Marina Sirtis Cinzano Bianco television commercial starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, in which Collins was splattered with drink. In 1986, Sirtis relocated to the United States. When casting "", Gene Roddenberry was inspired to ask the exotic-looking Sirtis to audition for a role after seeing the film "Aliens" with Bob Justman, which featured the prominent Latina character Vasquez, played by Jenette Goldstein. Sirtis and Denise Crosby initially tried out for each other's eventual roles on "The Next Generation". Sirtis' character was going to be named Lt. Macha Hernandez, the Security Chief. Gene Roddenberry decided to switch them, and Macha Hernandez became
Jackie Collins at a writer's conference. "I love what I do. I fall in love with my characters. They become me, and I become them." Collins died on 19 September 2015, of breast cancer, two weeks before her 78th birthday. She had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer more than six years before her death but kept her illness almost entirely to herself. She reportedly informed her sister Joan Collins two weeks before she died and flew from Los Angeles to London to appear on the ITV chat show "Loose Women" nine days before her death. Jackie Collins Jacqueline Jill Collins