CELEBRATING 70 YEARS! : DYNASTY .. ABC TELEVISION .. USA 1981 / 1989 ..

 

ABC TELEVISION

AARON SPELLING PRDUCTIONS

DYNASTY

Starring

JOHN FORSYTHE as Blake Carrington

LINDA EVANS as Krystle Carrington

JOHN JAMES as Jeff Colby

PAMELA SUE MARTIN / EMMA SAMMS as Fallon Carrington

AL CORLEY / JACK COLEMAN as Steven Carrington

GORDON THOMPSON as Adam Carrington

PAMELA BELLWOOD as Claudia Blaisdel

HEATHER LOCKLEAR as Sammy Jo Reece

DIAHANN CARROLL as Dominique Devereaux

BO HOPKINS as Matthew Blaisdel

LLOYD BOCHNER as Cecil Colby

CATHERINE OXENBERG / KAREN CELLINI as Amanda Carrington

MICHAEL NADER as Dex Dexter

GEOFFREY SCOTT as MARK JENNINGS

LEE BERGERE as Joseph Anders

KATHLEEN BELLER as Kirby Anders

LEANN HUNLEY as Dana Waring Carrington

TERI GARBER as Leslie Carrington

WAYNE NORTHROP as Michael Culhane

CHRISTOPHER CAZENOVE as Ben Carrington

KATE O'Mara as Caress Morell

STEPHANIE BEACHAM as Sable Colby

TRACEY SCOGGINS as Monica Colby

TED MCGINLEY as Clay Falmont

MICHAEL PRAED as Prince Michael of Moldavia

PETER MARK RICHMAN as Andrew Laird

PAUL BURKE as Neal McVane

JAMES HEALEY as Sean Rowan

DEBORAH ADAIR as Tracey Kendall

JAMES FARENTINO as Nick Toscani

GEORGE HAMILTON as Joel Abrigore

DALE ROBERTSON as Walter Lankersham

KEN HOWARD as Garrett Boydston

ALI MCGRAW as Lady Ashley Mitchell

ROCK HUDSON as Daniel Reece

HELMUT BERGER as Peter DeVilbis

RICHARD ANDERSON as Buck Falmont

PAT CROWLEY as Emily Falmont

JOHN SAXON as Rashid Ahmed

BILLY DEE WILLIAMS as Brady Lloyd

RICHARD HATCH as Dean Caldwell

BRIAN DENNEHY as Jake Dunham

CAROLE COOK as Cora VanHeusen

Created by Richard & Esther Shapiro

Produced By Douglas S. Cramer , Aaron Spelling, E Duke Vincent, Elaine Rich ..

Costumes by Nolan Miller

Theme by Bill Conti 

Of the many tv appearances that Joan has been associated with, there is no denying that Alexis on 'Dynasty' is her most memorable role. Apart from putting her career back on top, it also insured her a place among the legends of television who have reach iconic status, of which there are few. There has been endless pages written about the series over the years, so I will only give a short reminder of the origins of the series.. Due to the success of 'Dallas' which ran on the CBS network, ABC were set on their own night time soap to rival the top rated saga of the Ewings, who had a most popular character of JR played by Larry Hagman. So Richard & Esther Shapiro created a saga called 'Oil' which featured the exploits of two super rich Denver families. The series debut was in 1981 as a two part mini series and the star of the show was set to be George Peppard as Blake Carrington, but he proved to be very dififcult to work with and he was unhappy with his character and so the scenes were reshot with John Forsythe now the star of the show.. 

Linda Evans with George Pappard in original shoot of 'Oil' 

However the first series of the show, now renamed 'Dynasty', failed to capture the viewers the way 'Dallas' had and it ran the risk of been cancelled. The network knew the show lacked one main ingredient that 'Dallas' had and that was lack of one villainous character in the same vein as JR Ewing. So as the first series dragged itself along to its climax, it was decided to introduce a new character onto the show in the form of Blake Carrington's ex wife Alexis. She made her entrance during the final days of the trial where Blake was accused of murdering his son Steven's lover Ted. Of course the new character only made an entrance in the last episode, the role had not been cast as yet and her face was disguised with a veil. 

Joan's first scene on 'Dynasty' as Alexis

The search was then on for a suitable actress to play the role and everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to Sophia Loren were courted, but deemed unsuitable for many reasons, the network settled on actress Jessica Walter, but the Shapiro's and Aaron Spelling were not convinced as they had another in mind, whom they had noticed on an episode of 'Aaron's hit show 'Fantasy Island', a certain Joan Collins.. After protests form the network the Shapiro's and Spelling stood firm and as they say the rest is history! 

'Dynasty' ran from January 1981 to May 1989 and topped the ratings many times and won many awards including for Joan a Golden Globe. Soap Opera Digest and People's Choice. The series was not only a ratings winner, but also defined the fashion of the 80's and Joan was and still is a fashion icon who is synomous with that decade. Also credit must go to award winning designer Nolan Miller who created the most wonderful costumes for 'Dynasty' and apart from been a good friend of Joan's he also designed every outfit she wore on the show.. Nolan was the favourite designer of most of Hollywood's true legends from Bette Davis to Lana Turner, Ann Margret, Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Taylor & Sophia Loren to name but a few! 'Dynasty' is one of those timeless shows that will always find an audience wherever it is replayed and although there is a revamped modern version currently playing, it is no match for the glamour, style and class of the original.

Nolan with Joan & Sophia at Costume Awards

'Dynasty' has been available on individual season box sets for some time and most recently a box set of all seasons with wonderful new artwork which places Joan centre stage. All previous releases gave John Forsythe his star billing and place him forefront on all promo photographs.. You can see the updated artwork below and you can order ...

ORDER DYNASTY THE COMPLETE SERIES BOX SET HERE!