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[Joan] Okay, so what are we waiting for?
[Woman] We're getting a nice light.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[Joan] All right.
[Woman] You look great, have a look at that-
Well, I look fine in life.
[Man] That's what I'm saying.
And usually, I should look better on the screen
than I do in life.
[Woman] I'm just gonna move out.
They're just gonna stick a film light in Joan,
if that's all right?
See, this light is great, if this is right on my face.
This light is not flattering because you've got the-
[Woman] So, this is for your all big key light down here.
Yeah, I'm getting stiff now,
let's go, let's just do something.
[Woman] Are we ready?
Okay, ready, I'm gonna start.
[upbeat music]
Are we on?
[audience applauds]
[Announcer] Lovely Joan Collins.
[Announcer] Dame Joan Collins, everybody!
[Joan] Okay, listen up.
I've been around for a while, and you know what?
It's tough.
I was in Hollywood in what is called the Golden Age,
and believe me, it wasn't all chauffeurs and champagne.
Although, along with my famous alter ego,
Alexis in "Dynasty," I've had my share of both.
They used to say that female stars were finished at 27,
but here I am, after seven decades in the business,
to tell you a thing or two
about how to survive the perils of the profession,
and what it really feels like to get what you want.
So this is my story, and I'm going to tell it my way.
[upbeat music continues]
So, right, what are we gonna call this film?
I was thinking I should start with Hollywood,
or maybe Mummy and Daddy.
You know what?
I'm just gonna start with me.
[upbeat music]
It's hard to believe, I know,
but when I started out in this business,
I wasn't at all interested in stardom.
♪ Papa loves mambo ♪
♪ Mama loves mambo ♪
♪ Look at 'em sway with it, getting so gay with it ♪
♪ Shouting ole with it, wow ♪
I didn't want to be a star,
I had no intention of wanting to be a star,
I wanted to be an actress on the stage in England.
Let him approach.
Now, my game plan was to go to drama school,
graduate to the West End,
and eventually become a serious actress
of the British theatre.
[audience applauds]
Exactly how many years have you been in this business?
Well, I'll tell you,
I actually made my first tottering steps
onto the stage at the age of three.
I retired for a bit, went to nursery school,
then resumed my training with Grandma Hetty.
Here's Grandma Hetty, I love this picture.
It says Miss Hetty Collins, comedy and dance,
and she's doing the splits
and she taught me to do the splits
when I was about three or four.
Here she is, where she loves to be, behind the bar,
and she liked a bit of a bevvy, she did.
This is a picture of my Auntie Pauline,
you think that Playboy was risque, look at that.
[intense percussion]
And that's where I inherited it from, maybe.
[Joan chuckles]
[jazzy music]
Here is Daddy.
This is when he was a hotshot agent.
He was very good looking.
Daddy ran a highly successful theatrical agency
in the West End.
They were mostly vaudeville artists,
and it was a virtual job centre for singers,
acrobats, ventriloquists and jugglers.
["This is your Life" theme music]
"This Is Your Life," this very afternoon
at Heathrow Airport, from Hollywood,
a glamorous, controversial,
gossip writers' dream of a film star arrives.
Why was I always controversial?
What did I do that was so controversial?
Just had a few boyfriends, got married a few times.
Oh, hi you, happy birthday!
-Joan- -What are you doing here?
I know you crossed the Atlantic
especially to be with your dad for his birthday.
Oh God!
But he's got a surprise for you, and so have I.
Joan Collins, tonight, "This Is Your Life."
[laughing] I can't believe this!
You're joking!
I, you didn't?
Joan Collins star of more than 50 films,
and roles from good time girl to a nun,
from chorus girl to Regency lady.
You were born at the family home in London's Maida Vale.
[Joan] I was born sometime between the end
of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II.
"Any woman who would reveal her age would reveal anything,"
thus said Oscar Wilde, and I agree with him.
[Narrator] Not many young men
have to work as hard as Tony,
but then not many bosses are like Fontaine.
I attempted to shave a few years off my age
when I was promoting "The Stud."
It's an emergency.
However, the Daily Mirror dug up my birth certificate.
Joan Collins lies about her age!
Oh God, you'd think I'd murdered a convent full of nuns.
The reason that actresses lie about their age,
and believe me,
I am not the only actress who has ever done it,
[audience laughs]
as you can tell,
is because of agents, producers and directors.
So you do it purely to survive in the business,
you do not do it from any point of view of vanity.
I hadn't seen this book for a hundred years,
but let me see if a nice picture of Mummy.
Oh yeah, there's loads of pictures of her,
with Jackie and me.
-Yeah. -Yeah, she looks lovely.
She was a wonderful mother,
she was very kind, very caring, the perfect woman really.
My father was the dominant male figure, whose word was law
and my mother was the sweet, beautiful, pleasing woman
and he was the boss.
And she was so busy trying to please him all the time,
and I hated that, I hated that.
I vowed, my God,
I'm not gonna have to depend on a man for everything,
I have to have my own identity.
I can't pinpoint exactly
when I stopped being Daddy's little darling,
it could have been when little baby Jackie arrived.
[missile whistles]
[loud explosion]
[Reporter] London inferno.
[Joan] It could have been the war,
when we were speedily packed off to Brighton.
[Reporter] Warning, devastation in a Britain under siege.
[Joan] At the height of the Blitz we moved back to London,
probably because Mummy didn't want to leave Daddy alone.
By now, he was 37, very handsome,
and no doubt catnip to the actresses and chorus girls
who surrounded him.
[Reporter] The German Armed Forces
have been utterly defeated.
Then, miraculously, the war was over.
One day I came home from school
and sitting in the hall was one of the most handsome men
I'd ever seen.
"How do you do?
You must be Joan, I'm Roger Moore."
"Daddy, I've just got to be an actress," I said.
He didn't want me to be in showbiz
because he knew the pitfalls.
You know, you'll be finished before you're 23,
and the men are so predatory.
He knew before the 'Me Too' movement, how they were.
My father also gave me some very good advice about showbiz,
he said that it's really the toughest profession
that you can go into, that it is dog-eat-dog.
Nothing if not stubborn,
I persuaded him that it was my true calling,
and just like Alexis, I got my way.
[Interviewer] Now you say you were trained,
that was in England?
[Joan] Yes.
[Interviewer] Where did you do your training?
At the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
[Interviewer] Ah, well that's considered
the outstanding school, isn't it?
[Joan] Yes, I suppose it is.
Mummy walked me to RADA on my first day.
"Are you nervous, darling?"
"No, not at all," I lied.
"Let's face it, Mummy,
I do have a show business background."
Let's turn to the organs of articulation,
your tongue and your lips.
[teacher articulates at speed]
[students repeat]
[dramatic orchestral music]
I simply loved being at RADA,
and we studied every aspect of our craft.
Fencing, voice projection, expressive dancing.
I remember one of the end of term reports that I got.
What kind of an accent is that?
And it said, Miss Collins has certainly some talent
and is a very attractive girl,
but if she doesn't watch her projection,
it'll be the films for her and that would be such a pity.
Oh yeah, I'm trying to be American.
Whilst at RADA, I moonlighted as a teenage photo model.
Then suddenly, an agent saw my pictures
and persuaded me, reluctantly, to go into films.
[Actor] Girls, please.
[Joan] My first film was a little epic
in which I had one line as a beauty contestant.
This was followed by what would become
my teenage delinquent roles.
The head of RADA was appalled.
"You simply cannot go into films!
They're just attractive faces and none of them can act."
But the film was offering me a 300 pound a week salary.
I called my agent.
"You're going to have to give up RADA, Joanie," he said.
And I did.
It was sad, but it was the best decision I ever made.
[intense music]
"I Believe in You" gave me my first proper role.
Celia Johnson played my probation officer.
She's an old cow.
That's rather childish, isn't it?
[Joan] And then there was Laurence Harvey.
Larry epitomised a lifestyle
to which I knew I would eventually become accustomed.
Luxurious life, the fine restaurants, international travel,
gorgeous clothes and sophisticated parties.
"I'm going to educate you, little girl,"
he said sipping a vintage claret.
[furniture clatters]
I only wish he'd warned me about Maxwell Reed,
the swashbuckling actor to whom he had introduced me.
Hey, Gilliatt!
You dirty pirate thief!
[Joan] Maxwell Reed was a very handsome film star.
When I was at school,
I would stick pictures of all my favourite idols
under my desk, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly and Maxwell Reed.
Well, my friend, the more I see of this girl,
the better I like her.
He asked me out, I instantly accepted.
A gigantic powder blue Buick
drew up outside Bayswater tube station.
"Hi baby, how's it going?"
He had an American accent,
which was quite odd for a man from South London.
He was 33, I was 17 and a virgin,
I knew that this would cause trouble at home.
Oh God, do we really have to have this bit in?
-Is it- -I think we do.
[Joan] Okay, let's go on.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see, baby, it'll be a surprise."
And it was.
In those days,
my mother would've said I was taken advantage of,
now we call it date rape.
When she was young,
Joan Collins went out with a man
who beat, drugged and raped her.
How did she get even?
She married him.
Had I not been so innocent about men and about sex
and about the way things should be,
I wouldn't have done that,
but I had this strong long sense of guilt, so I did it.
The honeymoon was a fiasco,
outwardly we looked happy, but I was miserable.
I didn't know about sex, and nobody knew about sex
because it wasn't as freely available,
you didn't see on Page Three of your popular newspapers.
I'd never even seen a girl without her clothes,
let alone a man.
[Presenter] Now you can clean all those awkward places.
That dust catching gap between the carpet and the wall,
those dark depths down the back of the chairs.
"I shall do no cleaning or shopping,"
I announced grandly to the Daily Mirror.
And I got hate mail from women all over England.
"How dare you?"
"You're not a proper woman,"
"You don't like cooking and cleaning?"
I said, "No, I don't like cooking and cleaning."
Well, this is certainly a very great honour
to be chosen this year, Miss Press Clippings of 1952.
[Presenter] The award was given to the star
who has had the year's best publicity
heaped upon her shoulder.
[Man] Quiet on set, camera rolling.
The J. Arthur Rank Organisation
was the most powerful film company in Britain,
and I was being groomed for stardom.
So this book is the book that Jackie, my sister, kept of me,
and she kept all my press clippings
and this is one of the first ones, August, 1951.
It says "You'll be seeing more of her."
Even then I was cast in the more feisty roles.
Call yourselves men!
You're nothing but a bunch of stupid kids
that can't be trusted.
Well, I've been doing some thinking since last night,
and from now on I'm in charge.
These are all when I was 16, 17, 18.
"Delightful Delinquent."
[Reporter] So, with Joan wearing all the nice things
the press said about her,
husband Maxwell Reed took his lovely film star wife home.
But as I was becoming hot, Max was becoming cold.
"Meet Sheikh Abdul Ben Kafir," said Max.
We were in Les Ambassadeurs,
a terribly chic nightclub in Mayfair.
Max had a habit of gravitating towards rich elderly men
and I was starting to get a vague idea
of what this was all about.
"He'll pay you 10,000 pounds for one night
and I can even watch."
"I beg your pardon?
Are you seriously suggesting that I go to bed
with that disgusting old man for money?"
"One night, baby, that's all."
I looked at my handsome, loathsome husband and began to cry.
"Never in a million years!"
My life was not going according to plan,
I went home to Mummy.
My first marriage I really don't think I should count
because I was only 17 and it was,
had I been more worldly wise, I would not have married.
I look at myself as I was and I think that is not me.
Mr. Halsey, you are your wife agent wanted
on the telephone.
[Joan] After making several successful British movies,
including this one, I received a call from my agent.
"Howard Hawks is making the Warner Brothers film,
"Land of the Pharaohs" in Rome, and he wants you."
This was my lucky break and I knew it,
because this was an epic movie.
[dramatic music]
[Narrator] Egypt, 50 centuries ago.
Within three weeks, I was whisked off to Rome
to play the evil Princess Nellifer.
Don't ever do that again!
Just how legendary director Howard Hawks
became involved with this one is a mystery to me.
However, this lavish costume drama is now a cult movie.
Look at me, Treneh.
I'm afraid to.
Sydney Chaplin, son of the Charlie,
played my lover on the screen and in real life.
La dolce vita was in full swing.
Syd had a nippy sports car,
and I adored the velocity and implicit danger
in those mad drives.
I'm rather partial to living in Rome.
I thought it was just marvellous.
At 20, you think you're immortal,
nothing was to be taken seriously
and after my life of torment with Maxwell Reed,
that was okay by me.
[phone rings]
"$350 a week, what do you think of that, Joanie?"
20th Century Fox was offering me a contract,
but I was not about to sell myself short.
"It's not enough, John,
I want 1,250 or I'll just be another cheap contract girl."
Believe it or not, Fox accepted my terms,
but they wanted me in California immediately.
Amidst tears and laughter, I hugged Mummy and Daddy,
Jackie and my new little brother, Bill,
I was going to start a new life in Hollywood.
[upbeat dramatic music]
[Man] 259, take one.
[Joan] I arrived in Tinseltown
at the end of the Golden Age of cinema
when the gold was just beginning to tarnish.
I became part of the last wave of the contract system,
when actors were signed to studios.
Robert Wagner, Kim Novak, Jayne Mansfield.
[Presenter] And introducing
Hollywood's most exciting new personality, Joan Collins.
And now little old me.
You went to these parties and you saw Lana Turner
and Rita Hayworth and Clark Gable and Cary Grant,
all looking just as good, if not better,
than they did on the screen.
I met Joan Crawford once, who's terrifying,
and not beautiful at all.
I will never forget seeing the dangerously gorgeous
Ava Gardner.
She was having a screaming argument with her date.
She looked entrancing and powerful,
like a jungle cat fiercely protecting her territory,
the barefoot contessa.
Years later, this image came back to me
when I was thinking about how to play Alexis,
but that's for later.
In Hollywood, I was still on the nursery slopes.
I was a scruffy little kid from London
with sort of blue jeans and polo neck sweaters,
and they had to groom and glamorise me,
which they did to a tee.
The studio did everything in its power
to protect us from scandal.
No hint of drunkenness, adultery,
or heaven forbid, homosexuality, ever made the newspapers.
[camera clicks]
Hollywood was in the business of selling beautiful dreams.
The outfits the stars wore on the screen
were as important, if not more, than the films themselves.
I wonder where the mystique has gone now,
I wonder where the glamor's gone.
This is a very prized possession, it weighs a tonne.
This is my childhood scrapbook.
I loved movies, I love films,
so I started keeping the scrapbooks
with all my favourite stars in.
They certainly were glamorous in those days.
Look at these pictures,
I mean, Hedy Lamarr, absolutely ravishing.
They were all beautiful.
Oh, Richard Widmark.
All of the girls at school,
we got a tremendous crush on Richard Widmark, very sinister.
I adored Jean Simmons, I thought she was just so wonderful,
she was the one I really wanted to look like.
I didn't know when I was cutting all these pictures out
that many, many of these people, I would either work with,
I mean, for example, Gene Kelly.
Bob Hope I loved, I got to work with him.
Joan Fontaine, well, I worked with her a couple of times.
When she is making pictures in California,
Joan Collins enjoys this view from her small house,
perched high in the hills overlooking Hollywood.
Hello Joan.
Hello Charles.
Soon after arriving in Hollywood,
I went to a party
and I met three of the most brilliant actors
of the 20th century,
Marlon Brando, James Dean and Paul Newman,
all sitting together on one sofa, the method actors.
Hey, Stella!
The method, well, what is the method?
[Joan] Flawed, troubled, anti-heroes.
Marlon's brooding sensual looks mesmerised everyone.
"It's a bums life, means nothing,
acting is fundamentally a childish thing to do."
I asked him why, if he hated acting so much, he made movies.
He smiled, "Money, doll, money."
[dramatic music]
Now I was 21 and I was in my first big Hollywood movie,
"The Virgin Queen,"
starring the utterly terrifying Bette Davis.
Your Majesty.
[Joan] Bette played Queen Elizabeth I,
I played one of her hand maidens.
[dramatic music]
Take care how you treat your queen's possessions,
Mistress Throckmorton.
I'm sorry, ma'am.
Bette didn't particularly like young actresses,
in real life or on screen.
Take this strumpet away!
Take her away!
[Joan] "Don't they teach you anything
at those English drama schools, you little fool?"
She snarled between takes.
[upbeat lavish music]
By now, the studio was pulling out all the stops with me,
and I was caught up in the merry-go-round
of being made into a star.
And in 1955 I was cast in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing"
with Ray Milland.
I didn't mean it to be that sort of a kiss.
I didn't either.
I loved making this fabulous film,
although the costumes, gorgeous to look at,
were agony to wear.
The hats were secured with lethal pins,
the collars had little bones in them,
so if I moved my head too much,
I would get stabbed in the throat.
Goodbye, all of you.
[crowd cheers]
Despite the stunning costumes and the good reviews for me,
the film didn't do well at the box office, c'est la vie.
But I was learning my craft
and I loved everything about Hollywood.
[Presenter] This young star has been described
by a Hollywood chief as the greatest screen asset
America has imported from Britain.
Since she began work there,
she has climbed rapidly to stardom, and in doing so,
has acquired a full measure of transatlantic sophistication.
Bob, your impressions of Hollywood, please.
Did you see Joan Collins while you were there?
I met Joan Collins while I was there earlier, yes.
To me, she seemed quite American,
I mean, she had been given an American accent
and she talked with a very strong American accent
and American phrases.
She seemed to me to have lost a specific English quality
that she had over here.
You must remember,
when a girl like Joan goes over to Hollywood,
they're given enormous training
when they're under contract with a studio,
but they're also given an accent and a tone of speech
that makes them suitable to American audiences.
[upbeat suave music]
Now, the name Darryl F. Zanuck
is probably familiar to most of you,
for he is one of the most remarkable figures
in the film industry today.
Hi, Mr. Zanuck.
Good to see you.
Darryl Zanuck, the head of Fox,
was one of the first studio bosses
to have his own steam room connected to his office.
I'd heard all the rumours about Zanuck.
Not long after I arrived,
he chased me along a corridor and trapped me against a wall,
he pinned me like a beetle to a board.
"You need a real man, honey, a real man."
God, he was actually giving me the oldest line
in the business.
Luckily, a makeup man came down the corridor
and I was able to escape.
Basically, I'm a survivor, I have survived,
I have survived being a young female
in a business when practically all the men were predators.
My father used to say,
"Just give them a knee in the you-know-what."
[Interviewer] Joan, do most of the people
whom you do see out here, are they in motion pictures too?
Well, I think that everybody that lives in Los Angeles,
practically, that I meet is connected in some way or another
with motion pictures.
One night at a party at Gene Kelly's house,
I siddled up to the bar
and I sat next to a rather nondescript blonde
who was sitting by herself.
"Hi, I'm Marilyn," she said.
"Hi, I'm Joan."
Yes, it was she, the biggest star in the world.
She was the first girl that I'd ever seen walking around,
this is like the mid fifties, without a bra,
in a woollen dress, very daring in those days.
And she was just sitting quite quietly.
I studied Marilyn Monroe in awe,
her face, almost devoid of makeup, seemed ordinary.
It was hard to believe
she was not only the biggest star in the world,
but in retrospect, the greatest sex goddess of the century.
♪ Diamonds are a girl's best friend ♪
We chatted.
"Don't let the studio big guys dictate to you," she warned.
"You're just a piece of meat to them, we all are.
The Fox bosses are the most dangerous."
"What do you mean?" I ask naively.
"Wolves," mouthed Marilyn,
looking nervously over her shoulder
as if expecting one to jump out from behind a sofa.
"Look out for Zanuck," she whispered.
"Do you know what everybody said about me
in my first year at Fox?"
I was spellbound.
"They said I was handed around guys like hors d'oeuvres,
all of them, can you believe it?"
I starred at her, she gave me her gorgeous smile
and then I understood why the world was so bedazzled
by Marilyn Monroe.
We had another drink and I watched her shimmy away.
I never saw Marilyn Monroe again,
but when I was in Rome in 1962
and I heard the news of her death,
I must say I wept for her and for all of her pain.
♪ Why do men who should know better ♪
♪ Gape at a well filled sweater ♪
After a year at Fox,
I was loaned out to MGM for "The Opposite Sex."
And there I was in a bathtub covered in suds
when a server walked up and slapped me with a subpoena.
Maxwell Reed, that swashbuckling pirate, was back,
demanding $1,250 a month in support.
"He discovered me," he said, what a liar!
And just like the pirate in one of his cheesy movies,
he demanded I hand over the money he said he deserved.
You know, it's a funny thing how much I like money,
and a pretty woman.
That divorce cost me over $10,000.
I had to pay Max's legal fees
and give him all the money in my bank account.
I never heard of a woman being sued for alimony before.
And here was Maxwell Reed who, when I divorced him,
I tore out most of these pictures
'cause I didn't want to see them anymore.
With my sister, Jackie, I left the courtroom aged 23,
poorer, wiser and with a growing distrust of all men
and that was divorce number one.
[upbeat suave music]
Although women's liberation was not yet upon us,
I have always considered myself to be an early model
of an emancipated woman.
I've always considered myself to be an early feminist,
feminist, yes, much better than emancipated woman.
I made my own money and I lived by my own rules.
So after my divorce, I lived with several men.
And after my divorce, after my divorce, I did what I liked,
I did what I liked.
[Woman] Is that because several men
sounds like several men all at once, that's why-
Yes, which was not true. [laughs]
No, no.
I was, I was a serial monogamist,
if you know what I mean.
Always true to one man, and one after another.
By 1958, I had already appeared in several movies
with some of the most attractive male stars in Hollywood,
Paul Newman being one of them.
[upbeat music]
I think I can be very funny, she said modestly.
Gregory Peck was the most elegant leading man of all.
Go after them, Jim, and catch them.
Get them, kill them, kill them, kill them!
In contrast to his shivery
was the Neanderthal Richard Burton,
I played opposite him in "Sea Wife."
[Man] This is one of the most stirring stories
of our time.
A film about a nun wrecked on a desert island
with three men.
All this time, I've been so near you, all this time.
We had onscreen chemistry,
but then he made the obligatory pass as most actors do
and charmingly admitted to me
he would bonk a snake if it was wearing a skirt, wow!
[Man] On the lot I found Richard Burton,
Joan Collins and their director, Bob McNaught,
taking a tea break.
Joan plays the unusual part of a nun,
something quite new for her.
I'd admired Burton for years,
he was another one of my school girl autographs,
"Dear Ms. Collins, thank you for your letter,
best wishes, Richard Burton."
I've given my word to someone else.
And here I was acting opposite this paragon,
the great Richard Burton was a scalp collector,
but no way was I tempted.
Although I saw many other women fall
like nine pins at his feet.
He was a bit of a wolf,
he was known to be a bit of a wolf.
I'm surprised Elizabeth married him.
Don't you love me?
Don't you want Egypt?
Don't you want the world?
I spent early 1959 testing to play Cleopatra
in Fox's big blockbuster.
If you were a king, your son would reign after you.
I have no son.
Then get one.
Naturally, the casting couch reared its ugly head.
The chairman at Fox made it clear that he had a lot to say
when it came to casting, "He should know better,"
I thought as I skipped out of his clutches.
If you slept with the producer,
you could have been Cleopatra.
If I slept with a producer,
I could have played any part I wanted to
at 20th Century Fox, those were the days!
But I didn't, I prefer to sleep with younger men.
[audience laughs]
So I didn't get the Cleopatra part
and I was drowning my sorrows one night
when I became aware of a young man staring at me
"That Shirley McLean's kid brother, Warren," said my agent
and the next day the phone rang and it was Warren.
"Do you wanna have dinner with me tonight?" He said.
[Interviewer] When you first meet him,
I think you are 23 and he's 22
and you're famous and he's not famous.
"He's not famous, he's broke and he's got spots!"
said my best friend, Cappie Badrutt,
but I wasn't bothered by a man not having money,
in fact, I preferred it
as I believe that if a man could buy anything,
it usually meant he thought it could buy me too.
I liked Warren Beatty, I liked his humour,
his conversation and his physical packaging.
[Man] You said he had to ring you 80 times a day.
Oh, I didn't say 80, 60 maybe.
I'd heard that men were at their sexual peak
between the ages of 17 and 23
and if Warren was anything to go by, this was true.
I got a lot of flack from the studio and also from-
[Man] Because of the publicity?
No, because it was shocking, people didn't live together.
[Man] No they didn't.
They just did not do that.
While I was living with Warren,
I was also learning to strip for the movie "Seven Thieves."
[upbeat jazz music]
And I was lucky enough to have the best stripper in America
as my coach.
Candy Bar taught me more about sensuality
than I'd learned in all my years under contract.
At the same time I was doing "Seven Thieves,"
I was craming in wardrobe tests for "Sons and Lovers,"
which was about to shoot in England.
"Don't go butterfly, don't leave your bee!" begged Warren.
What is your biggest career mistake?
Turning down a movie called "Sons and Lovers"
that I was asked to do when I was under contract
to do Fox and turning it down
'cause I was going out with Warren then and he said,
"No, the script stinks." And Mary Ure won the Oscar for it.
"I think we should get engaged," said Warren.
So within a week, the columnists announced our engagement.
Was that a really happy time,
that time with Warren Beatty?
It was happy, it was sad,
it had a lot of ups and downs, actually.
Warren was insecure and argumentative,
so he and I made a volatile combination.
Unfortunately I see the person who I'm in love with
at the time through rose coloured spectacles,
it's very, very childish and naive and stupid,
I'm not like that anymore, obviously.
We argued so much that our last few months were a hazy blur
and I knew that marriage wasn't going to be the answer.
I accepted a film in London
playing opposite Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.
"It's crap!" said, Warren,
"Why do you need to do it?"
Two reasons, for the money and to get away from you.
So that was the end of our relationship and we knew it.
[Announcer] There's "Violent Love" with Alice
who clung like a Tigress
to the man every other woman wanted.
But by now my career was stagnating,
I was a utility infielder
starring in run of the mill films
and if Fox couldn't get Susan Hayward or Jean Tierney,
they got me.
♪ Let's not start acting like people in love ♪
In "Road to Hong Kong,"
I put on the correct loving expression,
to gaze into Bing Crosby's bland blue eyes
and smell his tobacco breath
and wondered how people could ever think
that an actress's life was a bowl of cherries.
I'd now passed my first quarter century,
an age that young actresses had learned to dread
ever since the studios had decreed that 27
was the end of beauty.
Because people think that if you're good looking,
there's a tendency for there not to be too much up here,
it is again, more difficult to be taken seriously.
Again, I hate that phrase, why does it keep on coming up.
Like to be regarded, let me ask you that.
Oh, all different ways.
And as the 1960s began to flower,
I began to think seriously about what I wanted to do
with the rest of my life.
I asked Fox for an early release from my contract.
[Interviewer] What are the future plans for Joan Collins?
Well.
♪ If I say I love you, do you mind it ♪
♪ Make an idol of you, do you mind ♪
Anthony Newley was a pop star,
a writer and the [speaking French] of English theatre.
Where'd you meet Tony?
Backstage, wasn't it from "Stop the World?"
Yes, I went to see "Stop the World,"
which was then the sort of greatest play in London
with Robert Wagner who had just broken up with Natalie Wood
and I had just broken up with Warren Beatty
and Natalie and Warren were seeing each other
and Bob Wagner and I were seeing each other.
We went to see the play
and I was absolutely fascinated with Tony,
he was so wonderful.
♪ If I say I love you ♪
I was trying to remember where I'd seen him before
then it came to me,
he had played the Artful Dodger
in David Lean's "Oliver Twist."
Now here he was in his twenties,
satanic and intense looking.
We went backstage to meet him.
♪ Do you mind ♪
"He loves the ladies," my friend Joyce Blair had told me,
"He's just never been able to fall in love!"
"A man who has never been in love," I thought,
"How sad, how challenging."
Three weeks later we were lovers.
Tony was brilliant, funny as hell
but underneath raged a deep distrust of women
but I didn't know that yet.
"What can a rich, beautiful film star
see in a cockney half- Jewish git like me?" he said,
"I'm half Jewish too." I replied,
"From Maida Vale via Sunset Boulevard."
I said, "This will be the father of my children,
he is so wonderful!"
[upbeat jolly music]
After a year and a half we got married
and my gorgeous daughter Tara was born in 1963.
Motherhood was really exciting
and I love every minute of it.
[Man] London, Polish-born director Roman Polanski,
Sharon Tate made for the Playboy club
and a star studded reception.
Joan Collins and Anthony Newley.
The Tony Newley's got the star set really shaking.
It was the 1960s, the time of the English actor.
♪ Picked her up on a Friday night ♪
♪ Sha-La-La-La-Lee ♪
Michael Kane, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, Terrence Stamp
and now, Anthony Newley,
they were all taking America by storm.
♪ I held her close ♪
♪ And I asked her if she was gonna be my baby ♪
Suddenly, anything and anyone British had enormous appeal.
Now Tony's career was taking off big time.
♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah ♪
♪ She looked good as she moved so fine ♪
♪ Sha-La-La-La-Lee ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ And all the guys knew she was mine ♪
In 1965, my beautiful son Alexander was born,
then we bought a house in LA
and we parted furiously with our showbiz friends.
Paul Newman, Sammy Davis Jr, Natalie Wood, Julie Andrews
and of course my sister, Jackie.
And guess what?
I decided to retire.
♪ Wanna know how my story ends ♪
When I married Tony, I gave it all up,
that was it, goodbye career, hello babies and cooking.
As far as America was concerned, I was now totally unknown.
Is the male member of this duo English?
Yeah.
Oh, are you Mr. and Mrs. Tony Newley?
[audience applauds]
"Oh, that's Anthony Newley's wife,
didn't she used to be an actress?"
[Man] Enter the wonderful world of "Doctor Dolittle."
Tony began rehearsing for his new role
in "Doctor Dolittle," with the pompus Rex Harrison.
Tony was totally wrapped up in his work
and although he told me he loved, I was dubious,
he was hardly ever at home.
The beautiful house complete with pool
and two gorgeous children
couldn't make up for the emptiness I was beginning to feel,
especially when the children started school.
[woman singing in French]
Why wasn't I content like most Beverly Hills housewives
to be a perfect wife, to lie by the pool and ruin my skin
then go to the dermatologist to repair it?
To go to the analyst, the hen parties, the gym?
Women pulled and tucked but everyone looked the same.
[woman continues singing in French]
Why was I so discontented?
And it was then I suppose that I thought
"I'm not going to live another 50 or 60 years
and not have a career
because I can see now my children at nursery school,
they've left me more or less for five or six or seven hours
during the day,
what am I going to do with my life?
Am I gonna sit here and wash some man's socks?
No, thank you very much.
I wanted to work, lights, camera action,
it was in my blood and I missed it.
So I worked in television.
I had been a star, I'd been a pretty big star in America
for three or four years, not big like today, but big-ish
and I realised that I like that,
I realised that I needed that,
to do what was inside me, Joan,
which is to say, I like acting, I want to act.
The new generation of actresses were on the scene,
Julie Christie, Ali MacGraw, Faye Dunaway.
[Man] That's Bonnie, Faye Dunaway,
that's Clyde, Warren Beatty.
Warren Beatty was on the crest of superstardom.
[gunshot fires]
As well as becoming the most famous stud
in the Western hemisphere.
I was raising my children,
I was living in California, which I still do,
I was working in episodic television.
However, looking back I was in some pretty big shows,
The Man from Uncle," "The Virginia,"
"Batman" and "Star Trek."
Excuse us, miss,
we didn't mean to trespass, it's cold outside.
A lie is a very poor way to say hello.
In "Star Trek,"
I played a saintly mission worker
who tries to prove to the world that Hitler was a nice guy,
so Dr. Spock allows her to be run over by a truck.
[woman screams]
And what do you know?
It became one of the most popular "Star Trek" episodes ever.
At home though, storm clouds were gathering,
Tony and I gazed sombrely at each other
across our Wedgewood dinner service,
the content act and the communication
just wasn't there anymore,
we were fast drifting part.
"Would you like to dance?"
[upbeat music]
Ryan O'Neal sat there looking arrogant and nervous
at the same time,
but he was the first man I'd found attractive
for a long time.
"Sure!" I said.
I was guesting on a TV show at Universal
when he showed up on the set, "What're you doing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow's my birthday," I said,
"And Tony's coming back from New York."
"I'll call and wish you a happy birthday then."
Tony didn't make it back for my birthday,
he just sent a bunch of flowers
but suddenly I decided what I wanted.
A girl should get what she wants on her birthday, so I did.
I believe very strongly
in being true to the person that you are with,
I really do believe in that.
[Interviewer] You never cheated?
No, I don't, no,
only, yes, in one instance that was with Ryan O'Neal,
if you're gonna cheat on somebody,
cheat with Ryan O'Neal.
Of course.
Right?
It was 1968, Sammy Davis, Jr., Paul Newman,
Tony and I invested in the disco business,
it was called The Factory,
everyone was there, proving what I have always suspected,
that stars would rather be around other stars
than anyone else.
One night, Robert Kennedy showed up oozing charm
and sex appeal and he asked me to dance.
"Why don't you come to New York next weekend?
I'd really like to see you again."
Now this was opening a Pandora's box
into which even I wasn't prepared to peep.
"Thanks, Bobby, I'd just love to, but I just can't,
maybe a rain check?"
He gave me a long, penetrating look,
"You got it, I'll be waiting."
[dramatic music]
Six months later, I thought sadly about that rain check.
I was in Malta
when I heard about Robert Kennedy's assassination,
I was on a film set.
Tony was now achieving his life's desire
to write, direct and star
in an erotic avant garde musical-comedy
based entirely on himself.
My wife doesn't understand me.
"Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe
and Fine True Happiness?"
was a felinious movie about a successful actor/director,
that is to say, Tony,
who's torn between new wild blonde Mercy Humppe
And raven-haired Polyester Poontang, that's me.
I had a horrible feeling that Tony
was spelling out the death of our marriage.
[Interviewer] You were directed by your husband,
Anthony Newley, what was that like?
That was interesting.
[audience laughs]
He didn't have too much time for me, actually,
he was very busy with the rest of the female cast.
Oh my God!
I never saw that!
I realised he'd been having affairs
from the moment we married
and now he was blatantly making a movie
about all the women he'd bedded.
Oh.
I was shattered.
Well I've had enough, I'm taking the children,
I'm taking them back to Europe, anywhere away from you.
And this time, I mean it, I really do mean it!
Exit Polyester-Joan sobbing hysterically.
The film was universally panned and when I finally saw it,
I knew there was no hope for my marriage.
It's never been my style to stay on a sinking ship,
I left for London with my children.
I divorced my second husband
because I was not gonna spend the rest of my life
being married to man who was unfaithful to me,
it was as simple as that.
I'm telling him this because it's the absolute truth.
Whatever I was and then
here's this man being unfaithful to me,
am I gonna take this for the rest of my life?
What's it gonna be like when I'm, you know, 45?
No.
[Woman] You say that his problem was,
he was never gonna commit fully to marriage.
I mean, you sort of knew that from the beginning,
so it was gonna, did you not-
I didn't realise, no, no.
he he'd said he was, he had thought that maybe he couldn't,
but then once we got married,
once we had the family, then he was committed.
And I think that as he became more famous in America,
and then he became a star, he became a different person.
He strayed and he strayed big time
and it all came out in that movie, that fucking movie,
oh my God, what a disaster!
[solemn music]
My marriage to Tony had lasted seven years,
the split was amicable, painful, hurtful, but amicable.
♪ Dizzy ♪
♪ I'm so dizzy ♪
This man in the speed boat is Ron Kass.
He was an attractive, tall American
with amazing green eyes and an endearing smile.
And he was the president of Apple Records,
the Beatles recording company.
Ron knew what he wanted and he usually got it,
and what he wanted was me.
We spent time discovering each other
and the more I discovered, the more I liked.
♪ I want you for my sweet pet ♪
♪ But you keep playing hard to get ♪
When you first meet a man,
what is more likely to make him attractive to you?
His eyes, his voice, or his physique?
I'll say physique.
[Show Host] You'll say the physique?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you can have great eyes and a great voice,
but if you ain't got the bod, you ain't got nothin'.
[Show Host] Yeah, that's what the Mrs. Said,
the physique, you got it!
♪ You're makin' me dizzy ♪
The following, you Ron and I married.
Now Ron had three children from his first marriage,
so we all moved into a lovely family house in London.
It was exactly what I had wanted, a warm family home
and soon after that, my darling Katyana was born.
I was now in my mid thirties,
ancient by movie star standards
and I wasn't gonna sit around waiting for the next script,
that would go to Julie Christie anyway.
-[gunshot fires] -[dramatic music]
So, I started to appear in horror films.
Molly?
These were the good years
and I even agreed to a role in "The Persuaders"
with my old friend Roger Moore,
mainly because it was being filmed on the French Riviera,
which I adore.
In England, life was perfect.
Then out of the blue, Ron announced that we had to upsticks
and move back to California, I knew it was a bad idea.
Ron was about to head a new film company in LA,
so with a heavy heart, I said, bye, bye Britain
and moved back lock, stock and Mercedes to LA again.
And then, sadly, Ron lost his job.
I was now the sole breadwinner of this rather large family.
I was working in television
and we didn't socialise as much as we used to.
I told Ron that I really wanted to move by to England,
LA wasn't good for our kids,
not to mention it was terrible for my ego, Ron refused.
We were fighting a lot, usually about money.
Would you accept it and say a successful,
conventional marriage, that the man should be the boss?
What'd you call a successful, conventional marriage?
[dramatic music]
We managed to get by, I guest starred on several TV shows,
including "Police Woman."
You mind if I smoke?
Yes, I do.
Well, it's too bad.
Police, freeze!
But that didn't cut it financially,
not with six kids to support.
My friend, Samantha Egger,
with whom I'd worked on "Starsky and Hutch,"
suggested that I apply for unemployment benefit.
[dramatic music]
So, one sunny afternoon in 1976,
I reluctantly drove out to the Department of Unemployment
in Santa Monica.
Then I'm saying that I'll kill Samantha for this,
this was really the wrong thing to do
and I finally got to the head of the line
and the woman's looked at my name and says "Joan Collins!"
[audience laughs]
And the whole of the room looked around and she goes,
"What're you doing here?"
So she said "Fill out this form, Ms. Collins."
and people coming up saying, "Can I have your autograph?"
"Fill out this form and come back next week."
I said, "You mean I don't get the $180 now?"
She said, "No, next week."
So I said, "Thank you very much,"
I took the form and I never went back.
At this point, I hear you probably ask,
"Why didn't they just sell the house
and live a simple life?"
Well, since I hadn't lived a simple life since I was 20,
I wasn't about to start now and I needed a job
and what I got was "Empire of The Ants."
[people screaming]
This film was not going to win any of us an Oscar.
in fact, it seemed more of a certainty
that it would guarantee
that none of us would ever work again,
I was the so-called star of this epic.
[people screaming]
And although we'd been promised stunt doubles,
they hadn't arrived,
so four petrified actors capsized into the filthy water.
Now Florida swamps are infested with crocodiles,
snakes and all kinds of bugs.
I tried to keep my head above the loathsome liquid
as snake like tentacles attached themselves to my legs
and when I scrambled out, they were bleeding from deep cuts.
A few days later, the cuts began to fester.
"Terrific!" I thought,
not only have I possibly wrecked my career
by doing this piece of drick,
but I probably contracted some fatal disease
and will have to have my legs amputated.
I looked and felt a wreck and was never so delighted
as when the last day of shooting arrived
and it was finally my turn by some forgettable plot twist
to be asphyxiated by the giant queen ant
and turned into a zombie.
And that, I am happy to say, was my last horror film,
But that also became a cult.
[gentle upbeat music]
Hello!
I promoted "Empire of The Ants"
at the Canne Film Festival.
At a lunch, I was seated next with distributor of B films
in the UK.
"Would you be interested in making a movie
from my sister Jackie's best selling novel "The Stud?"
Okay, so let's rewind.
My sister, Jackie,
had just written a wonderful book called "The Stud"
and there was a character in it called Fontaine Khaled,
a glamorous socialite,
however, slightly nymphomaniacal jet setter.
She originally came to me and said,
could she have the book
because she thought it was a wonderful part for her
and it is a wonderful part for her.
[Man] Who knows about the lights, please?
My career was going slowly nowhere,
I was just doing horror films
and doing bits in television in America
and I realised that I had to put myself in a film
that was very commercial otherwise,
I would probably never work again.
So I asked Jackie if she would write the script
and that I could then start taking it to various producers
and to various people that I knew to get it financed.
I had taken it around to every producer I knew,
but no one was interested.
And here I was again at Canne,
offering my, by now, slick opening pitch,
would this man sitting next to me be interested?
"As a matter of fact, I would!" said burley George Walker,
ex-boxer and now low budget film producer.
"That's just the kind of movie we're interested in!"
The search for an actor to play the stud
became as close to the search
for Scarlett O'Hara as we could make it.
Adam Faith and George Best were mentioned,
even Tom Jones was,
who actually appeared most anxious to play it.
[women swooning]
Finally, we chose the darkly brooding, sexy Oliver Tobias.
Why?
You'll reek of sex anyway, it's your main attribute.
And within months, we were in production.
I was going to star in the film
with the proviso I do some tasteful nudity.
Yes, I could do that, this was no longer the dark ages.
It's a nice coat, is it new?
This?
No, I've had it for hours.
Jesus!
I realised that if you're gonna make a film
called "The Stud," you are copping out
if you are not showing scenes
in which you see a certain amount of flesh.
That's right.
[upbeat jaunty music]
[Announcer] Tonight,
Ian Wooldridge talks to film actress, Joan Collins.
Joan, you know as you sit there,
being who you are and what you are
and looking, if I may say so, gorgeous,
that millions of men would love to jump into bed with you,
does that give you a feeling of great power?
[Joan] I bore the brunt of sizzling fury
as though a woman over 40,
semi-nude was something truly shocking.
You appear naked in the film.
Mm-hmm.
Some people might think this was, you know, overexposure.
I think I'm right in saying
that that is the just about the first British film
in which you really appeared in a nude love scene.
Oh, I would say yes.
You, in fact, are a sex symbol., you accept that?
Well, I think that's just part of what I am.
Raquel Welsh always reckons
that you should show the public just so much
but if you show a lot, they lose interest.
I mean, did you have any misgivings?-
Ah, shes such a great philosopher, Raquel.
Not so hard, Sandro.
I didn't think I was committing a crime by revealing my,
not-to-be-sneezed-at-body.
You see, I don't think there's anything wrong
with being beautiful, glamorous, well dressed,
well groomed or sexually attractive.
If God was kind enough to give you those things,
then I think you might as well appreciate them
and not hide your light under a bushel, as it were.
Do you think that people now say when they meet you,
they mentally undress you, say?
Not if they've already seen it,
why should they want to do it again?
This is the peg that you are hung up on
and I'm not desperately trying to escape it, you see?
I'm not saying "No, no, I'm not that,
I will now wear my dowdy skirts
and I will take off my makeup and scrape back my hair."
I'm not going to do it because I like the way I am.
And I discovered that my tag of sultry, sexy bitch
was one that the public loved and actually believed in.
Don't drop it, will you, lover.
Let's begin with Joan Collins,
I once read that she was considered
to be the main female object of desire
in a survey of teenage boys.
In a poll of English men,
I was voted the sexiest woman
in the world that year, hoorah!
Certainly, the British audiences loved it.
I mean, I know some people who saw it 36 times,
I know some people who saw it four and five times,
and I would say that it would be very successful,
touch wood.
And it was.
[Announcer] Joan Collins, Oliver Tobias, "The Stud."
[Joan] "The Stud" was a giant success,
the biggest money in Britain at that time,
other than the Bond films,
so now I was a household name again.
Oh, can't you smell those Italian wines!
[Both] So fused with herbs and spices
from four continents.
Oh, I'm being boring.
Oh, sorry!
I made a series of commercials for Cinzano
with Leonard Rossiter.
Getting your head down, sweetie?
Jolly good idea.
And he was such a brilliant comedian
that my main problem was to stop shrieking with laughter.
[Announcer] From the same stable as "The Stud"
now comes "The Bitch."
[Joan] "The Bitch," I never liked that title.
[Announcer] "The Bitch," another million plus investment
and another limousine ride to a premier with Joan Collins.
Ms. Collins sweeps in to play her very professional part
in the razzmatazz which will get the film talked about
and sold to the public, no matter what the critics say.
Then I've got a dream deal with British Airways,
one commercial and free travel for three years!
There's a sort of Renaissance here,
I think the seventies were a bad time
and I think that the eighties are going to be tremendous,
I hope.
On August the first 1980, I flew to Paris,
the following day, the unthinkable happened,
my daughter, Katy, had been in a terrible accident.
Even now, it's hard for me to talk about it.
Well, she was knocked down by a car
and sustained very serious brain injuries
and I was told that she was going to die
and then she was in a coma for a very long time.
You and your husband got a mobile home
outside the hospital and spent all this time
talking with her and being with her.
Yes, the only way that I was able to really cope
was by almost pretending that it wasn't happening,
that it was like, happening to somebody else.
Eventually she started to make little sounds
and then she took her first faltering steps.
She was going to be all right.
Katy's accident was the worst thing
that ever happened to me.
I took Kay on holiday to Marbella,
she still had a way to go for complete recovery,
but she was thriving in the sunshine.
I'd been begging Ron to sell the house in LA,
we really needed the money.
Despite the success of "The Stud" and "The Bitch,"
George Walker was refusing to pay my share
of the video sales, which were huge.
One day, my brother discovered a tonne of unpaid bills
in Ron's desk and documents
that showed that we had a huge mortgage on the house.
I flew to LA to find out that our car had been impounded.
People were calling to be paid,
including our cleaning lady and the gardener,
it was a nightmare.
[phone rings]
And then the phone rang, it was my agent.
"Joany, have you ever heard of "Dynasty?""
"No, never, what's "Dynasty?""
"It's a bit like Dallas, they want you, it's a great role,
her name is Alexis, she's a bitch but brilliantly smart."
"Okay, I'll think about it." so I did.
I mean, I'd never heard of the show,
it hadn't played in England,
it was about sort of 35 or 45 on the ratings in America,
it wasn't terribly successful.
[dramatic music]
These opening credits are still thrilling.
I never have actually wanted to do a series particularly
and they had to sort of twist my arm to do it
and a lot of the reason why I did it
was because I felt that being in California
for six months with Katy,
rather than being in the English winter,
would be very beneficial.
That six months turned into nine years.
I think that, you know, like any role,
you're always the second or third choice
and I think they wanted Elizabeth Taylor or Sophia Loren
or Raquel Welch, I don't know,
there was a whole bunch people
that were mentioned before me, but I got it.
Season two, episode one,
my first day of filming, enter Alexis Carrington.
Would you state your full name please?
Alexis Morell-Carrington.
[people murmur]
And your residence?
Alexis is the mysterious ex-wife of oil tycoon,
Blake Carrington,
who is on trial for the murder
of his son's homosexual lover,
Alexis is the surprise witness.
I was very young when I married Mr. Carrington.
At first, it was a good marriage in every sense,
we had an excellent relationship.
But I knew it was me that was really on trial.
Okay, here's this actress from England,
now show us what you can do.
I'm glad to see that your father had your teeth fixed,
if not your tongue.
[dramatic music]
I had convinced the producers
to let me play the stylish Alexis as an English woman,
"Little America won't understand you!" said my agent.
I be your pardon?
"Yes, they will!" I argued, "I have perfect good diction!"
I'd like to please a phone call to Paris, please.
Yes, the one in France.
I realised that Alexis could be viewed as somewhat cliched,
but there was enough humour in her lines
for me to build an interesting character.
Nobody takes me to the cleaners and to bed in the same day,
Mr. Dexter, good night.
So I go off to go in this series
and have become, in a period of three months,
the most hated woman on television.
Get out of my sight, you miserable has been.
Of course, if you've seen Joan Collins on that show,
you know who put the nasty in "Dynasty," right?
[audience laughs]
What a dump.
And all these little kids were waving at me
from a station waggon and they were waving
and waving like that, they were about seven or eight
and so I sort of waved back and I said "Hello!"
They said "Hello, Alexis, Alexis!
We hate you!"
Now listen to me, you little tramp.
Did you ever say to them, "This is lousy dialogue?"
Constantly!
Oh, that's all I was ever saying.
I said, "How can I say this?"
And they said, "Well rewrite it," so I did.
Yes, she's strong, she's assertive and she's a big bitch
but that's okay.
"Being bad is good business for Joan Collins."
Oh, Daddy saying,
"I'm so proud of my sexy, superbitch daughter."
He would never have said those words.
"Rise of the superbitch."
Oh yes, the superbitch.
I don't know made this book, it's not my writing.
I think at one point I had three secretaries.
A lot of the reason that women admire her is that she says,
"This is what I'm going to do
and nothing's going to stop me
and if a man can do it, I can do it."
And she thinks like a man
and so people call her a bitch a lot of the time
and actually she's just being very business like,
very assertive, very tough, very strong and saying,
"I'm gonna do this!"
How do you get that reputation of being a bitch?
I was kind of upset at first when I first came to America
and everybody thought that I was this
and then I just thought there's nothing I can do,
take the money and run
and let them think you're the biggest bitch
in kingdom come!
"Dynasty," which had been languishing in the ratings,
began to climb to the top.
Oh, this is really a good one.
John Forsythe, of course, always in the middle,
in his contract,
he always had to be in the top or in the middle.
"At "Dynasty," "Dallas" shoot out,
panic on "Dallas" as "Dynasty's" ratings soar."
I like that.
And that, my darling, is how it should be done.
And that's Alexis for you, steely but with panache.
When the producers realised
that fights between Alexis and her arch enemy, Crystal,
played by Linda Evans were ratings gold,
they'd concoct at least two every season.
You miserable bitch!
[dramatic music]
In one, we had to fall into a lily pond
and fight like demented frogs.
Linda was supposed to sock me in the jaw,
but freeze before connecting
so the stunt double could take over, but she let rip.
She had a right hook like Mike Tyson.
"Gee, I'm so sorry!" she said.
This was my house
while you were living in a shack somewhere.
Alexis, if you don't go down those stairs
and out that door, I'll throw you out myself!
I wouldn't want you to exert yourself, my dear,
I'm leaving.
150 million people tuned in each week
to watch us slug it out,
I went from being practically unknown in America
to becoming one of the most popular actresses in the world.
♪ Ooh baby, do you know what that's worth ♪
♪ Ooh heaven is a place on earth ♪
When you think of sexy television vixens,
my first guest immediately comes to mind.
[TV Host] And Joan Collins joins us this morning
from Los Angeles, good morning, Joan.
Well, hi.
The most talked about lady in the world today.
We on?
And certainly one of the most glamorous.
First off, I love you.
You're not so bad yourself.
Joan Collins was once called a poor mans Elizabeth Taylor,
well no more.
Thank you boys, I'll see you later.
One of the most talked about women in the Western world.
Thank you.
Would you welcome Joan Collins.
[audience applauds]
♪ I'll wait for you as you come around ♪
It took her a while to get there,
but ever since she became Alexis Carrington,
Joan Collins has remained
one of the most commanding presences on television.
♪ When you walk into the room ♪
Yes, Americans really have been spending $10,000
for each of these Joan Collins dolls.
I had the feeling I might be a star again
when I was asked to take part in "The Night of 100 Stars."
Backstage, my friend Henry Winkler was filming.
There was so many faces from my past,
I hadn't seen Betty Davis since "The Virgin Queen"
and she was still just as intimidating.
As we left, Roger Moore patted my cheek,
"Fame at last, Joany."
Actress Joan Collins is the latest star to be honoured
with a star on her own in Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
In Germany, where it was called "Der Denver-Clan."
[woman dubbing in German]
I was known as Der Denver-Beast.
I'm the voice of Joan Collins in "Denver Clan."
I'm very proud about it
because I think she's just marvellous, she's great.
I was made into a wax work,
I turned on the Christmas lights in Regent Street.
I've never seen anything like this.
And best of all, I won a Golden Globe.
Joan Collins.
[audience applauds]
♪ Ooh heaven is place on earth ♪
This is a special award for me
because the last time that I won an award
was for the most promising actress of 1957,
so it's taken me a bit of time,
but I'm really happy to have it, thank you.
It's a big kick, I have to tell you, it's really a kick.
[upbeat music]
[Woman] I mean, you were huge, "Dynasty" was huge.
Well first of all,
it was the right show for the right time,
it had beautiful people, beautiful clothes, beautiful sets,
real flowers, real caviar,
real anger behind the scenes, from some of us.
The 1980s was the me decade.
The markets were trading bonds
with the bravado of Gordon Gekko
and the stock market soared, obviously,
and people were making lot, lot, lot of money
and investing it and living the good life.
The 1980s was a great decade,
I don't care what people say about it,
I don't care if they say it was all greed and Gordon Gekko.
I love Gordon Gekko and I miss it.
Joan knows how to make money and ooh la la,
she knows how to spend it.
This house is a house that I bought
just a year or two after "Dynasty" started.
Well actress Joan Collins is following the footsteps
of other top celebrities,
she has put her name on a new line of perfume.
Something Scoundrel, my favourite fragrance.
[Man] The Joan Collins lingerie collection.
It was one long spending spree
and "Dynasty" echoed it all on television.
Mr. President, how are you?
Very, very good Blake.
People clammered to be on "Dynasty," even for a walk on.
Hi, hello.
Hello Alexis, it's good to see you.
Good to see you, I haven't seen since Portofino.
One day, the network received a call from Donald Trump.
"I'd just love to have a part on "Dynasty."
"Well, I'm afraid all the roles are cast."
said the head of talent,
"But you don't understand,
I would be great as one of Alexis' lovers."
The Alexis look became the symbol
of the powerful eighties woman,
shoulder pads, couture and lots and lots of bling.
Do you want to come in and see me do my makeup?
Is that what you want?
During "The Stud," I invented a makeup look
which I stuck to more or less ever since,
big hair, smokey eyes and bright lipstick.
So when "Dynasty" came along,
the Alexis look was already in place, it was mine.
Right, done.
By now, my picture had been on the cover
of practically every magazine, I was on top of the world,
but I'd been at that rodeo before.
I knew full well that it wouldn't last.
Everybody thought that, you know,
I had the world on a string and that I was playing this,
you know, tough, hard, calculating woman but in life,
I was pretty miserable.
It was hard to keep up the facade of being happy with Ron,
my closest friends saw the marriage crumbling,
even if I refused to acknowledge it openly at the time.
I went to a marriage counsellor at one time
when I was married to Ron
because I really didn't want to,
I didn't wanna have another failure,
but it just really prolongs the agony.
We eventually did split up.
[Interviewer] You've had three marriages,
you had a sense of what love is in those marriages
or you haven't achieved what the classic love is.
What is the classic love?
[Interviewer] Well, you know-
Romeo and Juliet?
[Interviewer] Romeo and Juliet, you know, whatever,
but no-
Well, yeah, the classic love that lasts for about a year.
[Interviewer] Is there-
That's what they had, if that.
Do you think Romeo and Juliet
would've stayed happily married for 10 years?
Even when she had to do the dishes and raise the children,
you think that love would've stayed the same?
Of course not!
It was 1983 and that same year I posed for Playboy.
Oh!
[woman laughs]
My God!
These are filth!
Okay, so Playboy.
Incidentally, Playboy,
you wanna see Joan Collins without any clothes on?
[audience cheers]
Oh no!
Well now Joan Collins has created quite a stir
by appearing in a photo layout
for the December Playboy magazine,
the issue already looks to be one of the top sellers
Playboy has ever had.
Did you see it?
[Man] Yes, I have seen it.
Did you all see it?
[Man] Yeah.
It's the only one that I got paid for,
I had done hundreds of magazine covers by that time
and since, but it's the one that I got paid for,
probably the reason I did it.
One of the reasons that I did the Playboy layout
was because I'm a feminist and because I wanted to say,
"Hey, look, you don't have to be 23 to be in Playboy,
you don't have to be considered only attractive
if you're very young,
you can be attractive and you can be sexy if you're older."
And I want other other women who are older,
who are terrified of getting older,
it's sick and frightening
how terrified women are of getting older.
I like this picture on the cover,
I think it's really a very good picture
and it's glamorous without being raunchy and nasty,
John Forsythe from "Dynasty," loathed it.
He stormed into the producer's office
in a classic Blake Carrington rage
yelling "She's a disgrace to our fine show!"
And just what do you think you are doing here?
"Dynasty."
[audience applauds]
[Man] Accepting the award for "Dynasty"
are Diahann Carroll, Joan Collins-
Things came to head in 1986
when "Dynasty" won the People's Choice Awards,
John was supposed to accept it
but the presenter made a beeline for me
and plonked it in my hand.
Thank you, I know I speak for all of us
when we say how thrilled we are.
John was furious and hardly spoke to me
for the rest of the season.
And now I'm gonna give it to the big boss.
You said it.
When it came to renegotiating my "Dynasty" contract,
I found out that John Forsythe
was being paid much more than me, I had to take a stand.
I realised that I had never thought like a businesswoman,
I had thought like a ding-a-ling sort of artiste,
I cannot be bothered with things like money.
Now, if I had been a male actor
and had helped pull the ratings up from nowhere
to number one in the world,
the networks would've been falling over themselves
to give me parity without me having to beg.
The British actress, Joan Collins,
has been offered an extra 20,000 pounds a week
to go on playing the arch villain Alexis
in the television soap opera "Dynasty."
So don't underestimate me,
I'm not the same naive little English girl
fresh out of boarding school
that you met all those years ago.
I'm a very respected businesswoman
and if you don't wanna do business with me,
there are plenty of other people who will.
I think I learned a lot from Alexis
and her sharp business acumen.
If she accepts,
it'll take her salary to 1.5 million pounds a year.
Finally.
[dramatic music]
[Peter singing in foreign language]
Peter Holm was a tall, blonde Scandinavian,
a sort of male version of Britt Ekland.
I was, believe it or not, a pop star
when I was about 20 years.
[Interviewer] What was the name of the group?
Me, Peter Holm.
[Peter singing in foreign language]
I fell in love with him the first time I saw him sing.
I did, didn't I?
He didn't speak actually, you see,
I said "Does this man speak?"
And then somebody sort of nudged him
and said "Get out your guitar, Peter,
maybe she'll be impressed."
It worked, it worked instantly.
[Peter signing in foreign language]
Big mistake.
[Man] After three failed marriages,
she was resigned to remaining single
until she saw Peter Holm across a crowded restaurant
at a London lunch.
Today, Joan believes there is such a thing
as a marriage made in heaven.
Joan Collins,
who's better known nowadays as Alexis in "Dynasty"
has married for the fourth time at the age of 52.
It didn't take long for the problems to start.
It was almost a sort of case history
of a very powerful, successful woman
marrying a sort of man who was not powerful
and not successful and not really doing anything
and getting taken over.
He fired my agents and managers,
"You're famous, sweetie,
you don't need any of these parasites!"
but then took 20% of my income.
"If I'm not here, sweetie,
you'll just go back to your old ways
and these parasites will just take and take and take."
None of my friends liked him, but I stupidly didn't listen.
She's so sweet.
I had allowed the Swede
to totally control my business life.
His anger was venomous and whenever he had fights,
he would sneer sarcastically,
"If only people could see the great Alexis now,
what a pathetic cry baby."
[Interviewer] How often have others exploited you?
Quite a bit.
It must seem pretty pathetic
that a successful woman in her prime
should allow herself to be so bullied.
The trouble was, I was far too stubborn to admit
I'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.
I faced him with it after we'd been married, I said,
"You're a sociopath and if you continue like this,
I will divorce you."
This is after a few months, he said,
"You will look like the biggest fool in the world." he said,
"Alexis getting divorced after four months."
I said "I'm not Alexis, I'm Joan
and I married you because I thought you were one thing
and you're another, and if you continue like this,
I'm gonna divorce."
TV star Joan Collins and husband, Peter Holm
will start airing their dirty laundry in public today
when they're much publicised divorce case begins
in a Los Angeles courtroom.
[Man] Peter Holm, Miss Collins' fourth husband,
insists the British actress should pay him
50,000 pounds a month.
[Woman] The trial could generate more heat
than some "Dynasty" scenes.
[Man] Earlier this month, Mr. Holm locked himself
in the Hollywood Hills mansion he shared with the actress
threatening to shoot anyone who tried to evict him.
He said, "If you divorce me, I'm going to destroy you,
I'm gonna take all your money."
And he threatened all of that and he tried all of that.
Collins' attorney says
it's kind of like any other divorce,
except his client's name happens to be Joan Collins.
And finally, the judge allowed him only $80,000, only?
Ha!
[Woman] Joan, would you ever marry again?
No, I said, "I don't need a husband, I need a wife."
And that was divorce number four.
Joan took the character Alexis and ran with it,
it made her the most watched woman on television
in more than 90 countries.
"Dynasty" had now brought me fame and fortune
to a staggering degree.
On my last day on "Dynasty,"
I ordered champagne for the crew
and a cake, which said
"It's been the best, I love you all, Joan."
But I couldn't stop the tears rolling down my cheeks.
[Joan singing]
As the nineties dawned,
outsized bling and big hair were no longer in Vogue
and my life was branching in a new direction.
I wouldn't have expected you to be celibate
after we were divorced anymore than I was.
What?
Ever since RADA, I'd wanted to play Amanda
in Noel Cowards "Private Lives"
and now I finally had my chance.
The curtain dropped to rapturous applause
for Joan Collins' first night on the West End stage,
the star playing the lead in Noel Coward's "Private Lives,"
received a standing ovation.
I then co-produced and starred in a series of Coward plays
for the BBC,
with a cast which included my ex-husband Anthony Newley.
I couldn't help it!
It doesn't matter why you did it or how you did it,
you did it!
All right, I did!
Tony and I drew heavily upon our own marital experiences,
no method acting needed here,
but those years were now behind us,
life's too short to bear grudges.
Entree!
[Man] Ah, lovely!
Oh, look at this.
Welcome to my house, welcome.
That's our little pool.
[Man] Oh, look at that pool!
Oh, Joan!
[Joan] It's nice, isn't it?
Like her sister, Jackie Collins,
Joan has turned her real life experiences in Hollywood
into a hot new book called "Prime Time."
This is the work area.
This is where I write blockbusters
with my "Dictionary of English Synonyms and Antonyms."
I lie here.
I hop on the telephone, hello mother.
I said to Katy, who was then 14,
I said, "Are you going to read "Prime Time?"
She said, "Mummy, I don't read trash fiction."
[audience laughs]
[Man] The only award Jane Collins might get
for her first novel is for a record number of signings,
500 in an hour.
"Prime Time" was a best seller and so was my next book.
Every time I read this book, and I have to say,
I've read it a few times,
I think it's such a good book.
My agent then got me a staggering $2 million deal
to write two steamy novels for Random House.
I delivered two novels in a timely manner
and then Random House decided to sue me.
The actress Joan Collins took the stand
in a real courtroom drama,
she's defending her literary reputation
after being sued by her publishers
for the return of a million dollar advance.
They say her efforts to write steamy blockbusters
fell short at the mark.
[Joan] I was locked into the biggest fight of my life.
So you tell one story when you're suing them
and you tell this jury another
when you're trying to keep from returning the advance,
yes or no?
No, I haven't-
No, no is the answer, next question.
Don't you have any shame?
Abstain, please, counsellor!
[Joan] It was absolutely brutal.
The actress seemed on the brink of tears
after that bruising session
and she turned away from the courtroom camera.
"Don't let them rattle you." My friend said,
"Be strong, just be, become Alexis."
The next day I walked into the courtroom
and I became Alexis.
Don't get yourself into a court fight with this woman.
[Man] Did you sometimes call this "Athena?"
Sometimes I called it "Hitler's mistress,"
it went through so many different names.
That is a pretty good Alexis line.
Oh, Mr. Keller,
you're not supposed to come close to me
without asking permission.
After two weeks, the jury filed in to deliver the verdict.
[Man] A moment of tension as Joan Collins
awaits the jury verdict
on whether she's broken her book contract.
[Judge] Did defendant Joan Collins fail to deliver
a complete manuscript, what is the answer?
[Foreman] No.
[Judge] Was that unanimous?
[Foreman] Yes.
I'd won with a little help from Alexis.
Justice had been served and oh, how sweet it was.
The actress Joan Collins is celebrating
her courtroom victory
over her American publishers Random House.
[Man] That the 62-year-old actress thanked the jury,
asked by one if they could keep
the copies of her unpublished blockbuster,
"A Ruling Passion,"
Ms. Collins offered to autograph them.
11 Men and women who were all college graduates,
who all, none of them had seen "Dynasty,"
none of them had read my books, so they said!
[audience laughs]
And I think Random House are trying to teach a lesson
to not only me, but to other authors.
They don't wanna pay this,
but nobody held a gun to their head
to give me all that money.
[Man] We love you!
[crowd cheering]
Now, could it be fifth time lucky for Joan Collins?
The 68-year-old actress tied the knot
at London's Claridge's hotel today,
her new and fifth husband,
Percy Gibson, is 32 years her junior.
[Reporter] The dress code was, of course, glamorous,
sadly, a deal with the celebrity magazine,
precluded a glimpse of the bride.
[Photographer] Great and again,
hold for me, that's fabulous, still.
Absolutely love it, yeah, look at that!
I first set eyes on Percy Gibson in the year 2000,
he was managing a theatre production
that I was going to be in.
The fact that I was older didn't matter to us,
it was giddy, it was fantastic
and Percy and I fell madly in love.
I, Joan Henrietta Collins.
Do take thee, Percy Michael Gibson.
[Officiant] To be my lawful, wedded husband.
To be my lawful, wedded husband.
We been together ever since,
I finally found my true soulmate and my husband forever.
[triumphant music]
[Man] Dame Joan Collins for services to charity.
In 2015, I received one of the greatest honours of my life,
a dame hood.
Dame Joan Collins,
I can't say it enough, Dame Joan Collins.
Oh, I love it, thank you.
I know I've had a lucky life,
but I think I've also had my fair share of disaster
and unhappiness.
And there have been three miserable, horrible divorces.
[Man] Dame Joan Collins.
The terrible situation when my daughter almost died,
bankruptcy, almost,
not getting any work as an actor, a lot.
[Man] Dame Joan Collins everyone!
But who wants reality?
There's already too much of it in today's world.
And as they say in show business,
that's not what the public pay for.
[triumphant music continues]
That is a wrap for Joan Collins!
I think people like the glamour girl called Joan Collins.
Off we go!
Even if they understand glamour is just an illusion.
[triumphant music crescendos]
Is that it?
Are we done?
[upbeat suave music]
I don't suppose we could open the window for a second
or put it on some AC?
'Cause maybe I shouldn't wear a sweater.
I think maybe I shouldn't wear this sweater,
does it look okay?
[Woman] You look great.
But I'm boiling.
'Cause I'm gonna take the books
and when I look at them, I'm gonna put them here,
is that all right?
All right, we'll just do that then,
I think I've done enough of that book,
I was even boring myself.
[upbeat suave music continues]