1960s Collins later said that she always wanted to write, not act. By the age of 13 classmates paid to listen to
sex scenes she wrote. Collins began many works of fiction but abandoned them, and only completed her first novel after being persuaded to do so by her second husband
Oscar Lerman. "You're a storyteller", he told her. and charged Collins with "creating every pervert in Britain". Her second novel,
The Stud, was published in 1969. It also made the best-seller lists.
1970s By the 1970s Collins was a peer of successful male
airport novel authors like
Sidney Sheldon and
Harold Robbins.. Her third novel,
Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick (first published under the title
The Hollywood Zoo in the UK and then retitled
Sinners worldwide in 1984) was published in 1971 and again made the best-seller lists. This was Collins's first novel to be set in the United States.
Lovehead followed in 1974 (retitled as
The Love Killers in 1989). This novel was Collins's first foray into the world of
organized crime, a genre that would later prove to be extremely successful for her. Following this, Collins published
The World Is Full of Divorced Women (unrelated to her first novel) in 1975, and then
Lovers & Gamblers in 1977, which told the story of rock/soul superstar Al King. In the late 1970s, Collins made a foray into writing for the screen. She co-wrote the screenplay for
The Stud (1978), based on her second book; the film starred her older sister Joan as the gold-digging adulteress Fontaine Khaled. Following this, Collins wrote the screenplay for
The World Is Full of Married Men (1980), the film adaptation of her first novel. She also released her seventh novel,
The Bitch (1979), a sequel to
The Stud;
The Bitch was also made into
a successful 1979 film, with Joan Collins reprising the role. Around the same time, Collins wrote an original screenplay (not based on any of her novels) for the film ''
Yesterday's Hero'' (1979).
1980s In the 1980s, Collins and her family moved to Los Angeles on a full-time basis, where she would continue to write about the "rich and famous". She said, "If you wish to be successful, there is a place you should be at a certain time. And Los Angeles in the 1980s was it." Her next novel was
Chances (1981). It introduced one of her best-known characters,
Lucky Santangelo, the "dangerously beautiful" daughter of a gangster. While living in the hills above
Sunset Boulevard, Collins collected the knowledge and experience to write her most commercially successful novel,
Hollywood Wives (1983), which hit
The New York Times best-seller list at number one. Marketed as a "scandalous exposé", the novel sold over 15 million copies and placed Collins in a powerful position, making her a celebrity of near equal status to her sister Joan, whose own career had taken an upwards direction with her role in the television drama
Dynasty. In 1985,
Hollywood Wives was made into a
television miniseries, produced by
Aaron Spelling and starring
Candice Bergen,
Stefanie Powers,
Angie Dickinson,
Anthony Hopkins,
Suzanne Somers, and
Rod Steiger. Although credited as a "creative consultant", Collins later stated that she was never consulted during production and that she did not agree with some of the casting choices. She then went on to write the sequel to
Chances, titled
Lucky (1985), followed by
Hollywood Husbands (1986) and
Rock Star (1988). In 1992, Collins was widowed when her husband of 26 years,
Oscar Lerman, died of cancer. Around this time, she wrote and produced another miniseries based on the
Lady Boss novel, with
Kim Delaney playing the lead role. Collins's run of best-sellers continued with
American Star (1993),
Hollywood Kids (1994), and the fourth Santangelo novel, ''
Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge'' (1996). She was the subject of
This Is Your Life in 1993, when she was surprised by
Michael Aspel. Her books had sold over 170 millions copies in over 30 countries by 1993. In 1998, she made a foray into talk show television with the series ''Jackie Collins' Hollywood
, but this was unsuccessful. She also published the novel Thrill
(1998) and wrote a four-part series of mini-novels, called L.A. Connections
, to be released in a newspaper every six weeks and which introduced a new heroine in the form of investigative journalist Madison Castelli. The fifth Lucky Santangelo novel, Dangerous Kiss'', was published in 1999.
2000s The 2000s turned out to be Collins's busiest time; she published eight best-sellers, more than in any other decade in her career. In 2000, Collins brought back the character of Madison Castelli in a new novel,
Lethal Seduction. In 2001, she published
Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, which was adapted as a 2003 television movie starring
Farrah Fawcett,
Melissa Gilbert, and
Robin Givens. (Collins was credited as an executive producer.) A new Madison Castelli novel,
Deadly Embrace, was published in 2002, and
Hollywood Divorces was published in 2003. In 2004, Collins hosted a series of television specials,
Jackie Collins Presents, for
E! Entertainment Television. Collins continued with
Lovers & Players (2006); the sixth Lucky Santangelo novel,
Drop Dead Beautiful (2007); and
Married Lovers (2008), which concerns the affairs of a female personal trainer named Cameron Paradise. This was followed by
Poor Little Bitch Girl (2009), which stemmed from an idea Collins had worked on for a television series about heiresses that was ultimately never made. In 2009, she also guest starred as herself on an episode of the reality program
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. In the episode, she helped give
Kathy Griffin advice as the comedian worked on her upcoming memoir, "Official Book Club Selection."
2010s Paris Connections (2010), a direct-to-DVD movie adapted from Collins's
L.A. Connections series of mini-novels, was made by Amber Entertainment in association with the UK supermarket chain
Tesco. The movie stars
Charles Dance,
Trudie Styler, and
Nicole Steinwedell (as Madison Castelli). Collins served as co-producer, and three more
Connections movies with the Madison Castelli character are planned. Collins continued to write Lucky Santangelo books, including
Goddess of Vengeance. Her 29th novel, titled
The Power Trip, was published in February 2013.
Confessions of a Wild Child, was published in February 2014, with a movie deal announced even before the book came out. Collins's cookbook,
The Lucky Santangelo Cookbook (2014), is named after the protagonist of nine Collins novels, who is often portrayed preparing elaborate gastronomic creations for her intimates (and who watched her father throw a plate of food at her mother as a child). Collins's final novel was
The Santangelos (2015), a conclusion to the Santangelo series she had begun with
Chances (1981). ==Personal life==