Jacqueline Jill "Jackie" Collins OBE (4 October 1937 – 19 September 2015) was the English-born author of 28 best-selling novels. She has been compared with authors such as Judith Krantz, Harold Robbins and Sidney Sheldon due to the subject of her books, which is (to quote Sheldon's entry) "tales of treachery, passion, and love often set among The Beautiful Elite — wealthy industrialists, entertainment icons, gangsters, even heads of state". Her sister is Joan Collins, who has starred in the film versions of Jackie's novels The Stud and The Bitch and is known for starring in the 1980s soap opera Dynasty, which does play out like a Jackie Collins novel in the sense that it's about rich people being naughty.
Ms. Collins passed away September 19, 2015, after a six-year battle with breast cancer. She kept her illness secret, telling her beloved sister Joan only two weeks before her death and continuing to make public appearances until the last few days before she passed.
Her books contain examples of:
- Age-Gap Romance: Since most of the male characters are rich and powerful, they tend to have "trophy" wives (along with a string of ex-wives, girlfriends, and mistresses — some of which are young enough to be their daughtersnote ). Some examples: Gino and Maria, Gino and Paige, Dimitri Stanislopoulos with Lucky, Neil Gray and Montana Gray, and so on.
- Anyone Can Die : Many characters, often in gruesome and unexpected ways.
- Banned in China : Both Australia and South Africa banned Collins' first novel, The World is Full of Married Men.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family : The Santangelos, the Stanislopouloses, and others.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter : Lucky, Olympia, Bridget, Max, and many more.
- Expy: Most of the characters are based on real life actors and celebrities.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: And how!
- Hollywood California : Most of the stories are set in and around Los Angeles.
- The Mafia: Chances and its sequels are based around the mafioso Gino Santangelo and his family.
- Mini Series/The Film of the Book: Many of Collins novels, notably Lucky/Chances and Hollywood Wives have been adapted into TV miniseries.
- Soap Opera: The style of Collins' novels is plot-driven, with numerous characters. Most end with someone getting shot or Stuff Blowing Up.
- The '80s : While Collins' career spans several decades, her most popular novel, Hollywood Wives was published in 1983, and typifies the glitz, big hair, and shoulderpads of the era, particularly in the TV miniseries
. The first two books of the Santangelo saga, Chances and Lucky were published in 1981 and 1985 respectively, and Rock Star in 1988.
