Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins (born May 23, 1933) is a British actress who was born in London, England.

Trained at RADA with others actors such as Roger Moore and went on to have an early career in film and TV both in England and the USA. However after this youthful and highly splashy career as a pulchritudinous, hardworking starlet best described as a junior-grade Elizabeth Taylor, Collins became known more for her personal affairs than her on-screen achievements. After losing such high-profile roles as Cleopatra (Collins was cast when Elizabeth Taylor fell ill, then dumped upon Taylor's recovery), Collins turned to other ventures. Notable guest appearances on American TV during the 1960s included Star Trek and the Batman. In the mid-to-late 1970's Collins starred in the film versions of her novelist sister Jackie Collins' novels The Bitch and The Stud. The films, like the books which inspired them, were trashy, full of nudity and raunchy sex scenes. Aside from this brief camp notoriety, Collins was again a back number until she was successfully relaunched as a powerful sex symbol and icon of independence in her late 40s with her role as Alexis Carrington on the TV soap opera Dynasty (1981 - 1989). Her performance helped the show beat main rival Dallas to become the No. 1 U.S. TV show in the early 1980s, and she became the highest-paid actress on television at the time. She was nominated for an Emmy award and won a Golden Globe award. Apart from many guest-starring roles in television programs, she appeared regularly on the short-lived primetime drama Pacific Pallisades in 1997 and the famous soap opera Guiding Light in 2002.

Collins made her Broadway debut in 1990 in an adaptation of Noel Coward's Private Lives, and in 2004 she toured the United Kingdom with a revival of the play Full Circle.

Collins has been married five times, to Maxwell Reed, Anthony Newley, Ron Kass, Peter Holm, and Percy Gibson. She has a son, Sascha, and two daughters: Tara Newly, by Anthony Newley, and Katie, by Ron Kass.

Collins has had a number of widely-covered court cases, including a 1985 divorce trial with Holm. At one point her lawyers called his mistress to the stand; she proceeded to accidentally burst out of her tight-fitting blouse. On February 29, 1996, Collins won a U.S. $2 million suit with Random House for breach of contract. Humiliated by the claims that she was over the hill and not a talented writer, Collins felt she was on the losing end of the case until, on the advice of her loved ones, she lapsed into her Alexis Carrington persona.

She has luxury homes in London, New York, and the south of France.

She was on the last Concorde flight from New York to London in October 2003.

On May 24, 2004, Collins joined the UK Independence Party. [1] (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2971850) In October 2004, Collins stated she was not a supporter, but rather a patron of the party. In early 2005, Collins comented that she had rejoined the Conservative Party, stating, "The Labour Party doesn't care about the British people." [2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3964151.stm)

Her two memoirs are Past Imperfect (1978) and Second Act (1996). She has also written best-selling novels: Prime Time, Love & Desire & Hate, Infamous, Star Quality and Misfortune's Daughters. In 1996, she was awarded an OBE by the British government and Queen Elizabeth II.

Filmography

• Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
• The Woman's Angle (1952)
• Judgment Deferred (1952)
• The Slasher (1952)
• I Believe in You (1952)
• The Square Ring (1953)
• Turn the Key Softly (1953)
• Decameron Nights (1953)
• The Adventures of Sadie (1954)
• The Good Die Young (1954)
• Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
• The Virgin Queen (1955)
• The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)
• The Opposite Sex (1956)
• The Wayward Bus (1957)
• Island in the Sun (1957)
• Stopover Tokyo (1957)
• Sea Wife (1957)
• The Bravados (1958)
• Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
• Seven Thieves (1960)
• Esther and the King (1960)
• The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
• Hard Time for Princes (1965)
• Warning Shot (1967)
• Wedding of the Doll (1968) (documentary)
• Besieged (1969)
• Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)
• It It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium (1969) (Cameo)
• Subterfuge (1969)
• The Executioner (1970)
• Up in the Cellar (1970)
• Inn of the Frightened People (1971)
• Quest for Love (1971)
• Tales from the Crypt (1972)
• Fear in the Night (1972)
• Dark Places (1973)
• Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
• Football Crazy (1974)
• The Devil Within Her (1975)
• Alfie Darling (1975)
• The Cry of the Wolf (1975)
• The Promise (1976)
• The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976)
• Magnum Cop (1977)
• Empire of the Ants (1977)
• The Stud (1978)
• The Big Sleep (1978)
• Zero to Sixty (1978)
• A Game for Vultures (1979)
• The Bitch (1979)
• Sunburn (1979)
• Nutcracker (1982)
• Homework (1982)
• Decadence (1994)
• In the Bleak Midwinter (1995)
• The Clandestine Marriage (1999)
• The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
• Ozzie (2001)
• Ellis in Glamourland (2004)

TV Work

• The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972)
• Drive Hard, Drive Fast (1973)
• Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976) (miniseries)
• Dynasty (1981-1989)
• Paper Dolls (1982)
• The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch (1982)
• Making of a Male Model (1983)
• Her Life as a Man (1984)
• The Cartier Affair (1984)
• Sins (1986) (miniseries)
• Monte Carlo (1986) (also executive producer)
• Red Peppers (1991)
• Dynasty: The Reunion (1991)
• Annie: A Royal Adventure! (1995)
• Hart to Hart: Two Harts in Three-Quarters Time (1995)
• Pacific Palisades (1997) (canceled after 13 episodes)
• Sweet Deception (1998)
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
• These Old Broads (2001)
• Guiding Light (cast member in 2002)

External links

• Official Website (http://www.Joancollins.net)
• Template:Imdb name
• Joan Collins Links (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/joancollinslinks/)de:Joan Collins

nl:Joan Collins fi:Joan Collins