Trained at the prestigious RADA acting school in London, Joan Collins made her Hollywood debut aged just 20, in 1955’s lavish drama The Virgin Queen. The movie—which gave the little-known star top billing alongside Bette Davis and Richard Todd—thrust Collins into the spotlight. After signing a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox, she soon became one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars—and eventually came to the attention of another Hollywood legend, Frank Sinatra.
In 1962, Collins was in England filming The Road to Hong Kong with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Sinatra—alongside fellow Rat Pack member Dean Martin—had a last-minute cameo in the movie, in a scene in which he and Martin were both trying to woo Collins, and had flown into London to film it.
The scene complete, the following day Collins was back at home at her parents’ house in London when Sinatra telephoned to ask her out for dinner. She happily accepted, but when it emerged that Sinatra was now in Hamburg filming another movie—and his dinner date would involve her being flown to meet him in Germany on his private jet—Collins balked at the idea. “I can’t go to Hamburg!” she later recalled saying in an interview in 2016. “I’ve got an early call tomorrow!”
“I’ll change your call, honey,” Sinatra confidently replied—but Collins was still not keen.
“You can’t do that!” she protested. “I’m a serious actress! You can’t change my call just because—!”
And at that point, the line went dead. She never heard from Sinatra again.