Joan Collins Biography

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FAMOUS WOMEN AND BEAUTY FEATURING: Joan Collins Born 23 May 1933 Actress, author

Joan Collins Biography. Dream vs. Reality

As a small child, Joan already knew she was going to become an actress. Her first debut in Ibsen’s "A Doll's House" at the age of twelve was a disaster. According to Joan, she missed a couple of cues. However, the director’s point of view about her mistakes was different: "We will never have children in our plays again."

Joan Collins Biography – Early Years

Joan Henrietta Collins was born on May 23, 1933 at a nursing home in Bayswater, near London's Hyde Park. By the time of her birth, her father, Joe Collins was starting his career as a theatrical agent and entrepreneur. Later, her represented, among others, Peter Sellers, Shirley Bassey and Roger Moore. Joan’s mother, Elsa Bessant, was a dance instructor before her marriage to Joe.

"I had a very strict father and a very loving mother," said Joan about her parents. Still, this was a rather diplomatic way to say about her parents. Joe Collins was a very critical and dominating personality, and his both daughters, Joan and Jackie, as well as their mother, suffered from his chauvinism. Elsa, Joan's mother, was the opposite to him: affectionate and loving, softly encouraging her daughters on their chosen career paths.

In her early years, Joan was influenced by her grandmother Hettie, who used to be a musical-comedy star in South Africa. At the age of seventy, grandmother Hettie did not look her age, and could still do the splits. Little Joan learned dance steps from her and tried to copy her hip-swaying walk. Joan’s paternal aunts, Lalla and Pauline, had also been successful on London’s West End stage, in 1920’s, before they got married. Unlike them, Joan would never stop her career in the show business throughout her marriages and child-bearing years.

Joan’s dreams of stardom and her ways to always look her best, as if constantly on stage, might have looked almost genetic. Her father’s discouragement and controlling behavior had an opposite effect on her. She had become even more determined to succeed on stage. Besides, she decided that her "desires for material things would never depend on the whims of a man." (Joan Collins. "Past Imperfect").

Joan Collins Biography – School

At the age of twelve, Joan persuaded her parents to let her board at a theatrical school in Hertfordshire. Upon her arrival, however, she begged her parents to let her return home, because of the strict discipline of the school which she could not bear. Her mother was relieved to have her back, while her father made sure that she stayed several weeks before taking her back home.

Later, Joan attended the Francis Holland School at Clarence Gate, which was few blocks away from their flat. Her teachers remembered her as a very clever little girl, a bit naughty, but in an amusing way. The headmistress, charmed by Joan’s personality, often said that Joan was a true actress.

Joan Collins Biography – RADA and the first steps on stage

On her sixteenth birthday, Joan announced to her parents that she wanted to become an actress. Her father tried to persuade her that her choice was wrong: acting can be short-lived and it can hurt. His last argument was to convince her about importance of studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. What Joe Collins did not expect was that his daughter would pass the entrance exam and would become one of the most successful students of RADA.

She combined her studies with modeling work, posing for women’s magazines, performing small parts in a summer time and helping backstage.

Her father, Joe Collins helped Joan to get a listing as an actress in the casting directory. This was the last time that he represented his daughter, as he never believed in representing his own children. In the later years, Joan would often seek his advice at the important turns of her life and her career. His judgment would be delivered with all his knowledge and encouragement.

Joan Collins Biography – First roles and first marriage

In the first years of her acting career, Bill Watts became her agent. Her small roles in "Lady Godiva Rides Again" and "The Woman’s Angle" got her noticed. But it was her third role in the thriller "Judgment Deferred", that marked her for the first time as a "bad girl". "Joan is alive," commented the Sunday Express about her personality. "She has bodily arrogance and vitality." British photographers named her "the most beautiful face in Britain." No matter how naive and hard working Joan was, public would always think of her as a "naughty girl". She looked too sharp, intelligent and sophisticated for her age seventeen. And she had a star quality distinguishing her from others.

Her role in "I Believe in You" brought some more good reviews and lead indirectly to her marriage to Maxwell Reed. Maxwell Reed was a famous actor of the fifties, who had a reputation of a womanizer. He was fourteen years older than Joan, and used to be the hero of her dreams. According to Joan, Reed got her drunk and raped her. Joan felt too insecure and confused to stop seeing him. She felt the need to be loved, which was the reason for her decision to marry Reed. Their relationship was disastrous and physically abusing for Joan. Reed felt that his young wife was trying to upstage him, while his own career went slowly and inevitably downward.

Their relationship came to an end, after Joan had signed the seven-year exclusive contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. Her next step was Hollywood. Reed sued Joan and demanded alimony In contrast to her bitchy screen reputation, Joan Collins decided not to engage in a nasty court battle and agreed to pay a generous lump sum amount of money to her husband for divorce. It was not the last time Joan paid her way out.

Joan Collins Biography – Hollywood

No matter how many romances Joan had been reportedly involved in, neither romances nor marriages would stop her from succeeding. Since her arrival to Hollywood in 1954 until 1961, she acted in about dozen films. However, the worse days in her career were yet to come.

When Joan stepped into her thirties, she started to get chilly reception in studios. The contract system that had existed in 1950’s when she came to America, disappeared. She had to take every acting work available.

Joan Collins Biography – Marriages, children and career

In 1962, when she was in London, Joan met Anthony Newly, the famous actor, singer and film composer. This was a love from the first site. She and Newly had two children. Their relationship lasted seven years, but ended in a divorce in 1970. Although Collins admitted that she loved and respected her husband, she felt they were too different personalities to survive as a couple.

In 1970, she met Ron Kass, a thirty-three-year-old American, the president of the Beatles’ Apple Records. He radiated solidity, charm and energy, and Joan was smitten with him. They got married in 1972 and had a third child together.

In 1975, Ron Kass insisted that they moved to Hollywood. He was to head a new film company. Joan, who had just managed to win back her recognition as a British film star, was very upset about this change. To make things disastrous, Kass lost his job shortly after their return to America. The couple was devastated and financially ruined. According to Joan, this dramatic come back became a turning point in their lives. Ron Kass would never recover from shock and disappointment.

From that point, Joan was expected to become the sole bread winner. This posed a dilemma, because a woman over forty was not regarded highly in Hollywood. However, this time Joan was more determined to win than ever.

Joan Collins Biography – her come back

Jackie Collins, Joan’s younger sister was the first to offer help. She gave Joan an option on her book, "The Stud". This gave Joan the chance to control her career, even though it posed a financial problem. The film earned reportedly 40 million dollars and became one of the most popular movies of the seventies, in spite of unfavorable reviews. After "The Stud" and its sequel "The Bitch", came Joan’s first book "Past Imperfect", which also caused a stir and gave a boost to her career.

Joan Collins was not the only one in the list for the role of Alexis in Dynasty. Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Raquel Welch were also under consideration. In the end, Joan proved she was the one and only perfect person for the role. Her acting was so natural that Alexis character seemed to come into her own private life. However, many people who knew Joan, said that her real self was too friendly and humorous and outgoing to be compared to her role in Dynasty.

Kate O’Mara, the British actress has defined the very essence of Collins’ personality:

"She keeps that sort of star image going the whole time, which is part of her charisma, part of her image. It’s part of the reason that she’s so enormously internationally popular… Joan is almost the queen of the world and she gives people something to look at and admire – it’s wonderful."

The success of Dynasty was so overwhelming, that Madame Tussaud's Museum in London decided that it was absolutely important to have Joan Collins figure in the museum.

Joan Collins Biography – Love and loyalty

One of the events which tested her strength in a most tough way, was the injury of her younger daughter Katy, aged eight, in August of 1980. Hit by the car, Katy was taken to the hospital, where the doctors declared her case as hopeless. Joan and Ron rented a trailer and lived six weeks in a parking lot of a hospital. According to the nurses, parents talked the child out of a coma by their constant presence, love and refusal to give up a hope. Joan also did not allow any tears from friends and family, to protect Katy from negative thoughts. To the hospital personnel and other parents Joan introduced herself as "Katy’s mom."

Later Joan was asked by "Parade" in 1985 how she had been able to find such strength in herself. Joan answered: "Me? I faint when somebody tries to give me an injection!"

Taking care of their child, however, did not preserve the marriage. In 1983 Kass and Collins divorced. They remained good friends until Kass’ death from cancer in 1986.

Her other marriages included Swedish singer Peter Holm (1985-1987) and theatrical company manager Percy Gibson (2001-present).

Joan Collins Biography – Books

Her books include five lifestyle books, biography and bestselling novels. To date, she has sold more than 50 million copies of her books, which have been translated into 30 languages.

Read about other famous women, at http://www.onlineschools.org/resources/famous-women

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