The importance of being Everett
The greatest role played by the actor is his portrayal of a profane, outrageous entertainer – himself.
The end of the world, as far as Joan Collins was concerned, was being stood up by Rupert Everett. She’s waiting in the Ivy with Christopher Biggins; Rupert is in J Sheekey, down the road, recklessly spending the last of his Hollywood fame-currency with a trio of producers (he sums them up as “thin ties and neon teeth”). Suddenly, the maître d’ informs Everett that Miss Collins’s people are on the phone. She is very angry, and is leaving. They don’t speak again for ten years.