing. Any time somebody gets shot, they don’t show the blood, or the body.
You have a quick tongue, don’t you…
I have always spoken and said what I thought. I can’t be a hypocrite. I can’t say, ‘Oh you look gorgeous!’ when someone looks hideous, which is what happens in Hollywood. It is embarrassing, I think.
● Behind The Shoulder Pads will be published in September. For details of Dame Joan’s live shows, see joancollins.com/live/
Joan Collins: ‘I have to work. How rich do you think I am?’
She’s survived everything that fame and misfortune have thrown at her , Joan Collins remains the doyenne of divas. Andrew Billen meets her in Claridge’s (of course)
Here is my theory: Dame Joan Collins may not swagger among the pantheon of Britain’s greatest actresses, but her acting was good enough to harm her. Snatched from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for starletdom by the Rank Organisation aged 17 and now still hard at work, two roles define her. The first is the nymphomaniac businesswoman Fontaine Khaled from The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979), the latter film bearing the title that subtitles Collins like an invisible chat-show chyron. The other role, obviously, is Alexis Colby, the vengeance-is-hers ex-wife of the oil tycoon Blake Carrington in Dynasty (1981-89). Yes, before those parts she played a nun and afterwards a Noël Coward heroine or two, but it is those predatory vamps..
You can read the full interview in Saturday's The Times magazine!
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