My word, edgar, I had to search out Gary Shandling. Even locating a picture of the man didn't help. That was a cute song by The Turtles, however. Thanks for the reminder.
Speaking of which, where is our turtleman turned honu, better known to our audience as yitwail?
I just realized that The Turtles did Happy Together. Hey, Texas. I liked that one.
Well, it's time for me to say goodnight, and I missed the hawkman's bio on Richard Wagner (the German V, of course), so I think I'll do one of my favorite classical pieces by him and go to bed with the Valkyries stuck in my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKL5E3zSjs&feature=related
Goodnight, world
From Letty with love
German James Last is an old favourite of mine, here he plays "Biscaya", trust you like him Letty. Underwater scenery is magnificent.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OqIwKQL8rog
Good morning, WA2K radio audience.
Dutchy, Goodnight Irene is quite familiar to me, and I thank you, downunder man.
Hey, edgar. I like Gene Pitney's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Don't know the one you played, but thanks, buddy.
M.D., loved the very familiar soliloquy by Laurence, but as we have discussed, Hamlet was not a very nice man, right? Recall Time magazine doing a bit on Shakespeare in primer form and the observation was:
"And there they are all bleeding and bloody and dying and dead." Loved it.
Dutchy, Biscaya was so beautiful. I have often wanted to go scuba diving in the clear waters of the Keys. Thanks again, buddy.
Texas, I understand that it may reach 100 degrees where you live. Loved the video and the thought of Santa Catalina.
Speaking of cruises, wonder if the hamburgers are having a good time on theirs.
Here is my morning song by Hank Snow, and I have been everywhere he mentions in the "Wreck of the Old 97."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNo0cGi1xZU&feature=related
Even Sidney? That made me laugh, Dutchy. Thanks for that Aussie version.
Guess whose birthday it is today, y'all? Remember "The Shining" ?
"..that boy's got the shine..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdvQP5meiI
Douglas Fairbanks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman
May 23, 1883(1883-05-23)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Died December 12, 1939 (aged 56)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Anna Beth Sully (1907-1919)
Mary Pickford (1920-1936)
Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes (1936-1939)
Awards won
Academy Awards
Academy Honorary Award
1940 Lifetime Achievement
Douglas Fairbanks (May 23, 1883 - December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer, who became noted for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Black Pirate (1926). At one point, Fairbanks was also known as "The King of Hollywood"[1]
Early life
He was born Douglas Elton Ullman in Denver, Colorado, USA the son of Hezekiah Charles Ullman (born September 1833) and Ella Adelaide Marsh (born 1850). His half-brother was John Fairbanks (born 1873); and his full brother was Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882-February 22, 1948).
Fairbanks's father, who was born in Pennsylvania to a Jewish family, was a prominent New York attorney. His mother (a Roman Catholic) was born in New York, and was previously married to a man named John Fairbanks, who left her a widow. She then married a man named Wilcox, who turned out to be abusive. Her divorce was handled by Ullman, whom she later married.
In about 1881, Charles Ullman purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains and moved the family to Denver, where he re-established his law practice. Ullman abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old, and he and Robert were brought up by their mother.
Stage career
Douglas Fairbanks began acting on the Denver stage at an early age, doing amateur theatre. He was in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, becoming a sensation in his teens. He attended East Denver High School, and was once expelled for dressing up the campus statues on St. Patrick's Day. He left during his senior year. He said he attended Colorado School of Mines, then Harvard University for a term. No record of attendance has been found, but an article about whether or not he attended "Mines" recounts a professor once saying Fairbanks was asked to leave because of a prank not long after he began.
He moved to New York in the early 1900s to pursue an acting career, joining the acting troupe of British actor Frederick Warde who had discovered Fairbanks performing in Denver. He worked in a hardware store and as a clerk in a Wall Street office before his Broadway debut in 1902.
On July 11, 1907 in Watch Hill, Rhode Island, he married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist, Daniel J. Sully. They had one son, Douglas Elton Fairbanks (actor Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who was born on December 9, 1909 and who died on May 7, 2000). The family moved to Hollywood in 1915.
Films
Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle Pictures in 1915 and began working under the supervision of D.W. Griffith. His first film was titled The Lamb, and in the film, he debuted his remarkable athletic abilities that would gain wide attention among theatre audiences[2]. His athletic abilities were not appreciated by Griffith, however, and he was brought to the attention of Anita Loos and John Emerson, who wrote and directed many of his early romantic comedies. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor.[3]
He met actress and businesswoman Mary Pickford at a party in 1916 and they began having an affair. In 1917, they, along with Charlie Chaplin, with whom he had a close friendship[2], travelled across the U.S. by train selling war bonds. Pickford and Chaplin were then the two highest paid film stars in Hollywood. Fairbanks set up his own production company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation. Within eighteen months of his arrival, Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him up to be the third highest paid. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolise the distributors and exhibitors.
On December 1, 1918 in New Rochelle, New York, Sully won an interlocutory decree of divorce from Fairbanks, as well as custody of their son. The record of testimony referred to the co-respondent as "an unknown woman." The decree was made final March 5, 1919.
To avoid being controlled by the studios and to protect their independence, Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith formed United Artists in 1919, which created their own distributorships and gave them complete artistic control over their films and the profits generated. The company was kept solvent in the years immediately after its formation largely from the success of Fairbanks' films.
Fairbanks was determined to have Pickford become his wife, but she was still married to actor Owen Moore. They were both concerned about bad publicity and the effect it could have on the moviegoing public, who might boycott their efforts at the theater should they marry each other. He finally gave her an ultimatum. She then obtained a fast divorce in the small Nevada town of Minden on March 2, 1920. Fairbanks leased the Beverly Hills mansion Grayhall and was rumoured to have used it during his courtship of Pickford. (Grayhall was subsequently owned by, among others, the financier Bernard Cornfeld.)
The couple married on March 28, 1920, by the pastor of Temple Baptist Church, at his residence on West Fourth Street in Los Angeles. Pickford's divorce from Moore was contested by Nevada legislators, however, and the dispute was not settled until 1922. Even though the lawmakers objected to the marriage, the public went wild over the idea of "Everybody's Hero" marrying "America's Sweetheart". The couple were greeted by crowds of up to 300,000 people in London and Paris during their European honeymoon, becoming Hollywood's first celebrity marriage.
During the years they were married, Fairbanks and Pickford were regarded as "Hollywood Royalty," and they were famous for entertaining at their Beverly Hills estate, Pickfair. Sir Harry Lauder's nephew, Matt Lauder, jr., (1899-1972), a professional golfer[4] who then lived at Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, taught Fairbanks to play golf.
By 1920, Fairbanks had completed twenty-nine films (twenty-eight features and one two-reel short), which showcased his ebullient screen persona and athletic ability. By 1920, he had the inspiration of staging a new type of adventure-costume picture, a genre that was then out of favour with the public; Fairbanks had previously been a comic in his other films[5]. In the The Mark of Zorro, Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventureous, costume element. It was a smash success and parlayed the actor into the rank of superstar. For the remainder of his career in silent films, he continued to produce and star in ever more elaborate, impressive costume films. Fairbanks spared no expense and effort in these films, which established the standard for all future swashbucking films.
In 1921, he, Pickford, Chaplin, and others, helped to organise the Motion Picture Fund to assist those in the industry who could not work, or were unable to meet their bills.
During the first ceremony of its type, he and Pickford placed their hand and foot prints in wet cement at the newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on April 30, 1927. Fairbanks was elected first President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences that same year, and he hosted the first Academy Awards presentation (then held as a banquet, rather than today's big ceremony). Fairbanks' also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard.
His last silent film was The Iron Mask (1929). Although Fairbanks flourished in the silent film genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. Also, his athletic abilities and general health began to decline at this time, in part due to years of heavy chain-smoking. He and Pickford chose to make their first talkie as a joint venture, playing Petruchio and Kate in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (1929). This film, and his subsequent sound films, were poorly received by the public. The last film he acted in was the British production The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), after which he retired from acting.
Final Years
After he began an affair with Lady Sylvia Ashley, Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933. Fairbanks, Sr. and Mary Pickford divorced in 1936, with her keeping Pickfair. On March 7, 1936, in Paris, France, he and Ashley were married.
He continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline, and in his final years he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent travelling abroad with Sylvia.
In December, 1939, at 56, Fairbanks had a heart attack in his sleep and died a day later at his home in Santa Monica. By some accounts, he had been obsessively working-out against medical advice, trying to regain his once-trim waistline. Fairbanks's famous last words were "I've never felt better."[6] His funeral service was held at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, where he was placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum.
He was deeply mourned and honoured by his colleagues and fans for his contributions to the film industry and Hollywood. Two years following his death, he was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him, with long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The remains of his son Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. were also interred here upon his death in 2000.
References in popular culture
Fairbanks was portrayed by Kevin Kline in the 1992 film Chaplin.
He is mentioned near the end of the film Blazing Saddles, in which character Hedley LeMarr sees a walk of fame of Douglas Fairbanks and says, "How did he do such fantastic stunts with such little feet?"
British singer Kate Bush mentions the actor in the song 'Moments Of Pleasure' (1993). She sings about meeting 'The Red Shoes' director Michael Powell: "he meets us at the lift, like Douglas Fairbanks, waving his walking stick - but he isn't well at all"
In the song "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?" on the album Burning from the Inside by Bauhaus, there is a reference to "Douglas Fairbanks stunts".
Betty Garrett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Betty Garrett
May 23, 1919 (1919-05-23) (age 89)
St. Joseph, Missouri
Spouse(s) Larry Parks (1944 - 1975) (his death)
Betty Garrett (born May 23, 1919, St. Joseph, Missouri) is an American actress, comedian and dancer who belonged to the golden era of the movie musical. However, she is probably best known for a pair of roles in two prominent 1970s sitcoms.
In late 1973, she joined the cast of All in the Family, playing Archie Bunker's socially liberal next-door neighbor, Irene Lorenzo, a role she would remain in until her character was phased out in late 1975. The following year she joined the cast of Happy Days spin-off, Laverne and Shirley as Edna Babish, Laverne and Shirley's landlady, who eventually married Laverne's father, Frank DeFazio (played by Phil Foster). She remained with the series until 1982 when her character divorced Frank.
Marriage/Blacklist
She was married to Larry Parks, star of The Jolson Story (1946) and Jolson Sings Again (1949). However, in 1951, Parks became one of the blacklisted "Hollywood 19" to be brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Although Garrett was never accused, her Hollywood career suffered because of her husband's predicament. She found out to her happy surprise that the blacklist did not extend to Las Vegas or New York City.
Performing career
Betty Garrett trained at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and, undecided between drama and dance, tried both, acting with Orson Welles' famed Mercury Theatre and performing with Martha Graham's dance company. For Garrett, musical comedy seemed a happy compromise. When she was performing with the American Youth Theatre, Mike Todd saw her and signed her to understudy Ethel Merman in Something For The Boys.
Other Broadway shows followed: Jackpot, Laffing Room Only, and Call Me Mister, where her rendition of "South America, Take It Away" won her the Donaldson Award, the forerunner of the Tony Award, with her husband, Larry Parks, Garrett moved to California where she starred in On the Town, Take Me Out To The Ball Game, Words and Music, Neptune's Daughter, and My Sister Eileen. She also began appearing on television in drama and variety shows, and made recordings.
Garrett and Parks formed a musical team and toured nightclubs and theatres in the United States and England. Part of the reasons the couple started acting in England was because of her husband Larry Parks being black listed, which also affected her career, making it hard for them to work in the states. The two also appeared together on Broadway in Bells Are Ringing and Beg, Borrow or Steal.
A diversified performer, when not appearing in musicals for films and stage, she has played non-musical roles, starring in plays such as A Girl Could Get Lucky, And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little, and Plaza Suite. She also appeared in Spoon River Anthology, which originated at Theatre West, went to Broadway for a four-week concert engagement, and stayed a season. When it was revived in Los Angeles several years ago, Garrett won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for this performance. Her second Los Angeles Drama Critics Award came when she first presented Betty Garrett and Other Songs at Theatre West. She has also appeared in this production at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Betty also ventured into directing with Arthur Miller's The Price at Theatre West. Her effort gained critical acclaim. More recently Garrett, aged 88, received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
Trivia
Garrett admitted to having a major crush on her co-star Jack Lemmon in the musical comedy My Sister Eileen in 1955. But she insisted that nothing happened as they were both "very solidly married at that time".
Garrett is the godmother of Jeff Bridges.
Sons with Larry Parks: composer Garrett Parks and actor Andrew Parks.
Helen O'Connell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helen O'Connell (b. May 23, 1920 in Lima, Ohio - September 9, 1993 in San Diego, California) was a singer, actress, and dancer.
Helen O'Connell joined the Jimmy Dorsey band in 1939 and achieved her best selling records in the early forties with "Green Eyes", "Amapola," "Yours," and "Tangerine." In each of these Latin-influenced numbers, Bob Eberly crooned the song which Helen then reprised in an up-tempo arrangement. Helen won the 1940 Metronome magazine poll for best female vocalist and was selected by Down Beat readers as best female singer in 1940 and 1941. She was one of the first "girls" on NBC's The Today Show, and at one point had her own television show.
Helen retired from show business upon her first marriage in 1943. Helen had four daughters, and eight grandchildren. When the first marriage failed, she embarked on a solo career in 1951, achieving some chart success and becoming a regular television performer. Helen was married a total of four times.
She co-hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants with Bob Barker from 1972 to 1980.
In her last marriage, she was married to arranger/conductor/composer Frank De Vol when she died in San Diego, California from a battle with hepatitis C resulting in primary liver cancer (hepatoma).
Helen sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XV.
Joan Collins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Joan Henrietta Collins
23 May 1933 (1933-05-23) (age 75)
London, England
Years active 1951 - present
Spouse(s) Maxwell Reed (1952-1956)
Anthony Newley (1963-1971)
Ronald S. Kass (1972-1983)
Peter Holm (1985-1987)
Percy Gibson (2002-)
Awards won
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actress - Drama Series
1983 Dynasty
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE (born 23 May 1933) is a Golden Globe Award-winning English actress and bestselling author.
Early life
Collins was born in London, the daughter of Elsa (née Bessant), a dance teacher and nightclub hostess, and Joseph William Collins, an agent whose clients included Shirley Bassey, The Beatles and Tom Jones.[1][2] Collins's South Africa-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican.[3][4][5] She has one sister, the author Jackie Collins, and a brother, Bill Collins. Collins was educated at the Francis Holland School and then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Collins' childhood was spent in and around Maida Vale and was, according to Collins, an idyllic one with plenty of love, comfort and security. However her father was also a strict disciplinarian and exerted a strong hold over her gentle mother an attitude which came to irritate her daughters who sought to rebel against it. Collins has said of her father that 'He was detached, cold, hard, critical, difficult, acerbic and everyone had to please him.' He himself said 'I love my daughters but I am not the kind of parent who deludes himself that his children are superior to everyone else's. I did not think of them as particularly outstanding in any way.'
At the age of 17 Collins was signed to the J. Arthur Rank Film Company, a highly profitable British studio.
Early career
In 1951, she made her feature debut as a beauty contest entrant in Lady Godiva Rides Again and in 1952 she appeared in the film I Believe in You based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. In the early 1950s, she did double duty by posing for pin-up photos and acting in B-movies in Britain. After mild success, she was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1954 as their answer to MGM's Elizabeth Taylor.
After losing such high-profile roles as Cleopatra (Collins was cast when Elizabeth Taylor fell ill, then let go upon Taylor's recovery), Collins continued to work in films and occasionally in television.
Her notable guest appearances on American TV during the 1960s included Batman, Mission: Impossible, Police Woman, and the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever".
In the 1970s, Collins made several movies then starred in the film versions of her sister Jackie Collins' racy novels The Stud and The Bitch. The films were smash hits in England, becoming the most profitable films since the James Bond series and are still vastly popular on DVD today. Collins has worked with some of the biggest names and movie legends in Hollywood and include Richard Burton, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Gene Kelly, Laurence Harvey, Bob Hope, James Mason, Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Edward G. Robinson, Rod Steiger, Joanne Woodward, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Nigel Hawthorne to name but a few.
Dynasty
In the 1980s, Collins' was offered a role in the then-struggling prime time TV soap opera Dynasty (1981 - 1989) by producer Aaron Spelling. In Dynasty, which was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro, Collins was hired to play the role of tycoon Blake Carrington's vengeful ex-wife, Alexis.
The role successfully relaunched Collins as a powerful sex symbol and icon of independence. Her performance helped the struggling show and it ultimately became a ratings hit, rivaling Dallas. In 1985, Dynasty was the #1 show in the US, and Collins also went on to become the highest-paid actress on television at the time. She arguably became the most celebrated television star of the 1980s and her character, Alexis, perhaps the most infamous clotheshorse and villainess of the decade. Colllins won many awards for this role and Dynasty was shown in more than 80 countries and is still internationally syndicated.
With Dynasty at the height of its success, Collins also began producing and starred in two successful CBS mini-series, Sins and Monte Carlo. She also appeared on the cover of and in a twelve page layout shot by George Hurrell for Playboy magazine at the age of 49 and was often referred to as "the worlds No.1 sex symbol" and "the most beautiful woman on Television".
In Aaron Spelling's final press interview he said of Collins: "We didn't write Joan Collins. She played Joan Collins. Am I right? We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work."
Later career
After the end of Dynasty in 1989, Collins worked less frequently, making guest star appearances on series such as Roseanne, The Nanny and Will & Grace while dabbling in films like Decadence and A Midwinter's Tale in the mid 1990s.
In 1992, Joan made her successful Broadway debut in an adaptation of Noel Coward's Private Lives. She also guest starred in six episodes of Aaron Spelling's prime time soap opera Pacific Palisades in 1997. In the late 1990s she appeared in several theatrical tours with the likes of George Hamilton and Stacey Keach. Additionally, she appeared in a West End production of Over the Moon with Frank Langella in 2000.
In 2002 she appeared in a limited run on the legendary daytime soap opera Guiding Light to favorable reviews. She also appeared on South African television, depicting the role of South African journalist, Jani Allan in a comedic spoof. In 2004 she toured the United Kingdom with a revival of the play Full Circle to great success and much critical praise. In 2005 she proved to be a formidable guest host of the popular British quiz show Have I Got News For You, often making quick jokes with the audience.
In early 2006, Collins toured the United Kingdom in A Evening With Joan Collins, a one-woman show in which she detailed the highs and lows of her roller coaster career and life, directed by her husband Percy Gibson. In late 2006 she began a tour of North America in the play Legends! with former Dynasty co-star Linda Evans, which concluded in May 2007 after a successful 30 week, multi city, tour. However, Collins and Evans did not get along during the production, according to Collins, who wrote about her experience on the road in her column in the U.K. Daily Mail. The article was entitled, "Why I'll Never Work With Linda Evans Again," though Collins' veracity is often questioned on her versions of events, Collins having once previously accused Evans of knocking her unconscious and delivering a concussion during the famed 1983 lilypond catfight scene on Dynasty.
Collins joined the cast of the hit British television series Footballer's Wives for a limited run as a glamorous magazine mogul, aptly named Eva de Wolffe. She also guest starred in the BBC series Hotel Babylon in 2006 as a lonely aristocrat desperate for romance.
Collins has repeatedly noted in the press that she is determined to appear on ABC's Desperate Housewives, noting that she believes it is one of the best series on television.[6]
In the summer of 2007, Collins signed on to be the new face of the expensive cosmetic brand, Cellex-C and has been promoting Cellex-C Age-less 15 Skin Signaling Serum.
Aside from acting and writing, Collins has a brand of sunglasses and a line of fashion jewelry that bear her name.
Personal life
Collins separated from her first husband, Maxwell Reed and eventually divorced him in 1956. Her first serious boyfriend after Reed was Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin however she left him for Arthur Loew Jr whom she moved in with after divorcing Reed and the relationship with Loew ended in a row at a New Year's party with Loew screaming at Collins 'you're a ******* bore' and Collins, a raised eyebrow quipping, 'and you're a boring ****'.
At 26, she embarked on a serious affair with an as then unknown Warren Beatty which would last for two years, at 22 he was four years younger than her. They became engaged and Collins was the only woman Beatty proposed to until Annette Bening.
Collins regularly consulted an astrologer who told her that one day she would be very successful and always saved from physical and financial disaster at the eleventh hour, but that she would never be happy or lucky in love. The gossip mills were set ablaze when Collins walked away from her Hollywood contract and a successful career in the early 1960s to marry Anthony Newley, an award winning singer, actor and film composer. With Newley she had two children, a daughter, Tara (now a writer and TV presenter) and a son, Sacha (who is now a highly regarded artist).
In 1972 Collins married her third husband, Ron Kass, who had been the president of Apple Records during the reign of The Beatles. During their marriage Collins had her third and final child, a daughter, Katyana (a photographer). In 1980 Katy was struck by a speeding car and went into a coma. Collins and her husband bought a trailer and parked it in the hospital parking lot in order to sit beside their daughter day and night. Katyana emerged from her coma a few months later, although it would take years for her to fully recover.
Collins' third marriage ended in divorce in 1983, although she and Kass remained very close until his death from cancer in 1986. In 1985, Collins married Swedish singer Peter Holm in a ceremony in Las Vegas. The marriage lasted a year and the divorce proceedings lasted just as long with a media circus ensuing. Collins left Los Angeles and returned to London where she lived with art dealer Robin Hurlstone for over a decade.
In 2001, Collins met theatrical company manager Percy Gibson, a man 32 years her junior. (When questioned about the age difference, Collins quipped "If he dies, he dies.") They married on February 17, 2002 at Claridge's Hotel in London.
Personal politics
After decades of flirting with British politics on May 24, 2004, Collins joined the United Kingdom Independence Party.[7] In October 2004, Collins stated she was not a supporter, but rather a patron of the party.
In early 2005, Collins commented that she had rejoined the Conservative Party, stating, "The Labour Party doesn't care about the British people".[8]
She also continues to contribute as The Spectator Magazine Guest Diarist, something she has done since the late 1990s. Collins also occasionally writes for The Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph, and in the USA, Harpers Bazaar.
She has commented that she was a huge supporter of former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Collins is also a devout monarchist, remaining loyal to the British Royal Family.
Charitable work
Collins has publicly supported several charities for several decades. In 1983 she was named a patron of the International Foundation for Children with Learning Disabilities, earning the foundation's highest honour in 1988 for her continuing support. Additionally, 1988 also saw the opening of the Joan Collins Wing of the Children's Hospital of Michigan. In 1990 she was made an honorary founding member of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. In 1994 Collins was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the Association of Breast Cancer Studies in Great Britain for her contribution to breast cancer awareness in the UK. In 2003 she became a patron of the Shooting Star Children's Hospice in Great Britain while continuing to support several foster children in India, something she has done for the past 25 years.
Homes
Although a US resident, with a condo in the popular Los Angeles highrise Sierra Towers, as well as a condo on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Collins still maintains British citizenship and owns a home in the fashionable neighborhood of Belgravia in London as well as a villa in La Croix Valmer, a small seaside village outside St. Tropez in the South of France.
Books
Collins has also established herself as an author. In addition to her bestselling novels (Prime Time, Love & Desire & Hate, Infamous, Star Quality, Misfortune's Daughters) she has written 5 lifestyle books (The Joan Collins Beauty Book, My Secrets, My Friends' Secrets and Joan's Way: The Art of Living Well) and memoirs (Past Imperfect, Katy: A Fight for Life and Second Act).
In September 1991, Joan Collins delivered a 690-page manuscript to Random House. However, the publishing firm later demanded the return of its $1.3 million advance from Collins, claiming she failed to deliver completed books as per her contract. In court, Collins stated that Random House had received her novel, The Ruling Passion, in 1991 plus another novel, Hell Hath No Fury, in September 1992. She also contended that Random House had not provided the editorial assistance she had expected.
Her Random House contract, negotiated by agent Irving Lazar, required that she was to be paid even if her completed manuscripts were not published. On February 29, 1996, a jury determined that she could keep the advance for the first novel, but the publisher did not have to pay for the second manuscript since it was a reworking of the first. Judge Ira Gammerman then ruled that Random House owed Collins $925,000 plus interest for a grand total of $1.3 million. Collins became a heroine to many writers who had been treated badly by their publishers.
The Guinness Book of World Records cites Collins as holding the record for retaining the world's largest unreturned payment for an unpublished manuscript.
Past Imperfect: An Autobiography (1978)
The Joan Collins Beauty Book (1980)
Katy: A Fight for Life, A Memoir (1982)
Portraits of a Star (1987)
Prime Time, a novel (1988)
Love and Desire and Hate, a novel (1990)
My Secrets (1994)
Too Damn Famous, a novel (1995)
Health, Youth and Happiness: My Secrets (1995)
Second Act: An Autobiography (1996)
Infamous, a novel (1996)
My Friends Secrets (1999)
Joan's Way: Looking Good, Feeling Great (2002)
Star Quality, a novel (2002)
Misfortune's Daughters, a novel (2004)
The Art of Living Well: Looking Good, Feeling Great (2007)
TV adverts
Beginning in the early 50s' Collins appeared as a teenager in a Gas Board Commercial, then in the early 70s, Collins appeared in television and magazine advertisements for British Airways, in which she was referred to as their "Most Frequent Flyer of First Class" a title which she has maintained, having promoted the airline for more than three decades. In 1978, she appeared alongside Leonard Rossiter in a series of Cinzano TV commercials in which the drink was spilled down her character's dress. This was named as one of the Top 100 British Adverts in a Channel 4 poll. In the mid 1980s, Collins appeared in print advertisements for Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Sanyo and was the face of Revlon's Scoundrel perfume. In 1992 she appeared in internationally broadcast television commercials for Marca Bravaria beer while also acting as the face of the perfume Spectacular. Also around this time, she starred in an advert for the Rover Metro. Since 2000 she has appeared in TV ads for UK retailer Marks & Spencer, Olympus cameras, Old Navy and Marriott hotels. In 2007 Collins fronted two high profile advertising campaigns. The first was as the face of skincare company Cellex-C's Ageless 15 Skin Serum. The second was as the face of the British Royal Mail's Christmas campaign.
Music
In 1956 she sang the title song in the musical The Opposite Sex.
In 1959 she sang It's Great Not To Be Nominated at the Academy Awards with fellow British actress Angela Lansbury and Dana Wynter.
In 1962 she sang Lets Not Be in the film The Road to Hong Kong with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
In 1963 she teamed up with husband, Anthony Newley and Peter Sellers to record the album Fool Britannia which made the UK Top 10.
In 1968 she sang a duet with Anthony Newley in Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? and also sang Chalk & Cheese.
In 1979 she sang in The Bitch.
In 1983 she sang "The Boys in the Back Room" a Marlene Dietrich song from the 1930s film Destry Rides Again in an episode of Dynasty.
In 2001 she sang several numbers in These Old Broads with Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine.
Titles
In 1997, Collins was granted the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in honour of her contribution to the arts and ongoing charity work.
The Beer Prayer
Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hollowed be thy drink.
I will be drunk,
At home as in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not into incarceration,
But deliver us from hangerovers.
For thine is the beer the bitter and The lager
Forever and ever,
Barmen.
Thanks, Boston Bob, for the great celeb background.
You certainly did "put up a pretty prayer" as my grandmother used to say.
Here's a nice jazz tune by Rosemary, y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y37UoB7VY5Y&feature=related
