AKA Joan Henrietta Collins

Born: 23-May-1933
Birthplace: London, England

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: England
Executive summary: Alexis on Dynasty

Both her parents were on the periphery of show business, and Joan Collins made her professional stage debut at the age of nine, playing a boy in a London production of The Doll's House. When she was 17, her father became her agent, and purchased full-page ads touting his beautiful daughter in England's show business trade papers.

She landed her first film role almost immediately, with a tiny part as a beauty contestant in Lady Godiva Rides Again with Stanley Holloway. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but dropped out when film offers began piling up. After roles in several British films, she came to moderate fame in 1955 with Land of the Pharaohs with Jack Hawkins. In her most serious film roles, she played the femme fatale in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing with Ray Milland, and went down The Road to Hong Kong with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

By the early 1960s, Collins was passé in the big-budget movie business, and began working mostly on television. In one of her most memorable performances, she played the saintly depression-era social worker in one of the best episodes from the original Star Trek, Harlan Ellison's "City on the Edge of Forever". In the 1970s, she continued appearing on television, making the rounds from The Love Boat to Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999. In small-budget big-screen efforts, she played the titular Homework in that high school sexploitation movie, and starred in The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones with Trevor Howard and Empire of the Ants with, well, a lot of giant ants. In her most tawdry work, she starred in The Stud and had the title role in The Bitch, films based on her sister Jackie Collins' popular but trashy novels.

In the 1980s, of course, Collins' career was reborn when she found her most famous role, as the backstabbing and frequently married Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan on TV's campy prime-time soap Dynasty. "There is a bit of Alexis in me", Collins has said, and indeed, much of Joan's private life could have come from the scripts of Dynasty.

She has been married five times, and in her autobiography, Past Imperfect, she recounted entanglements with numerous Hollywood stars, near-stars, and others, including the husband of Cloris Leachman, and Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney. In a less-than-flattering nickname, Collins has been called "The British Open". She is notorious for being difficult to work with, and she has said that her first husband, British movie star Maxwell Reed, tried to sell her to an Arab sheik. Her fourth husband, Swedish singer Peter Holm, sued to break their prenuptial agreement so he could have access to more of her money, but lost his case in court. She has never since referred to him by name; when she must mention him he is merely "the Swede".

Collins has written three novels, but before the first was published she was sued by her publisher, Random House. The company alleged that her writing was so poor it could not be fixed by editing, and demanded the refund of her $2 million advance. She won in court, and her novels have subsequently been published by Hyperion Books, to minimal acclaim.

Father: Joseph William Collins (theatrical agent)
Mother: Elsa (Bessant) Collins (dance teacher)
Sister: Jackie Collins (author)
Brother: William Collins, Jr. (real estate agent, b. 1946)
Husband: Maxwell Reed (actor, b. 1919, m. 1952, div. 1957, d. 1974 cancer)
Husband: Anthony Newley (songwriter/actor, b. 1931, m. 1963, div. 1971, d. 1999)
Husband: Ronald S. Kass (businessman-film producer, b. 1935, m. 1972, div. 1983, d. 1986 cancer)
Husband: Peter Holm (Swedish pop singer, b. 1947, m. 1985, sep. 1986, div. 1987)
Husband: Percy Gibson (stage producer, b. 1966, m. 17-Feb-2002)
Daughter: Tara Cynara Newley (British newscaster, b. 12-Oct-1963 with Newley)
Son: Alexander Anthony Newley ("Sacha", artist, b. 8-Nov-1965 with Newley)
Daughter: Katyana Kass ("Katy", b. 20-Jun-1972 with Kass)
Slept with: Harry Belafonte, James Dean, George Hamilton,
Slept with: Conrad Hilton, Dennis Hopper, Arthur Lowe, Ryan O'Neal
Boyfriend: Warren Beatty (actor)
Boyfriend: Robin Hurlestone (art dealer)
Boyfriend: Bill Wiggins (businessman)
Boyfriend: Michael Winner (film director)

    High School: Frances Holland School, London, England
    University: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, England (dropped out)

    Posed Naked for Playboy
    Officer of the British Empire
    Wedding: David Gest and Liza Minnelli (2002)
    Shoplifting
    Jewish Ancestry half
    Risk Factors: Smoking

    TELEVISION
    The Guiding Light Alex Spaulding (2002)
    Pacific Palisades Christina Hobson (1997)
    Dynasty Alexis Carrington Colby (1981-89)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Ellis in Glamourland (24-Sep-2004)
    These Old Broads (12-Feb-2001)
    The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (15-Apr-2000)
    The Clandestine Marriage (12-Nov-1999)
    Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (8-Nov-1999)
    The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (27-Sep-1996) Herself
    In the Bleak Midwinter (10-Sep-1995)
    The Cartier Affair (4-Nov-1984)
    Sunburn (10-Aug-1979)
    A Game for Vultures (1979)
    The Bitch (1979)
    The Big Sleep (13-Mar-1978)
    The Stud (1978)
    Empire of the Ants (Jul-1977)
    I Don't Want to be Born (Feb-1976)
    Tales from the Crypt (8-Mar-1972)
    The Executioner (1-May-1970)
    If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (24-Apr-1969)
    Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (19-Mar-1969)
    Warning Shot (18-Jan-1967)
    The Road to Hong Kong (27-Apr-1962)
    Esther and the King (18-Nov-1960)
    Seven Thieves (11-Mar-1960)
    Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (23-Dec-1958)
    The Bravados (25-Jun-1958)
    Island in the Sun (12-Jun-1957)
    The Wayward Bus (27-May-1957)
    The Opposite Sex (26-Oct-1956)
    The Virgin Queen (22-Jul-1955)
    Land of the Pharaohs (24-Jun-1955)
    Decameron Nights (16-Nov-1953)
    Turn the Key Softly (3-Aug-1953)

Official Website:
http://www.joancollins.net/

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