Daily Mail, Thursday, August 29, 2019 Page 47
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offered to drive me home. ‘I’ve got
a new car,’ he said proudly show-
ing me a fierce-looking red Por-
sche. ‘It goes really fast.’
My boyfriend tried to stop
me. ‘He drives too fast,’ he
warned. ‘He’ll kill himself
one day.’
Never one to heed advice,
I jumped in and Jimmy
went from zero to 80 in
about four seconds. By the
time we arrived, I had been
frightened senseless as he
zoomed in and out of the traffic.
‘Never again,’ I said to Arthur.
In September 1955, I was in New
York on a publicity tour when
Arthur tapped on my door. ‘Jimmy’s
dead, killed in his Porsche,’ he
said, ashen-faced. I have never
liked going in fast cars since then.J
AckIe was summoned
back to London by our
father. Our mother was
gravely ill, and Daddy was
at his wits’ end, finding it hard to
cope with her illness and our
younger brother Bill, despite the
fact that he was no trouble at all.
I stayed in Hollywood complet-
ing my contract and Jackie put
aside her writing ambitions to look
after Mummie. During this time,
she also started acting.
She featured in several British
films and TV shows and toured the
Uk as Mc of talent competition,
The carroll Levis Discovery Show,
an early version of The X Factor on
the variety stage.
I went to Barbados to film a
movie about inter-racial tensions
called Island In The Sun. The
stunningly handsome Harry
Belafonte immediately showed aninterest, but though I was attracted
to him, I was cautious about men
who oozed sexual power.
He had been idolised for years for
his fabulous singing and was also a
terrific actor and an activist. The
english crew took bets on whether
I would surrender to his cool
sophisticated charms, but they
were sorely disappointed when I
didn’t. Then...
An inter-racial relationship in the
Fifties would have caused a
massive scandal and probably hurt
my career. Producer Harry cohn
had threatened to remove Sammy
Davis Jr’s other eye — he’d lost his
left one in a car accident — for
dating kim Novak.
But three months later, after one
of Harry’s shows in Los Angeles, I
changed my mind!IT WAS 1960 and a wedding was
planned — Jackie was marrying
Wallace Austin, a clothes manufac-
turer who had won her in spite of
the many swains who clustered
around her. I, too, was planning
marriage, to up-and-coming actor
Warren Beatty (my first, to actor
Maxwell Reed, had been a disaster
and only lasted a year).
Warren and I attended Jackie’s
lavish celebration at the Gros-
venor Hotel in London with my
parents and a host of friends and
celebrities such as Joyce and
Lionel Blair, Roger Whittaker,
Frankie Howerd and Roger Moore.
Mummie looked radiant and I
hoped she was getting better.
Sadly, that was not the case.
After my Fox contract ended, I
moved back to england, to Harley
House and to my childhood
bedroom. Jackie was married and
I was starring opposite Bob Hope
and Bing crosby in The Road To
Hong kong, filming at Shepperton.
My engagement to Warren Beatty
had bitten the dust for many
reasons, and I was now dating the
supremely talented Anthony
Newley, West end star of Stop The
World, I Want To Get Off.
It was during this time that
Mummie died. Daddy, Bill, Jackie
and I were shattered. She was the
sweetest, kindest, nicest person —
a true lady, a loving, caring mother
and everyone who met her adoredher. She had such beautiful legs
that she was nicknamed ‘Marlene’
after Marlene Dietrich.
Such was his grief that Daddy
refused to speak of her again, flying
into a rage if anyone mentioned
her name.
Jackie threw herself into married
life with zeal, even though Wallace
was less than perfect. I thought he
was a bit of a psychopath — during
a visit to his showroom he knocked
eight months’ pregnant Jackie to
the ground. I lashed out at Wallace,
screaming: ‘How dare you hit my
sister, you bully.’
This was the first (and last) time
I ever slapped anyone. Well, of
course except for Linda evans and
Diahann carroll in Dynasty!
Not surprisingly, that marriage
didn’t last. He was not a good
person and I suspected very
dependent on substances. I
begged Jackie to end it, but she
felt she had to stay with him for
the sake of their baby daughter.
eventually, she did kick him out,
but he continued to torment her
until one day he drove into the
Black Forest and took an overdose
and his life.
Jackie had been writing for years,
but now she needed to make it
work financially. She had several
letters of rejection, but kept on.
‘Never give up’ was our motto, I
guess unconsciously formed during
the war. We had become even
closer after Mummie died and
while I lived at my father’s flat.
Bill, now 15, had moved in with
Jackie and she became like a
second mother to him.B
Y NOW I had fallen,
hard, for Anthony
Newley and seeing
Jackie with her daugh-
ter Tracy made me really pine for
children of my own.
I decided Tony would make a
great father, and Jackie agreed.
Tony loved Jackie and lent her some
much-needed cash when Wallace
left her practically bankrupt.
estranged from his wife for many
years, Tony was still married but
that didn’t stop our plans to marry
and have children. He finally got
divorced and we wed in 1963 in
New York, with my best friend
cappy Badrutt as maid of honour
and actor Michael Lipton, Tony’s
best friend, as his best man.
We had a quickie ceremony fol-
lowed by a quickie champagne
breakfast, then Tony rushed back
onto the Broadway stage to make
his evening performance.
In October, my adorable Tara
cynara Newley was born and I
gave up all thoughts of acting and
a film career. Besides, at 29, I was
considered too old!
A month later, when the beloved
President of the U.S. John F.
kennedy was assassinated, Tony
decided he didn’t want to live in
America any more. However, we
didn’t move back to London for
another two years. Jackie came to
stay with us in our palatial New
York apartment and we had
glorious times with our two little
girls, Tracy and Tara.
Twenty-two months after Tara,
my second child Alexander Newley
was born, and I thought my family
was perfect and complete.
How wrong can a girl be..?
n JOAN COLLINS’S new
autobiography, Third Act, will
be published next year.TOMORROW: A
BROKEN MARRIAGE
AND A REVENGE FLING
Glamorous:
Teenage Jackie
(far left) had a
model figure, but
was determined
to become a
writer. Older
sister Joan was
quickly signed up
by Twentieth
Century FoxHollywood calling: As Joan’s
career took off, Jackie (left)
kept her company. Inset: Joan
and boyfriend Warren Beatty