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..
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 ...
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