I gave in to badgering claims Joan Collins
Actress Joan Collins claimed today that she at first resisted and then reluctantly gave in to ‘‘badgering’’ to do a sexy photo-shoot wearing a basque and stockings to publicise the West End farce Over the Moon.
The 68-year-old star said that she told the producer of the play, Bill Kenwright: ‘‘I only wear the bloody thing for less than two minutes. It’s gratuitous and undignified to use it for publicity.’’
She went on: ‘‘For the next two days my agent, Peter Charlesworth, and Anna Arthur, Kenwright’s press agent, badgered and pleaded with me to do the photo which, they insisted, would ‘help sales’.
‘‘I finally and reluctantly gave in, insisting that the snapper would only get three minutes with me on stage before the show.’’
Miss Collins, writing in The Spectator magazine, said: ‘‘After the silly photograph had been printed all over the world, I ruefully realised I should have listened to my own common sense rather than the advice of others who have the less-than-altruistic motive of making money.’’
The play, which was due to run into January, comes off at the Old Vic on December 1.
She said she wanted to set the record straight, since she was getting fed up with being the ‘‘fall gal’’.
‘‘I was amazed when this rather camp and curious picture appeared on the front page of several newspapers, side by side with reports of the Taliban’s latest activities. (I wonder what their take would be on this example of disreputable Western decadence at its most louche?).
Miss Collins went on: ‘‘And our box office did improve, temporarily, until three days later the critics got out their pre-sharpened cutlasses. Many of the scathing reviews focused on how outrageous I was to have posed for that picture, and even delved into my personal life.
‘‘Needless to say even though our audiences seemed to love the show, the critics, whining like little Torquemadas, sounded the death knell and our sales dramatically dwindled.
‘‘At the same time a ‘deep-throat-in-training’ saboteur connected to the production kept feeding lies and exaggerations to the gossip columnists which didn’t help.’’
She said there were also 40% fewer American tourists in town and fewer tour buses bringing theatre-goers from the provinces.
‘‘But as long as the media are there to defend our freedom from the evils of new theatrical works, I suppose the demise of the West End is a small price to pay. In spite of internal problems, however, we were rewarded by massive laughs from appreciative audiences each night, although making people laugh is not as easy as it looks.’’
