Joan Collins

SHE WAS SO GOOD AS ALEXIS IN DYNASTY THAT SOME PEOPLE COULDN’T TELL WHERE THE CHARACTER ENDED AND THE REAL JOAN BEGAN. BUT HER CAREER HAS SPANNED 60 YEARS AND NOW SHE’S STARRING IN A NEW FILM

BIG GAY FOLLOWING

WORDS: CLIFF JOANNOU PHOTOGRAPH: FADIL BERISHA

ANYBODY WHO HAS HAD THE PLEASURE of seeing Dame Joan Collins in her one-woman show will know that she’s lived a somewhat turbulent ife. A survivor to the end, she talks candidly about sexism and the struggle young female actors faced in Hollywood’s Golden Age, her five marriages, and how her career went down a less-salubrious path in the 1970s when she was tagged Queen of Horror for a series of tawdry B-movies.

Collins found mainstream success again following roles in the racy film adaptations of her sister Jackie’s books The Stud and The Bitch.

It wasn’t long before producer Aaron Spelling came calling and she joined the then-struggling Dynasty in its second season, playing Alexis Carrington Colby — one of the greatest TV characters of all time. The show would go on to become one of the biggest hits of the Eighties, and earned Collins a Golden Globe Award. More importantly, the outits, one liners, and those legendary on-screen fights with Linda Evans (playing Krystle Carrington) gave her role, and, by association, herself, iconic status.

Joan Collins epitomises old-school Hollywood glamour, and now she’s back on the big screen with Pauline Collins in the witty and heartwarming comedy The Time of Their Lives.

You must have a fair few gay friends.

I have to say I have tons of gay male friends. I’ve just watched one on TV, Ivan Massow, talking about Tara Palmer-Tomkinson [who died last month]. He was a great friend of hers. He was quite upset. I’ve had gay friends all my life, well from the time I went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art when I was 16 and became very friendly with one of the actors there. His name was Trevor Baxter, he was four or five years older than me. He was quite camp when we didn’t really know what camp was. He was the first person who ever took me to The Ivy and that was amazing. And, of course, Laurence Harvey was a great friend, but he wasn’t really gay, he was bi I think. Can you say bi now? I’m terriied of saying the wrong word.