author jackie collins: surprisingly few movies & television adaptations of her best-selling novels
Jackie Collins, best known for a series of bestsellers about the dysfunctional sex lives of the rich and famous and for being the younger sister of TV and movie star Joan Collins, died on September 10. 19 in Los Angeles. Collins, born in London (October 4, 1937), was 77 years old.
Collins’ tawdry, female-centric novels, like those by Danielle Steel and Judith Krantz, were/are immensely popular. according to their website, they have sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. And if the increasingly tabloid BBC is to be believed (nowadays, Wikipedia has apparently become a key source), every one of them, 32 in all, appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. (Collins’ own site claims only 30 were included).
You are reading: Jackie collins books made into movies
sex moves the world
in the bbc obituary, jackie collins, who is supposed to have enjoyed a “schoolgirl fling” with marlon brando, is quoted as saying she was “never shy about writing about sex”, adding that her novels they had “helped people have sex.” lives.”
“Sex is a driving force in the world,” he stated, “so I don’t think it’s unusual for me to write about sex. I also try to make it erotic.”
Whether “erotic” or not, literature focused on sex has been around for centuries. Before Jackie Collins, in English only, the 20th century produced, among many others, the controversial D.H. Lawrence (Lady Chatterley’s Lover), Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer) and Allen Ginsberg (“Howl”), plus best-selling authors Harold Robbins (The Carpetbaggers), Sidney Sheldon (Bloodline) and Collins’s female ancestors, Elinor Glyn (Beyond the Rocks), Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls), and Grace Metalious (Peyton Place).
Numerous novels of this type were made into films, beginning as early as the silent era. some were very popular; others were critical and commercial failures. a follow-up post will provide a quick look at several of these movies.
only four film adaptations of jackie collins
A very minor film and television actress in the 1950s (all at sea, intent on killing), Jackie Collins became a published novelist in 1968, when the scandalous world is full of married men, banned in australia! labeled “disgusting” by barbara cartland! – came out.
“barbara cartland said to me, ‘oh miss collins, your books are dirty and disgusting and you are responsible for every pervert in england,’” collins told porter magazine in 2014. “i paused for a few moments and said, ‘thank you.’”
interestingly, despite barbara cartland’s strong disapproval, the huge international success of jackie collins’ “dirty” novels, and the fact that several sensational books (at least from a commercial point of view) have made a successful transition to the big and small screens, there have only been eight film and television adaptations of collins’ literary work.
Equally curious, the four feature films based on his novels have all been minor productions.
bottom: the studs trailer with joan collins and oliver tobias
jackie collins movies: sister joan collins in the stud & the bitch
In the late 1970s, not long after Emmanuelle de Jaeckin became a cause of worldwide scandal, Joan Collins starred in two films based on her younger sister’s books. both were cheaply made critical flops that achieved a degree of notoriety as “soft porn”:
- quentin masters’ the stud (1978), adapted by jackie collins herself (from her 1969 novel), with the help of dave humphries and christopher stagg. Joan Collins stars as London nightclub owner Fontaine Khaled, a sexually and emotionally dissatisfied married woman, a la Sylvia Kristel in Emmanuelle, who begins a steamy (but healthily smooth) affair with the young manager (Oliver Tobias) of her establishment.
if people are to be believed, the stud cost $600,000 and grossed $20 million internationally before his (redacted) usa. uu. debut.
- the dog of the writer and director gerry o’hara (1979). In this sequel to The Stud, Joan Collins returns as Fontaine, now a divorcee at odds with both men in general and mobsters in particular. Also in the cast: Antonio Cantafora (billed as Michael Colby), Kenneth Haigh and Ian Hendry.
“a ghastly sequel to the collins sisters stallion”, cursed the time out, “cynically based on the supposed desire of the depressed masses to catch a glimpse of the high life of mayfair disco culture that they could not otherwise afford”.
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despite their box office nudity and simulated sex, neither the stud nor the bitch did much for joan collins’ film career, then on life support (empire of the ants, the game of the vultures, the sunburn).
On the other hand, as the story goes, these two entries into the Collins movie cannon gave her the chance to become a TV superstar, leading TV mogul Aaron Spell to invite her to play the meticulously dressed and coiffed villain Alexis Carrington in the long-running dynasty of hit series. (Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor had reportedly previously turned down the role.)
more jackie collins movies: little seen, largely forgotten
Both the stud and the bitch were bred by Jackie Collins’s second (and last) husband, Oscar Lerman. The Collins-Lerman duo also joined forces in the largely ignored 1979 film version of The World Is Full of Married Men, a low point in the careers of two Oscar-nominated artists: Anthony Franciosa (A Hat Full of Rain), as publicity executive and cheating husband, and carroll baker (baby doll), as the wife who decides to have a little extramarital fun. b film director robert young (not to be confused with star father knows best) handled the proceedings.
While not another Emmanuelle, the variety referred to The World Is Full of Married Men as a “sexually exploitative melodrama that will cunningly turn on both sexes,” while complaining that “Collins’ manipulative technique does not allow a deep characterization. ”
Oscar Lerman was also one of the producers of sports photographer Neil Leifer’s dark 1979 drama Yesterday, unique in that it is the only original screenplay credited to Jackie Collins. Ian McShane appears as an alcoholic former football star, supposedly a fictionalized version of Northern Irish footballer George Best, trying to make a comeback while becoming involved with Suzanne Somers, girlfriend of rock star and football team owner Paul Nicholas.
“jackie collins script is a paste job of headlines from the sports pages of the scandal sheet,” Time Out scoffed, then indirectly complimented yesterday’s hero as “irresistibly bad”.
Fast forward to 2010 and the fourth and most recent big screen adaptation of a Collins novel: Harley Cokeliss’ British Made Paris Connections (2010), screenplay credited to Michael Tupy. Nicole Steinwedell plays a journalist who travels to Paris to investigate the mysterious death of a model and former interviewee, while Alain Delon’s son, Anthony Delon, plays a photographer and the heroine’s love interest maybe/maybe not. .
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also in the cast of paris connections: trudie styler, plus veterans anouk aimée (a man and a woman) and charles dance (as a russian). Collins herself was one of the producers listed on the You-Blinked-You-Missed-It effort.
jackie collins on television: wives of hollywood
more successful were the television adaptations of jackie collins. The excerpt below was taken from the gigantic, and, people say, “smarmy” – 1983 bestseller and literary reality show Wives of Hollywood.
elaine conti woke up in her luxurious bed in her lavish beverly hills mansion, pressed a button to open the electrically controlled curtains, and was confronted by the sight of a young man in a white t-shirt and dirty jeans urinating a perfect bow on her mosaic tile pool.
she struggled to sit up, buzzing lina, her Mexican maid, and at the same time donning a marabou-trimmed silk robe and pressing her feet into dusty pink slippers.
in 1984, collins told the washington post’s joyce wadler:[1]
I know women like that. and nothing bad happens to them, except that they live their lives in a vacuum. they actually say things like, ‘I need a new dress for the party,’ and you say, ‘but you spent $4,000 on a dress last week,’ and they say, ‘but I need it.’ I know. a woman who says, ‘honey, my roll reaches the edge of beverly hills and automatically turns around and goes home’.
About two years after publication and long before Desperate Housewives and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Hollywood Wives became a cheesy ABC miniseries directed by Robert Day and produced by Howard W. . Koch (The Manchurian Candidate, The Other Side of Midnight), with Dynasty’s Aaron Spelling credited as one of his executive producers.
Gregorio Peck’s wife? powerful agent sue mengers?
it is expected to become one of the biggest of 1985 in the us. television hits, the miniseries’ top-notch cast included:
- candice bergen as marabou silk-robed hollywood hostess emeritus elaine conti (supposedly inspired by gregory peck’s ironclad wife veronique).
- anthony hopkins as a alcoholic british film director.
- steve forrest as elaine’s husband, fading matinée idol ross conti (maybe/maybe not inspired by kirk douglas).
- angie dickinson as agent casting (possibly sue mengers, with a bit of henry willson thrown in).
- roddy mcdowall as a (gay) interior designer (in the style of former silent movie star william haines) who also runs a male escort agency catering to wealthy women.
- oscar-winning rod steiger (in the heat of the night) as an arrogant, money-hungry studio boss (a role similar to his boss Studio Louis B. Mayer-ish in Robert Aldrich’s 1955 drama The Big Knife).
bottom: introduction to ‘hollywood wives’.
‘refreshingly sassy’ hollywood wives
“give credit to abc’s hollywood wives,” wrote howard rosenberg of the los angeles times. “It’s refreshingly bold for this season because none of its characters have cancer, sexually abuse children or are suicidal. oh, there’s someone with a little problem in that he’s a crazy killer, but no one’s perfect.”
more from rosenberg:
women of hollywood is refreshingly irrelevant, blissfully ignoring all the critical issues of our time. his characters are too busy with lunch and sex, when they’re not getting their hair and nails done, to care about anything other than lunch and sex.
This is a story about greed, lust, blackmail, betrayal and murder, just some of the things we encounter every day in the world of entertainment.
Hollywood wives are the sleaze behind the sleaze behind the sleaze behind show business.
lower than expected ratings at first
Perhaps because most viewers initially felt they had enough sleaze, lunch, sex, hair, and nails in their own lives, the three-episode Hollywood Wives began with “lower-than-expected ratings”: seventh for the week. The good news for Spell and the company was that the miniseries ended with a “share forecast (percentage of sets in use) of 40 by some ad agencies.”
Despite derisive reviews and less than stellar ratings, The Hollywood Wives garnered enough attention to earn an Emmy nomination for Best Picture Editing (Fred A. Chulack, Ray Daniels). also in the cast:
joana cassidy. Maria Crosby powers Stefanie Suzanne Somers (as the star of the upcoming film Tigress, in which she is captured by a gang of pygmies). Oscar nominee Robert Stack (Written on the Wind). andres stevens catherine mary stewart.
hollywood wives: the new generation
A “sequel” to the now largely forgotten TV movie, Hollywood Wives: The Next Generation, aired in 2003. “Real kitsch may not be a thing of beauty, but it surely can be a thing of comedy,” Miles wrote. beller in the times of angels. “…wives is a marriage made in camp heaven. love here means never having to say I’m serious, at least not in believable dramatic terms.”
Directed by Joyce Chopra from a television play by Nicole Avril, Hollywood Wives 2 stars Farrah Fawcett as a movie and music star who hires a private investigator turned lover (Jack Scalia) to spy on her husband. abusive. Also in the cast: Melissa Gilbert, Robin Gives, Jeff Kaake, Dorian Harewood, and Stewart Bick.
bottom: jackie collins introduces ‘lady boss’.
the santangelo novels by jackie collins
a trio of novels by jackie collins about an italian-american family involved in the world of organized crime also became a television miniseries. although they were adapted by collins herself, none had as much “cultural” impact as hollywood wives.
- lucky chances (1990), a mash-up of the novels lucky and chances, starring nicollette sheridan as lucky santangelo, daughter of former gangster and las vegas mogul gino santangelo (vincent irizarry). Also in cast: Scholarship Show; luca bercovici; elisabeth moss (crazy, right) as the lucky six-year-old; veterans Stephanie Beacham, Richard Anderson and David McCallum; and, long before the blindside and gravity, sandra bullock.
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Veteran buzz kulik (riot, shamus) directed lucky chances, which won an emmy for best cinematography (gayne rescher).
- lady boss (1992), with kim delaney as lucky santangelo, now an aspiring hollywood studio mogul. Also in the eclectic cast: Jack Scalia, veterans Yvette Mimieux (The Time Machine) and John Randolph (Seconds), plus U.S. TV talk show celebrity Joan Rivers, Canadian singer and model Vanity, and, like himself, funky-haired right-wing icon and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Lady Boss was directed by Charles Jarrott, whose credits include the TV movie Chances (based on a Danielle Steel novel) and the 1977 box office hit The Other Side of Midnight (based on a Sidney Sheldon novel). .
According to recent reports, Jackie Collins believed that Angelina Jolie should be in luck should a film adaptation of her Santangelo family’s novels ever become a reality.
devil: meryl streep as an author in the style of jackie collins
another jackie collins film credit is a “special thanks” note in susan seidelman’s she-devil (1989). Based on a novel by Fay Weldon, the revenge comedy stars Meryl Streep as a Jackie Collins-esque “romance” writer who has an affair with married accountant Ed Begley Jr. – whose overweight, frumpy and ultimately abandoned wife, Roseanne Barr, decides to launch an all-out attack on him and his mistress.
despite streep’s flawless performance, la diabla bombed the national box office.
engagement ring the size of an iceberg
[1] joyce wadler’s jackie collins interview is a must read with biting humor. here is a snippet:did we mention that every time collins finishes a book (there’s been nine now) he buys himself a little gift, like that leopard print number ($800) he’s wearing? That ring on your left hand, by the way, Jackie, can you raise your wrist to show us or can we have the waiter run for a tow truck? – that’s a pretty serious piece of stone. another gift? oh, your engagement ring? of your first husband? Well, honey, why didn’t you give it back to me?
the kind of response you’d expect from someone whose sister is a star in dynasty: half satirical, half real.
“because I married him. you don’t ask for your engagement ring back after you marry someone.”
joan collins movies
Although best known for Dynasty (1981-1989), co-starring John Forsythe and Linda Evans, Joan Collins (born May 23, 1933 in London) appeared in more than 60 films, from the early 1950s to today.
These include: Henry Koster’s The Virgin Queen (1955), opposite Bette Davis and Richard Todd; Richard Fleischer’s The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing (1955), opposite Ray Milland and Farley Granger; and david miller, the opposite sex (1955), as joan crawford’s old husband-stealer in this new version of george cukor’s women, in which she is beaten by june allyson.
also: the rebel bus (1957) by victor vicas, in a surprisingly effective dramatic performance opposite jayne mansfield and rick jason; and leo mccarey’s rally ’round the flag, boys! (1958), showing that even then she could be a good comedian, here with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
as found on imdb, this year joan collins had a supporting role in christopher n. Rowley’s Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism, with Raffey Cassidy, Emily Watson, and Dominic Monaghan.
soon she will be seen in roger goldby’s time of their lives, currently in production. Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine) – no relation – will co-star.
on her twitter page, joan collins wrote: “im desperately sad today but i know jackie would want me to be strong but it’s hard to lose someone so wonderful so amazing & loving.” she also posted several pictures of the two of them together.
‘the worst memory in the world’
Jackie and Joan Collins’ father was South African-born agent Joe Collins, whose client list included dancer Lew Grade (later a major television producer), Peter Sellers, Roger Moore, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Vera Lynn and, early in her career, Joan Collins, whom she also convinced to take on the role of Alexis Carrington on Dynasty. He died at age 85 in 1988, reportedly having never read any of the Jackie Collins novels.
In 1984, Joan Collins published her memoir, Past Imperfect. the author of hollywood wives commented: “she has the worst memory in the world. I read it. I didn’t recognize anyone.”
endnotes
quote from jackie collins re: barbara cartland via the chicago tribune.
photo of jackie collins and joan collins via joan collins twitter page.
joan collins the bitch image: thorn emi.
oliver tobias and joan collins in the stallions trailer: artoc movies.
trailer for paris hookups: amber entertainment.
publicity photo of joanna cassidy, mary crosby, catherine mary stewart, angie dickinson, stefanie power, suzanne somers, candice bergen and jackie collins for hollywood wives: abc.