Jackie Collins
Jackie Collins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, searchJacqueline Jill "Jackie" Collins (born 4 October 1937) is an English novelist and former actress. She is the younger sister of actress Joan Collins. To date, she has written 27 novels, all of which have been on the New York Times bestsellers list and have sold over 400 million copies worldwide.
Early life
Collins was born in London in 1937, the younger daughter of Elsa Bessant and Joseph William Collins, a theatrical agent whose clients included Shirley Bassey, The Beatles and Tom Jones. Collins' South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican. A middle child, Collins has an elder sister, actress Joan Collins (b.1933) and a younger brother, Bill Collins (b. 1946).
At 15, Collins was expelled from school; after she had been expelled, she threw her school uniform in the Thames. In this period she had a short sexual affair with Marlon Brando who was 29 at the time.
Early career
Like her sister, Collins began in acting roles, in a series of British B movies in the 1950s. She also made appearances in the 1960s ITC television series Danger Man and The Saint before giving up an on-screen career. She has since played herself in a few television series including Minder in 1980.
Writing career
1960s
Collins's first novel, The World Is Full of Married Men , was published in 1968. Romance writer Dame Barbara Cartland called it "nasty, filthy and disgusting".It was banned in Australia and South Africa.This scandal bolstered sales in the USA and the UK. Collins's second novel, The Stud , was published in 1969 and followed the sexually charged affairs of married Fontaine Khaled, who owns a fashionable London nightclub. It soon made the bestseller lists.
1970s
Collins's third novel, Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick , (first published under the title The Hollywood Zoo in the UK and then retitled Sinners worldwide in 1984) was published in 1971 and again made the bestseller lists. This was Collins' first novel to be set in the United States.
Lovehead followed in 1974 (retitled as The Love Killers in 1989). This novel was Collins's first foray into the world of organized crime — a genre that would later prove to be extremely successful for her. The plot concerned the organised murder of women's rights activist and feminist Margaret Lawrence Brown. Three women -- two who are Margaret's half sisters and one whom she saved from a life of working in the porn industry -
