With Lerman's encouragement, Collins went on to write several steamy bestsellers during the 1960s and 1970s, the first of which "The World Is Full Of Married Men", was published in 1968. Others were to follow, "The Stud" in 1969, "Sunday Simmons & Charlie Brick" in 1971( it was titled under the name "The Hollywood Zoo" in the UK and then retitled "Sinners" worldwide in 1984), "Lovehead" in 1974 (retitled "The Love Killers" in 1989), "The World Is Full Of Divorced Women" in 1975 and "Lovers & Gamblers" in 1977.
The late 1970s proved to be a busy time for Collins as she moved into film. In 1978, she co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of her 1969 novel
The Stud, starring her older sister Joan as gold-digging adulteress Fontaine Khaled. Joan had experienced a devastating career slump, and Collins had offered the film rights to the novel to her sister for free. The film was then produced independently after Joan arranged financing through a casual acquaintance she had met at the
Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to become a box office hit. Following this, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her first novel "The World Is Full Of Married Men", which was released in 1979. She also released her seventh novel, "The Bitch", a sequel to
The Stud, which was also made into a successful film the same year, with Joan reprising her role. The film version of
The Bitch was written and directed by
Gerry O'Hara, based on Collins' source novel. Also in 1979, Collins wrote the screenplay for the film "Yesterday's Hero".
In the 1980s, Collins and her family moved to Los Angeles on a full time basis. She wrote "Chances" published in 1981, which she described as her first
Harold Robbins-type novel, and was also the first novel to introduce her most famous character Lucky Santangelo; the "dangerously beautiful" daughter of a one-time gangster. It was also Collins' first novel that proved to be highly successful in the US . While living in the hills above Sunset Boulevard, Collins collected the knowledge and experience to write her most successful novel, "Hollywood Wives" which was published in 1983. The novel hit the
New York Times bestseller list at number one, and went on to sell fifteen million copies worldwide . The scandalous "exposé" placed Collins in a powerful position and made her a celebrity. In 1985, it was also made into a highly rated mini-series (produced by
Aaron Spelling) starring Candice Bergen, Stefanie Powers, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Hopkins, Suzanne Sommers and Mary Crosby. Though credited as "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" entitled "Lucky", published in 1985, "Hollywood Husbands" in 1986, "Rock Star" in 1988 and another Lucky Santangelo novel, "Lady Boss", in 1990.
In 1992, Collins experienced a tremendous loss when her husband of twenty six years, Oscar Lerman, died of cancer. Striken with grief Collins threw herself into her work, producing two mini-series based on her Lucky Santangelo novels while penning several more bestsellers, "American Star" in 1993, "Hollywood Kids" in 1994 and "Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge" in 1996. In the mid-1990s, Collins met Los Angeles businessman Frank Calcagnini who she became engaged to. Sadly Calcagnini also died of cancer in 1998 as Collins's attempted foray into talk television also floundered. She soon penned a new novel, "Thrill", and wrote a four-part series of mini novels to be released in a newspaper every six weeks called "L.A. Connections", introducing a new heroine in the form of journalist Madison Castelli. "Dangerous Kiss", the fifth Lucky Santangelo novel was published in 1999 and she soon brought back Madison Castelli in "Lethal Seduction", published in 2000. In 2001 she published "Hollywood Wives: The New Generation", which itself was later turned into a television movie starring
Farrah Fawcett and
Melissa Gilbert. "Deadly Embrace", the sequel to "Lethal Seduction", was published in 2002 and "Hollywood Divorces" was published in 2003. Her last two recent bestsellers were "Lovers & Players" in 2006 and "Drop Dead Beautiful - The Continuing Adventures Of Lucky Santangelo" in 2007. Collins has stated that this will be the final Lucky Santangelo novel.
Collins is rumoured to possess a fortune in the neighborhood of $200 million (USD), although the
Sunday Times Rich List estimates it at £70 million (GBP, equals about $135 million USD) as of 2006.
She resides in Beverly Hills, California and is currently working on her 26th novel to be titled "Married Lovers".
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