Joan Collins, a serious actress, would like to clarify any misunderstanding in the minds of those who may recently have seen images of her in corset, suspender belt and stockings, flashing a rapier and a pair of stunning legs.
Today, in the Spectator diary, Miss Collins explains that she was forced - protesting loudly - into her corset, as a publicity stunt for her return to the London stage. "I only wear the bloody thing for less than two minutes! It's gratuitous and undignified to use it for publicity," were her exact words, she reveals.
Miss Collins blames an unholy alliance of producer Bill Kenwright, Anna Arthur, his press agent, and her own agent, Peter Charlesworth, who all spent days badgering and pleading with her, she claimed.
"Joan is Joan, it was an experience," Ms Arthur said yesterday. "She worked her socks off for that show."
The publicity stunt worked brilliantly - up to a point.
"I was amazed when this rather camp and curious picture appeared on the front page of several newspapers, side by side with reports of the Taliban's latest activities. (I wonder what their take would be on this example of disreputable Western decadence at its most louche?)" Miss Collins writes today.
The images of the amazing 68-year-old legs have been endlessly reproduced, though with some unkind comments about the less amazing upper arms. When Barbara Windsor and Cilla Black also took to corsets on stage in this week's Royal Variety show, it provoked teasing features about the birth of the pin-up granny.
The show, alas, has been less well preserved; Over the Moon closes tomorrow at the Old Vic. Miss Collins blamed the dearth of American tourists since September 11, but more so the critics. Her audiences loved her, the critics came with "pre-sharpened cutlasses", she said.
"Many of the scathing reviews focused on how outrageous I was to have posed for that picture, and even delved into my personal life... the critics, whining like little Torquemadas, sounded the death knell and our sales dramatically dwindled."
Anna Arthur said although Miss Collins had been persuaded into the pose, "it was absolutely the obvious one for the show, and it worked, it got reams of coverage, and I think most people's reaction was 'gosh, she looks fantastic'.
"It's true that the audience loved her, and were very disappointed when she didn't wear the costume. She had corset days and non-corset days, and when she didn't wear the corset Bill Kenwright got buckets of complaints."
