How Joan Collins stays at the top

Press, 23 November 1979, Page 10

How Joan Collins stays at the top

Her husband told me: “We’ve been together now for 10 years, and loving her is still a unique experience.” Her seven-year-old daughter, Katy, says: “She’s lovely. All my friends like to come to my parties, because she always makes them such fun.” And her co-star in her

By

MARY KAYE

latest film, “The Bitch,” the Italian heart-throb Michael Coby, paid her this compliment: “She is the most professional actress I have ever worked with, and her sense of discipline is amazing.” It’s this discipline, says Joan Collins, that has made her what she is today ... successful wife, mother, constantly-busy film star, and — at 46 — still one of the sexiest women in the world. "It’s something I’ve known all my life,” she told me. “After all, I have been in this business since I was 16. And I know that if you want to stay at the top, the one thing you have to have — apart

from talent — is self-dis-cipline. “It’s all too easy — especially when you lead a so-called glamorous, jetset life — to drink too much champagne, eat too much rich food, and go to too many all-night parties. “But do that, and you very soon begin to come apart at the seams. “How come I get photo-

graphed in so many restaurants, then? And at so many parties?" She laughed, as she anticipated my question. “I do drink champagne, but only a little at a time. More often than not. I’m content with sparkling mineral water.

“I do go to lots of restaurants, for the simple reason that I don’t much care for cooking, especially if I’ve been working all day in the studios. “And anyway, I like to choose what I want to eat on the spur of the moment. “But I go for simple, light but high-protein foods that I know aren’t going to put on weight. “And although I do eo to lots of parties with Ron,” (her husband, film producer Ron Kass), “I make sure that I get home in time to have at least eight hours sleep. “Lack of sleep plays hell with your looks once you’re over 30.” Her weight, when she is working, is around 8 stone 3 or 4. “You always have to remember that the camera puts on about five pounds,” she explained. “But, in between pictures, Ron likes me with a little bit more flesh, so I aim for around 81 stone.” “To stay in shape takes

discipline — at least 15 minutes of good, hard, vigorous exercise, every day, no matter how I’m feeling, or how heavy a schedule I have ahead of me.”

But how does discipline come into it in her relations with her husband and children (besides Katy, she has a 12-year-old son and a daughter of 15 by her marriage to Anthony Newley)? “In exactly the same

way as it does with work,” she told me.

“It would be very easy,, when I’m not on the set, or ‘on show’ as an actress, to slop around in front of Ron, looking like hell. “My skin is very dry,” she explained, again reading my thoughts. “So I could plaster it with olive oil before I went to bed at night. My feet often ache when I’ve been a long time in high heels, so I could take to wearing old felt slippers at home. But obviously I don’t. “I think Ron is a very attractive, sexy man: And he more than appreciates that I make the effort to appear attractive and sexy for him. “I think any wife owes it to her husband to do the same. And you can always take to carpet slippers and face packs when he’s out of the house.” As far as Joan’s children are concerned, the same positive thinking is applied. “Obviously, they don’t want me drifting around in diaphanous negligees,” she smiled. “I usually wear T-shirts and jeans when we’re all together as a family. “But, when I'm with them, they deserve the best from me as a mother. Again, it would be too easy to say, ‘Look, Mummy’s tired, she’s been working all day. Mummy’s not really interested in what you drew at school today, or what 10 times 10 makes.’ So it again, takes effort and self-dis-cipline. “I adore my children. And so does Ron. We all get on terrifically together — much more like good friends than parents and kids. , “Both the girls and I talk for hours about make-up and clothes. They’re already very knowledgeable about what’s good to eat and what’s not.