Dame Joan Henrietta Collins DBE (born 23 May 1933)is an English actress, author and columnist. Born in Paddington, west London, and brought up in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. After making her stage debut in A Doll's House at the age of 9, she trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She then signed an exclusive contract with the Rank Organisation and appeared in various British films.

At the age of 22, Collins headed to Hollywood and landed sultry roles in several popular films, including The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955) and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1958). While she continued to make films in the US and the UK throughout the 1960s, her career languished in the 1970s, when she appeared in a number of horror flicks. Near the end of the decade, she starred in two films based on best-selling novels by her younger sister Jackie Collins: The Stud (1978) and its sequel The Bitch (1979).

She began appearing on stage, playing the title role in the 1980 British revival of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, and later had a lead role in the 1990 revival of No«l Coward's Private Lives. In 1981, she landed the role of Alexis Carrington Colby, the vengeful ex-wife of John Forsythe's character, in the 1980s television soap opera Dynasty, winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1982; she is credited for the success around Dynasty, which was the most-watched television show in America during the 1984-85 broadcast season. Collins also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 for career achievement.

Since the late 1970s, Collins has written several books (including beauty and autobiographical books). In 1988 she published her first novel, Prime Time, and she has continued to publish various kinds of writing.

Collins made her feature debut as a beauty contest entrant in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) followed by The Woman's Angle (1952) in a minor role as a Greek maid. Next was a more significant role as a gangster's moll in Judgment Deferred (1952). Her big break came when the Rank Organisation signed her for a major role in I Believe in You (1952). Other roles to follow included Cosh Boy (1953), Decameron Nights (1953), Turn the Key Softly (1953), The Square Ring (1953), and Our Girl Friday (1953).

She was chosen by director Howard Hawks to star in his lavish production of Land of the Pharaohs (1955) as the scheming Princess Nellifer opposite Jack Hawkins. This role led to a contract at 20th Century Fox which had Collins appear or star in such films as The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), The Opposite Sex (1956), Sea Wife (1957), The Wayward Bus (1957), Island in the Sun (1957), Stopover Tokyo (1958), The Bravados (1958), and Rally Round the Flag, Boys (1959). She finished her Fox contract with the crime caper Seven Thieves (1960) and the biblical epic Esther and the King (1960). One notable film release in the 1960s was The Road to Hong Kong (1962), the last "road" picture of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

She took a hiatus from her film career to concentrate on having a family now that she had married Anthony Newley, and when she resumed her career, it was in the medium of television. Her notable guest appearances on American television during the 1960s and 1970s included Batman, The Virginian, Mission: Impossible, and Police Woman, and Star Trek (in the episode entitled "The City on the Edge of Forever").

In the 1970s, Collins made several films, few of them notable, and then starred in the film versions of her sister Jackie Collins's racy novels The Stud and The Bitch. The films were extremely successful financially. The Stud, made for $600,000, went on to gross over $20,000,000 internationally.
Dynasty

In 1981, Collins was offered a role in the second season of the then-struggling new soap opera Dynasty (1981"89) playing Alexis Carrington, the beautiful and vengeful ex-wife of tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe). Her performance is generally credited as one factor in the fledgling show's subsequent rise in the Nielsen ratings[9] to a hit rivaling Dallas.

In 1985, Dynasty was the no. 1 show in the United States, beating out Dallas, which ranked at no. 2.[10] For her portrayal of Alexis, Collins was nominated six times for a Golden Globe Award (every year from 1982 to 1987), winning once in 1983, the same year she was nominated for an Emmy as Best Actress in a Drama Series.[11] Upon accepting the award, Collins thanked Sophia Loren for turning down the part of Alexis.[12] At the age of 50, Collins appeared in a 12-page photo layout for Playboy magazine shot by George Hurrell.[13]

In 1983, Collins starred in Making of a Male Model with young model-actor Jon-Erik Hexum, and in 1984 played a soap star in The Cartier Affair with David Hasselhoff. In the same year, she co-hosted the ABC-TV special Blondes vs. Brunettes. With Dynasty at the height of its success, Collins began producing and starred in the 1986 CBS miniseries Sins and Monte Carlo.[14][15]

In the 2001 E! True Hollywood Story episode featuring Dynasty, former ABC executive Ted Harbert stated, "The truth is we didn't really believe that we had this thing done as a hit until Joan Collins walked down that courtroom aisle." Co-star Al Corley noted that Collins "just flew" in the role that was "tailor made...just spot on." In Dynasty producer Aaron Spelling's final press interview, he said of Collins: "We didn't write Joan Collins. She played Joan Collins. Am I right? We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work

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