Search

The Online Encyclopedia and Dictionary

 
     
 

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Quotes

   
 

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. Notable guest appearances on American TV during the 1960s included Star Trek and the Batman.However after this youthful and highly splashy career as a pulchritudinous, hardworking starlet best described as a junior-grade Elizabeth Taylor, in the 1980s Joan Collins 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. She also appeared on the American soap opera Guiding Light in 2002 as Alexandra Spaulding.

Collins made her Broadway debut in 1990, and in 2004 she toured the United Kingdom with a revival of the play Full Circle.

She is the sister of the novelist Jackie Collins.

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.

On February 29, 1996, Collins won a U.S. $2 million suit with Random House for breach of contract.

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] In October 2004, Collins stated she was not a supporter, but rather a patron of the party. [2]

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

Selected films

  • Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
  • Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
  • The Virgin Queen (1956)
  • Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
  • Esther and the King (1960)
  • The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1975)
  • Empire of the Antz (1977)
  • The Stud (1978)
  • The Bitch (1979)
  • The Bleak Midwinter (1995)
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
  • Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas (2000)

External links

Last updated: 05-15-2005 21:52:59