CHARITY UPDATE : TABLE TALK FOUNDATION PRIZE WINNING LUNCH .. THE RITZ LONDON .. THURSDAY OCTOBER 21ST 2021 ..

 To help support a new charity Table Talk Foundation, which raises funds to support food education for the next generation and to support the locat hospitality industry, Joan donated a lunch at The Ritz in collobaration with chef John Williams which had been up for auction during the Foundation's launch back in July.. This afternoon the lucky wiining bidders enjoyed a special afternoon with Joan & Percy at The Ritz and a sumptuous time was had by all!

TV ALERT : THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW .. ITV 1 ... SATURDAY OCTOBER 23RD 2021 .. 21.30..

 To promote her Sunday Times best selling book 'My Unapologetic Diaries', Joan dropped into chat to Jonathan Ross as his star guest on The Jonathan Ross Show this Saturday 23rd at 21.30 on ITV1 ..

PROMO UPDATE : THE RYAN TURBIDY SHOW DUBLIN.. RTE RADIO 1 ... FRIDAY OCTOBER 15TH 2021 ..

 

Joan chatted to Ryan Turbidy on RTE Radio 1 last Friday to promote her latest bestseller 'My Unapologetic Diaries'.. 

You can listen to the interview at the following link!

LISTEN TO JOAN ON THE RYAN TURBIDY SHOW HERE!

PRESS UPDATE : THE GUARDIAN .. SUNDAY OCTOBER 17TH 2021 ..

 

Interview

Joan Collins: ‘I’m absolutely a feminist but I’ll let somebody carry my bags’ by Michael Hogan..

The original vamp on 70 years of showbiz life, having Boris Johnson as a boss and why partying is a dying art..

Sun 17 Oct 2021 09.30 BST

Dame Joan Collins was born in Paddington and trained at Rada. She began appearing in films while still in her teens, with more than 70 credits including Our Girl Friday, Land of the Pharaohs, The Virgin Queen, The Stud and The Bitch. During the 80s, she found fame as Alexis Colby in the US soap Dynasty, a role that won her a Golden Globe. In recent years she returned to TV with the likes of The Royals, Benidorm and American Horror Story. Her new memoir, My Unapologetic Diaries, is out now.

Did returning to your 90s diaries whisk you back in time?
Absolutely. They weren’t written in the usual way. I never put pen to paper. Between 1989 and 2006, I talked into a Dictaphone practically every night when I got home, then put it away and forgot about it for years. When I mentioned these tapes to my agent, he thought it might make an interesting book. Because it was all spoken, people say it feels like they were there.

You begin the book by saying you’ve been called “Britain’s bad girl, England’s answer to Ava Gardner, a bitch, a pouting panther and a coffee-bar vixen”. Did you secretly like any of those descriptions?
[Laughs] Not really. I was a teenager appearing in British films when I was called most of them. Some were a bit upsetting, but you can’t let things get to you. To stay in this business, you have to develop a thick skin and strong character. I got my first reviews when I was 17. Some were very nasty and made me cry. A lot. But I got over it.

Reviews don’t make you cry any more, I’m guessing?
God no.

Roger Moore is a recurring presence in the diaries. Who would you like to see become the new James Bond?
Either James Norton or Tom Hardy would be good. I’ve known Roger since I was 15. We met at a theatrical agent’s office and have been friends ever since.

You run into Donald Trump several times in the book but don’t seem enamoured of him…
Tell me someone who is enamoured of Donald Trump.

You once told John Major to wear smaller spectacles. Did he take your advice?
He did get better glasses eventually, so perhaps he listened. I liked him very much. I was with Shirley Bassey at an event at Downing Street and right off the cuff, he made one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard. Shirley and I were gobsmacked. We couldn’t work out why he was so disliked as prime minister.

You also say Boris Johnson “looks like he brushes his hair with an eggbeater”…
Well, he was my boss for a while. He was editor of the Spectator when I was a guest diarist.

You seemed terribly upset by the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Why did it affect you so much?
I just thought she was an iconic figure and a very sweet woman whenever I met her. At one charity event, she was overawed by the paparazzi and screaming crowds, so she asked me how I stand all the attention. She seemed very vulnerable. I’d also been told 10 days before her death, when I was at this little restaurant in Saint-Tropez, that Diana had just been there with her boyfriend Dodi and her two boys. They were laughing and dancing around, like any young family. Hearing how happy she’d been made it all the more tragic.

You’re celebrating your 70th year in showbiz. What was the most enjoyable decade?
If I had to pick one, it would be the 60s. I had two young children and only worked when I wanted. I was under no pressure to be the breadwinner because I was married to Tony [her second husband, Anthony Newley]. We were living in Hollywood and had lots of great friends – the English contingent like Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers and Diana Dors. It was a fun time, free of stress. Probably the only decade that was.

Do you miss the golden age of Hollywood glamour?
What I miss is the glamour of parties. That culture doesn’t seem to exist any more. What they have now is the red carpet, which is all fake. Everybody gets dressed up in borrowed dresses and jewels, they pose for Instagram, then they go home. There’s not really a party scene. Or if there is, it’s very top-secret.

There’s lots of what you call “boozing and schmoozing” in the book. What’s your tipple nowadays?
I’ll have a glass of wine with dinner. Sometimes a martini, but I don’t drink excessively. Practically everyone I know doesn’t drink any more. It’s a dying art.

You’ve written 18 books now. What would your late novelist sister Jackie make of that?
She’d be very proud. She wrote 36, so I’ve got some catching up to do, but that was her main profession. Sony are supposedly doing a biopic about us called Joan & Jackie. I’m waiting eagerly for a meeting with the scriptwriter next week, actually.

You once called yourself a “born survivor”. Does that still apply?
I hope so. I don’t know if I was born that way, but I certainly became one. I’m lucky in that I’m very healthy – I’m touching wood as I say this – and have all my faculties, a great family and great friends.

What’s in the pipeline for you?
The BBC is making a documentary about my life, which is exciting. I’ve got a couple of other big projects coming up but it’s unlucky to talk about them. In the book, I mention how I was going to play Cruella de Vil, then I didn’t. That happens if you speak too soon. Now I never talk about anything until the clapperboard goes clap. Cruella and Cleopatra are the only two roles I regret missing out on.

You fought for pay parity with your male co-stars on Dynasty. Were you ahead of your time in that respect?
I’d been outspoken about equal pay since I was 20. I just don’t see why men should be paid more. If they’re a bigger star, maybe. If it’s Tom Cruise and Jane Whoever, then he should get more money. If it’s Meryl Streep and Sam Nothing, of course she should get more money. When that doesn’t apply, pay should be the same.

Would you describe yourself as a feminist?
Absolutely. I did long before that word was widely used. I’ve always believed in equality. Women can do whatever men do and they have the right to do so. The only possible area where women aren’t equal is physical strength. That’s why I’ll let somebody carry my bags. And, well, there’s a lot of bags.

The diaries become a charming love story towards the end when, at 66, you meet Percy Gibson, your fifth and current husband…
Thank you, that’s sweet of you to say. And best of all, the love story still continues.

• My Unapologetic Diaries by Joan Collins is published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply..

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CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS THE MOVIE .. FOX SEARCHLIGHT / BBC FILMS.. UK .. 2016 ..

 

FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES / BBC FILMS

Presents

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS THE MOVIE

Starring

JENNIFER SAUNDERS as Edina Monsoon

JOANNA LUMLEY as Patsy Stone

JANE HORROCKS as Bubble

JULIA SAWALHA as Saffy

JUNE WHITFIELD as Mother

MO GAFFNEY as Bo

CELIA IMRIE as Claudia Bing

CHRISTOPHER RYAN as Marshall

KATHY BURKE as Magda

HARRIET THORPE as Fleur

HELEN LEDERER as Catriona

WANDA VENTHAM as Violet

BARRY HUMPHRIES as Charlie / Dame Edna

MARCIA WARREN as Lubilana

DAWN FRENCH as Interviewer

REBEL WILSON as Air Stewardess

MARK GATISS as Joel

JANET TOUGH as Huki Muki

with 

JOAN COLLINS as Herself

And

LULU   GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE  GRAHAM NORTON

LILY COLE  ALEXA CHUNG  STELLA MCCARTNEY

DAISY LOWE  KATE MOSS  RICHARD ARNOLD  

JERRY HALL   EMMA BUNTON   CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS

KATHY LETTE JUDITH CHALMERS   JON HAMM 

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER  LA VOIX  SUZY MENKES

Screenplay by Jennifer Saunders

Music by Jake Monaco

Produced by Damian Jones & Jon Plowman

Directed by Mandie Fletcher

(c) 2016 .. 91mins .. UK..  Color ..

After accidently knocking Kate Moss into the Thames at a high profile Fashion event, Edina & Patsy find themselves persued by both the media and international police.. To escape scrutiny they flee to France, with much mayhem to follow!

'Ab Fab The Movie' excels iteslf in the use of cameos, with Joan making a brief poolside appearance at the end of the film adding a touch of ultimate glamour. The film itself will of course be only of interest to the many fans of the classic BBC series.. Jennifer Saunders originally hinted there may be a sequel, but as this film was not a big success, she decided not to do anymore Ab Fab, but instead consentrate on other projects...

Joan with Jennifer Saunders on set

You can buy the film on Bluray here!

BUY ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS THE MOVIE ON BLURAY HERE..

CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : MOLLY MOON AND THE INCREDIBLE BOOK OF HYPNOTISM .. AMBER ENTERTAINMENT .. UK .. 2015 ..

 

AMBER ENTERTAINMENT

& LIP SYNC PRODUCTIONS

Present

MOLLY MOON AND THE INCREDIBLE BOOK OF HYPNOTISM..

Starring

ANNE MARIE DUFF as Lucy Logan The Librarian

RAFFEY CASSIDY as Molly Moon

EMILY WATSON as Miss Trinklebury

LESLEY MANVILLE as Miss Adderstone

DOMINIC MONAGHAN as Nockman

SADIE FROST as Mrs Alabaster

CELIA IMRIE as Edna The Cook

BEN MILLER as Mr Alabaster

OMID DJALILLI as Barry Rix

GARY KEMP as Cregg

& JOAN COLLINS as Tracey - Nockman's Mother

Screenplay by Tom Butterworth

From the Novel by Georgia Byng

Misic by Peter Raeburn

Produced by Simon Bosanquet  Georgia Byng  Lawrence Elman

Directed by Christopher N. Rowley

(c)  2015 .. 98mins .. UK .. Color ..

Molly Moon (Raffey Cassidy) lives in an orphanage with her best friend Rocky (Jadon Carnelly-Morris) and her pug dog, Petula. After discovering a book about hypnotism, and learning how to hypnotise, she uses her powers to escape to London and star in a play on the West End. But when a bank robber wants the book for wicked ways along with his ganster mother, Molly must keep the book safe from evil!

This fantasy aimed at younger teenagers has a good cast of British talent with a special appearance by Joan as a villian whose son is one of most incompetant robbers on screen. Joan appears in a handful of scenes, usually at the end of a phone call or on Zoom. She does make a grand entrance for the climax, when she teams up with Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp. It's a fun film and its harmless entertainment..

Joan with Gary Kemp and Dominic Monagan

Director Christopher N.Rowley commented...

'' After reading the book, I thought this is great. That sort of ugly duckling, underdog story, stories that I love. It was wonderful to get such a good cast. I have admired Celia Imrie and Joan Collins for some time. It's very easy to direct seasoned actors, with a few key words they can pick up where you want to go. With kids it's much different, as they find it hard to retain all the info.''

You can still buy Molly Moon on dvd at the following link!

BUY MOLLY MOON ON DVD HERE!

PRESS UPDATE : THE TIMES REVIEW .. MY UNAPOLOGETIC DIARIES .. FRIDAY OCTOBER 15TH 2021 ..

 BOOKS | MEMOIR

My Unapologetic Diaries by Joan Collins review — La Collins gets her claws out..

Sarah Ditum finds the actress’s latest memoir a stylish affair with more than a dash of acid...

Joan Collins was born, she writes in the introduction to these diaries, “somewhere between the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of the Second World War”. Well you can’t expect an actress (“I don’t ever refer to myself as an actor”) to divulge something as sensitive as her age, can you? She is also “a wife” — five times over — “a mother, a grandmother . . . a sister, an aunt and a loyal friend” as well as “an author, a producer, a feminist, a philanthropist and an entrepreneur”.

She’s got more than 500 credits to her name on IMDb, including the role that made her an icon: Alexis Carrington Colby (née Morell, formerly Dexter and Rowan) in the 1980s oil-and-opulence soap opera Dynasty. Not that Collins has anything in common with the character of the backstabbing, backcombing queen bitch Alexis, of course. Collins has also published 17 books, including five previous autobiographies. Even with a life as packed as this, can there be anything left to say?

Plenty, it turns out, and with great style and an enormous dash of acid. Things begin in 1989 as Dynasty is wrapping up its ninth and final season. It is a bruising time for Collins. She has finally managed to negotiate pay parity with the show’s leading man, John Forsythe ($120,000 an episode), but the programme makers have found a way to hollow out her victory: she will appear in only half the episodes, meaning her take-home pay is the same as before.

Frustrating, but, even worse, she has her future earnings from the show snatched from her when a “jobsworth lawyer” working for Dynasty’s producer insists that she sign away the rights to any future showings. Her dream of a “future lived on lovely residuals” is dead. She’s going to need something to fund her appetite for caviar and world-class shopping trips, so it’s back to the greasepaint grindstone, which is no small challenge as an actress over 40.

Much of the acting life, as Collins acknowledges, is spent “resting” — but her resting takes a great deal of labour. There are the travails of putting together a stage show with Roger Moore (who simply will not go below $75,000 a week), the slog of Hollywood mixers and brunches where cheeks are kissed while backs are stabbed, and an arduous legal battle with her publisher Random House over whether a manuscript she supplied was contractually acceptable or not (she wins, eventually, with her novel deemed “fixable”).

Yet all this is a sideshow to the important stuff here: the dirt she dishes. This is a book to read while sipping a stiff drink, ideally with a gorgeous companion on hand to whom you can read out the choicest bits. “Frank Sinatra is not and never has been interested in talking about anyone other than himself,” she says after a trying dinner party. Faye Dunaway is declared to be “good” as Maria Callas in a 1997 performance of the play Master Class, “even though her ass looks like it’s been sliced off with a bacon slicer”.

A few people receive her seal of approval. Christopher Biggins is “a tonic” and a constant presence. John Major is “utterly charming”, and as a staunch Conservative supporter in 1997, Collins is sad to note that his “charm, niceness and a certain kind of sex appeal don’t come through to the voters”. Bill Clinton, whom she meets in 1999, is also deemed sexy — it helps that he has “wonderful breath”. Nigel Hawthorne is a “darling”, even if his 1999 production of King Lear is reported to be “a miserable failure in direction and staging”.

And a handful here are granted the kindness of being allowed to go unnamed, such as the woman with a disastrous facelift who causes Collins to remark: “If I looked like that, I think I would move to Afghanistan and take the veil.” Her feminism is much more focused on equal pay than sisterhood. Her constant struggles with calorie-counting (“I know Mummy used to say you’ve got to suffer to be beautiful, but I’m permanently starving”) do not prevent her from noting that Antonia Fraser is “majestic, but a touch on the plump side”.

There are also harsh words for the entire population of Poland (“Polish people don’t have a sense of humour, but then I guess I wouldn’t if I had to live here”), nude sunbathers in St Tropez (“raddled bums and front bits in a state”) and her former Dynasty co-star Linda Evans (they are reunited for a stage play in 2006: Collins finds her “devious”, “a pain” and “un-f***ing-believable”).

Her reportedly fraught relationship with “Sister Jackie” must be read between the lines in Jackie’s overwhelming absence, but there is affection too — for her children, and for her fifth and present husband, Percy Gibson, who enters her life as a stage manager before they embark on a “fully fledged passionate affair” in 2001. (That he is in his thirties while she is at this point somewhere indeterminate in her sixties gives her no pause, and nor should it.)

These diaries are narratively scrappy — Collins kept them irregularly, dictating them on to cassette, and they lurch erratically through time. They are also densely studded with names, some of whom will challenge the most dedicated reader of Hello! magazine. No matter. Collins is not sorry, and nor should she be: she puts on a hell of a show.
My Unapologetic Diaries by Joan Collins, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 373pp; £20

Joan’s best barbs

● Boris Johnson “looks like he brushes his hair with an eggbeater”

● “I have never in my entire life seen such a group of hideousities as there are in Las Vegas. The fattest people are the ones who wear the tightest shorts and the most lurid shirts”

● Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche “have ‘come out’, are in love and photographed petting at the White House in front of President Clinton. Not what I call good behaviour, but a great ratings spike”

● “Elton John’s Aids benefit party. Quite a happening, even though every hairdresser and interior decorator in Los Angeles had paid to get in”

CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : SAVING SANTA .. GATEWAY FILMS .. USA/UK .. 2013 ..

 GATEWAY FILMS / PRENA STUDIOS

Presents

SAVING SANTA

Starring

MARTIN FREEMAN as Bernard D.Elf

TIM CURRY as Neville Baddington

TIM CONWAY as Santa (USA Version)

PAM FERRIS as Mrs Claus

CHRIS BARRIE as Blitzen

ASHLEY TISDALE as Shiny

NEWELL ALEXANDER as Butterscotch

NOEL CLARKE as Snowy

DAVID COWGILL as Mercenary 1

CRAIG FAIRBASS as Mercenary 2

HOLLY DORFF as Minty

MOOSIE DRIER as Tin Soldier

TOM BAKER as Santa (UK Version)

& JOAN COLLINS as Vera Baddington

Produced by Tony Nottage

Music by Grant Olding

Written by Tony Nottage

Screenplay by Ricky Roxburgh

Directed by Leon Joosen & Aaron Seelman

(c) 2013 .. 83mins .. UK/USA ..

Bernard is an elf who dreams of creating such inventions as the hologram which hides the North Pole and a time machine to allow Santa to deliver presents to every home in the world, in just one night. But his job is to clean the reindeer stables, however when he creates an amazing Christmas memory machine, his luck might be changing. But when his invention is broken, it causes a power failure which shuts down the hologram protecting the North Pole, it is spotted by Santa's enemy, Neville Baddington, who with the help of his evil mother Vera, they are determined to steal Santa's secrets.. It's up to Bernard to stop them! 

Apart from voicing the Unicef Charity animated series of short fairytales, 'Giving Tales'.. 'Saving Santa' was Joan's first fully animated feature. Although having a good cast and some pleasant animation, the film was not a big success, although it did ok on dvd/bluray and on pay tv.. 

Vera ( Joan) confronts her bumbling son Neville (Tim Curry)

Review's..

Cine Vue...

By Amon Warman

' It's a fairly watchable jaunt thats high on Christmas Spirit but short on originality. Make no bones about which market it's aiming for, with an opening song about belief in Santa, bookended by a 'sweet eh? for good measure, destined to be another cog in the endless yuletide moview machine.'

VIEW LONDON..

By Jennifer Tate.

'Voiced by a recognisable cast, 'Saving Santa' is a pleasant and well timed festive animation, but its unsophisticated storyline, general lack of humor and substandard soundtrack ultimately let it down.'

USA DVD Cover with Joan's character more prominent

'Saving Santa' is still available on Blu-ray and you can get it at the following link at a very reasonable price!

BUY SAVING SANTA ON BLURAY HERE!

TV UPDATE : THE ONE SHOW / GOOD MORNING BRITAIN .. BBC1 / ITV1 ... OCTOBER 12TH / 13TH .. 2021 ..

Joan on GMB set ..

 

GMB Press gallery

To kickstart publication week for her sensational new best seller 'My Apologetic Diaries', Joan dropped into BBC's 'The One Show' for a brief interview with host Ronan Keating on Tuesday 11th followed by an early appeatrance on Good Morning Britain with Richard Madeley.. 

Joan on The One Show sofa..

EVENT UPDATE : DAME JOAN COLLINS IS UNAPOLOGETIC! .. THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE LONDON .. MONDAY OCTOBER 10TH 2021 ..

 

The wait is finally over as Joan's latest bestseller 'My Unapologetic Diaries' hits the bookshelves.. As a prelude to publication, Joan took to the stage of the recently renovated Theatre Royal Drury Lane to chat to Graham Norton about the sensational new book. With a sell out audience of fans plus family and friends, Joan wowed the audience as you can see with another showstopping gown.. The interview tour continued to Bath on Thursday 14th, with an
appearance at The Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday 16th, with a final appearance at The Lowry Manchester on Sunday 17th.. Joan good friend Christopher Biggins joins her in Bath and Manchester, with Andrew Pierce joining the converstion in Cheltenham.. 

Joan with Graham Norton bsackstage

Among those in attendance were Joan's brother Bill and wife Hazel, daughter Katy, Step Sister Natasha, Niece Tiffany Lerman and friends including Tamara Beckwith, Paul Robinson, Christopher Biggins, also Bond girls Valerie Leon and Caroline Munro..

CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : HAPPILY DIVORCED .. TV LAND .. USA .. 2012 ..

 TV LAND / UH-OH PRODUCTIONS

Presents

HAPPILY DIVORCED

Starring

FRAN DRESCHER as Fran Lovett

JOHN MICHAEL HIGGINS as Peter Lovett

TICHINA ARNOLD as Judi Mann

VELENTE RODRIGUEZ as Cesar

ROBERT WALDEN as Glen Newman

RITA MORENO as Dori Newman

RENE TAYLOR as Marilyn

TOMMY DEWEY as Rob

ROBERT MICHAEL MORRIS as Geoffrey

Special Guest Star - Joan Collins as Herself!

EPSIODES - Series 2 - Eps 13 - Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Part 2

Directed by Rob Schiller - 2012

Series 2 - Eps 16 - A Star Is Reborn  -  Directed by Joe Regalbuto - 2012

Series 2 - Eps 24 - For Better or For Worse - Directed by Peter Marc Jacobson - 2013

When Fran's ex husband Peter becomes involved in a car accident with Joan Collins, he ends up been hired as her assistant! However when he becomes ill, it's Fran who jumps in to help out... Who is assisting who?

Joan appeared in three episodes of this popular TV Land series as herself and she much enjoyed the experience as she liked Fran Drescher after they worked together, when she guested on Fran's previous hit sitcom 'The Nanny'. Although Joan played herself on 'Happily Divorced', they decided to make the screen persona a bit more like Alexis

Joan commented...

'' She is a strong, glamorous woman with a very good sense of humour who is quite independent, quite rich and likes to get her own way! They had to exaggerate all the things I normally do. Flamboyant hand gestures, exaggerated line readings. Everything just a little big bigger. ''

Joan with Fran and John Michael Higgins

'Happily Divorced' was created by Fran Drescher and her ex huband Peter Marc Jacobson and was based on their eighteen year marriage, as Peter came out as gay and to this day they are the best of friends. On the series Fran plays a florist in Los Angeles who has to cope with the fact her husband comes out as gay , even though they divorce, they cant afford to live seperate lives..Apart from Joan, other guest stars included Robert Wagner, Florence Henderson and Morgan Fairchild...

Joan with Peter Marc Jacobson

There does not seem to be a dvd release of Season 2 available at present on dvd, you can buy a German release, but I was told there was problems accessing the English soundtrack, so I wont add it here...