Protection for Collins

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 15

Protection for Collins

David Hartnell's

Houywwo

I’m not one to gossip but ... I see that Joan Collins has tiered the top lawyer, Marvin Mitchelson, to act for her in the divorce against her husband of 13 months, Peter Holm. Collins says that more than a million dollars of her money is missing, and Holm refuses to account for any of it even though he was looking after all her business as her manager. The court has put a temporary restraining order on Holm ordering him to stay at least 1000 yards away from Collins’s brand new Beverly Hills home and the “Dynasty” set; he is not to contact any of her three children and is to keep his hands off her money. Collins has hired four security men to provide round-the-clock protection, both at her home and at work. A security man drives her to and from the studio and stands outside her dressing room. Holm had .taken total control of Collins’s life; he accepted job offers and cancelled others without telling her, opened all her mail, took all her telephone calls and only told her about selected ones. In her 15-page plea to the Los Angeles court, Collins said that during the last few months her husband “has demonstrated a capacity for violence and irrational behaviour.” She also charges that he al-

ways carries explosives everywhere. And they say the soap operas are far fetched! In Hollywood these days it’s becoming the thing for young actresses to go to college and let their careers simmer for a while. Jodie Foster went to Yale and Brooke Shields to Princeton. Ari Meyers, the young star on “Kate and Allie,” is off to Yale. She will quit the highly-rated show in favour of continuing

with her education, as she thinks a good eduation is more important than being in a top-rated show which can be canned at any time. You either love or hate Liberace, but you have got to hand it to him on this one. He grew up on welfare in Milwaukee, and when he made it to his millions, was embarrassed by a local politician, who challenged him about his riches after such humble beginnings. “So Liberace sent them a cheque for every penny of the welfare his mother had received,” says his sister-in-law, Dora Liberace. “Falcon Crest” writers didn’t have to think too hard in giving Kim Novak’s character the name, Kit Marlowe. That was the name Harry Cohan, then the head of Columbia Studios, wanted her to adopt for a professional name when she was a brand new Hollywood starlet back in the 19505. ,She will appear in the new series coming on TVNZ this season. Paul Keenan, former star of the soapie, “Days Of Our Lives,” who had a role as a stablehand on. “Dynasty,” is dying of A.I.D.S. This deadly syndrome is still sweeping through Hollywood’s acting world; the last two months have seen the deaths of two well-known Hollywood beauticians. The first was Way Bandy, who was a top make-up artist to stars like Cher, Raquel Welch and, Elizabeth Taylor; one of his last assignments was to work with Nancy Reagan. The hairdresser, Dino Gigant, once a regular escort to Joan Collins, is the more recent death from A.I.D.S. About 40 stars, including Ted Shackelford and Judy Landers, showed up at a Beverly Hills hotel recently to tape publicseryice announcements aimed at educating the public. The spots went to air last week in the United States. Hollywood has just named its 10 richest women. They are:— Linda Evans, ($8 million), Barbara Streisand ($llO million), Mary Tyler Moore ($3O million), Joan Collins

($lO million), Diana Ross ($25 million), Lucille Ball ($lOO million), Goldie Hawn ($25 million), Meryl Streep (s6' million), Greta Garbo ($3O million) and Jane Fonda ($5O million). That should keep them in lipstick and stockings for a while, not to mention the gin bottle ... but my lips are sealed!