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Actor

1933-05-23 · Paddington, London, England, UK · Female

66 series in the catalog

Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 1983, Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been recognised for her philanthropy, particularly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honours. In 2015, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services, presented to her by then Prince of Wales, Charles III.

Collins trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She signed to The Rank Organisation at the age of 17 and had small roles in the British films Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) and The Woman's Angle (1952) before taking on a supporting role in Judgment Deferred (1952). She went under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1955, and in that same year she starred as Evelyn Nesbit in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Elizabeth Raleigh in The Virgin Queen and Princess Nellifer in Land of the Pharaohs, the latter garnering a cult following. Collins continued to take on film roles throughout the late 1950s, appearing in The Opposite Sex (1956), Sea Wife (1957), and The Wayward Bus (1957). After starring in the epic film Esther and the King (1960), she was, upon request, released from her contract with 20th Century Fox.

Collins appeared only in a few film roles in the 1960s, notably starring in Seven Thieves (1960), The Road to Hong Kong (1962), Warning Shot (1967), Subterfuge (1968), and also appeared in an episode of Star Trek (1967). She began to take on local roles again back in Britain in the 1970s, appearing in the films Revenge, Quest for Love (both 1971), Tales from the Crypt, Fear in the Night (both 1972), Tales That Witness Madness (1973) and Dark Places (1974) as well as Empire of the Ants (1977), which earned her a Saturn Award nomination. Collins was criticially acclaimed for her starring role in The Stud (1978) and its sequel The Bitch (1979).

From 1981 to 1989, Collins starred as Alexis Colby in the soap opera Dynasty, which made her an international superstar. It brought her critical acclaim, winning her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama in 1982, and earning her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1984.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Collins took on more stage roles as well as regular parts on television. She took fewer film roles, most notably appearing in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) and the TV movie These Old Broads (2001) alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine. In the 2010s, Collins took on recurring roles in the series Happily Divorced (2011–2013), The Royals (2014–2018), Benidorm (2014–2017) and American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018). Her first starring film role since the 1980s was The Time of Their Lives (2017), and she has also appeared in various independent films, which includes the critically acclaimed Gerry (2018).

Early life and education

Joan Henrietta Collins was born on 23 May 1933 in Paddington, London, and brought up in Maida Vale, the daughter of Elsa Collins (née Bessant), a dance teacher, and Joseph William Collins, a talent agent (whose clients would later include Shirley Bassey, the Beatles and Tom Jones). Her father, a native of South Africa, was Jewish, and her British mother was Anglican. She had two younger siblings, Jackie, a novelist, and Bill, a property agent.

Collins was educated at the Francis Holland School, an independent day school for girls in London. She made her stage debut in the Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House at the age of nine, and at the age of 16 trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. At the age of 17, Collins was signed to the Rank Organisation, a British film studio.

Acting career

1950s

After signing with Rank, Collins made her film debut as an extra portraying a beauty contestant in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951), which starred Diana Dors. Collins followed this with a small role as a Greek maid in The Woman's Angle (1952), before securing a more substantial part as a gangster’s moll in Judgment Deferred (1952). After these films were released, she appeared in The Seventh Veil at the Q Theatre in London in March 1952, went on to play the title role in Jassy in April, and later that year received top billing opposite Maxwell Reed in The Skin of Our Teeth.

With her dark hair and striking eyes, Collins projected a sultry, provocative image that led to frequent "bad girl" casting. She was nicknamed "England's Bad Girl" and described as "Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe." Her breakthrough came with a prominent and widely publicized role as a juvenile delinquent in I Believe in You (1952). Her subsequent films whilst under contract to Rank included Decameron Nights (1953) with Joan Fontaine; England's first X certificate drama, Cosh Boy (1953), directed by Lewis Gilbert; Turn the Key Softly (1953), a drama about three women released from prison on the same day; and the boxing saga The Square Ring (1953). Collins was top-billed in the desert island comedy Our Girl Friday (1953), co-starring Kenneth More. She was directed again by Lewis Gilbert in The Good Die Young (1954) with Laurence Harvey and Gloria Grahame. Between film roles, she returned to the stage for the productions of The Praying Mantis (1954) and Claudia and David (1954) in London.

In 1954, Collins was chosen by American director Howard Hawks to star as the scheming Princess Nellifer in her first international production, Land of the Pharaohs (1955). The lavish Warner Brothers historical epic was unsuccessful upon release, but has been lauded by Martin Scorsese and French critics supporting the auteur theory for numerous elements of its physical production. Danny Peary, in his book Cult Movies (1981), selected it as a cult classic. Collins's seductive performance so impressed 20th Century Fox chief Darryl Zanuck that he signed the young star to a seven-year contract with the Hollywood studio.

Collins made her Hollywood film debut in the lavish historical drama The Virgin Queen (1955). The British newcomer was given equal billing with established stars Bette Davis and Richard Todd. That same year, Collins was cast in the starring role of Evelyn Nesbit in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing with Ray Milland and Farley Granger. The part had originally been intended for Marilyn Monroe; however, problems between Monroe and Fox led to Collins gaining the role.

MGM borrowed Collins for The Opposite Sex (1956), a musical remake of The Women (1939) in which she was cast as the gold digging Crystal, the role played by Joan Crawford in the original. She then starred as a young nun in Sea Wife (1956), top-billed over co-star Richard Burton, followed by the all-star Island in the Sun (1957), which was a major box-office success. The film earned $5,550,000 worldwide, and finished as the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1957. In 1957, she was top-billed over Jayne Mansfield in the film version of John Steinbeck's The Wayward Bus, which despite disappointing reviews was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear Award at the 7th Berlin International Film Festival. She then starred opposite Robert Wagner in the espionage thriller Stopover Tokyo (1957), and was Gregory Peck's leading lady in the Western drama The Bravados (1958). The Leo McCarey comedy Rally Round the Flag, Boys (1958) cast Collins as a temptress out to seduce Paul Newman away from Joanne Woodward. Next came the tense crime caper Seven Thieves (1960) opposite Edward G. Robinson and Rod Steiger.

1960s

In 1960, Collins became increasingly disillusioned with 20th Century Fox when, having been the original choice to play the title role in Cleopatra, the part went instead to Elizabeth Taylor. Collins withdrew from the…