Cinzano of the vermouth market in Europe was measured in the low single digits, sales that placed it a distant second to Martini. As a result of a 1997 merger, Grand Metropolitan became Diageo; two years later, Diageo sold Cinzano to the privately held Gruppo Campari. The Cinzano bicycling team had a central role in the film "Breaking Away". Cinzano was well known in Britain for its humorous television advertisements featuring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. One of these featured the pair on a plane journey, with Rossiter accidentally hitting the "recline" switch on Collins chair, causing her to spill a
Joan Collins crime caper "Seven Thieves" (1960) and the biblical epic "Esther and the King" (1960). One notable film release in the 1960s was "The Road to Hong Kong" (1962), the last "road" picture of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope; Collins played the female lead even though Dorothy Lamour was available. She took a hiatus from her film career to concentrate on having a family after marrying Anthony Newley, and when she resumed her career, it was in the medium of television. Her notable guest appearances on American television during the 1960s and 1970s included "Batman", "The Virginian", "", "Police Woman", and