Liverpool
Daily Post -
February 20th, 2004
Why
Joan is always game for a laugh
TWO
decades down the line from Dynasty, it's certainly possible to
believe that Joan Collins will out-live her make-up bag.
She
may be blowing out the candles on her 71st birthday cake come May,
but the vitality of the British actress who conquered Hollywood and
beat Dallas in the all-time best television drama ratings remains
undiminished.
"My
mother used to call me Miss Perpetual Motion and not much has
changed."
In
real life, soap-superbitch Alexis Colby, is much more game for a
laugh, starring in a nationwide tour which will bring her to
north-west audiences in a 1950s French boulevard comedy, as the
mother of three illegitimate children searching for a husband.
"I
consider myself to be a comedienne," declares Ms Collins,
joining me in the suitably fairytale surroundings of the Cinderella
Bar at the London Palladium to launch the production.
"I've
always loved comedy, although it is something I am not particularly
known for."
And
she recalls: "I was lucky enough to work with one of
Liverpool's
greatest sons, Leonard Rossiter who to me was the most superb
comedian.
"When
I did those Cinzano adverts with him, he would shout: 'Bring on the
prop'. That was me. It was very difficult not to burst out laughing
every time."
But
it's not difficult to tell that today's diamonds and pearls, and the
immaculate red leather suit, are more than props. They are for real,
and adorning a woman who is about to become a grandmother for a
third time: "Sacha is having her first baby, Tara already has
two."
Ms
Collins is good at figures. Last Tuesday was her second wedding
anniversary to husband number five, Peruvian-born theatre producer
Percy Gibson, 32 years her junior, and who will be company manager
on the theatre tour.
"I
no longer celebrate my birthdays. Everyone does that for me. I think
when you are past 40 you don't really celebrate anything.
"But
wedding anniversaries are different. Last year we had a big party in
New York, so this time we cooled it somewhat and just went out for a
quiet dinner.".
By
Joe Riley |
