Joan Collins was born on 23 May 1933 born in Paddington, London. Her birth name is Dame Joan Henrietta Collins and she is an English actress, columnist, and author. Collins trained as an actress in her teens at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
At the age of 17, she signed to The Rank Organisation and had minor roles in the British films Lady Godiva Rides Again and The Woman’s Angle before taking on a supporting role in Judgment Deferred.
She received several accolades, including two Soap Opera Digest Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a People’s Choice Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 1983, Collins was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Joan has been well recognized for her philanthropy, mainly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honors. In 2015, Collins was honored as a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services.
Career
Joan made numerous film appearances in Britain after signing with Rank. She made her acting debut in the 1951 movie Lady Godiva Rides Again, in which Diana Dors played a beauty pageant contestant. Joans’ next film, The Woman’s Angle, in 1952, featured her in a supporting part as a Greek maid. Then, in Judgment Deferred (1952), she played a more substantial role as a gangster’s mistress.
In addition to a UK tour of The Praying Mantis, she made appearances in various plays in London between films, including Jassy (1952), The Seventh Veil (1952), The Skin of Our Teeth (1954), and Claudia and David (1954).
When Elizabeth Taylor was cast in the lead role of Cleopatra instead of Joan, who had been the original choice for the role, Joan lost more and more faith in 20th Century Fox.
Joan requested a release from her contract after pulling out of the studio’s production of Sons and Lovers, but she decided to play in one final Fox movie, top billing once more in the historical epic Esther and the King (1960)
Joan continued to work on television in the 1970s. She played opposite Brian Kelly in the 1973 television films Drive Hard, Drive Fast, and The Man Who Came to Dinner, both directed by Orson Welles and starring Lee Remick.
In 1981 Joan agreed to play Alexis Colby, the stunning and spiteful ex-wife of oil mogul Blake Carrington, in the second season of the floundering serial opera Dynasty (1981-89). (John Forsythe). Joan was cast alongside Donny Osmond in the 1999 movie adaptation of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Then, in 1999, she co-produced and co-starred in the movie The Clandestine Marriage with Nigel Hawthorne.
In The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, a precursor to the live-action Universal Studios picture The Flintstones, Collins took Elizabeth Taylor’s position as Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma Flintstone’s mother (1994, Taylor had originated the role in the first film). Alongside Martin Kemp and Luke Goss, she started on the full-length movie The Loss Adjuster in October 2019. The film will be released in the latter half of 2020.
- Weight: 56 kg or 123 lbs
- Height: 5′ 6″ or 167
- Shoe size: 7US
- Bra size: 34B
- Body measurements: 36-23-37 inches
Further critical details of the actress:
- Date of Birth: 23rd May 1933
- Age: 87 years
- Horoscope: Gemini
- Nationality: English
- Eye color: Green
- Hair color: Brown
- Spouse/Boyfriend: Maxwell Reed (1953-1956), Anthony Newley (1963-1971), Ron Kass (1972-1983), Peter Holm (m. 1985–1987), Percy Gibson (m. 2002)
Personal life of the actress
Joan has been married five times, first with actor Maxwell Reed from Northern Ireland, whom she wed on May 24, 1952, following reports that he had sexually assaulted her. Reed and she split up in 1956. Joan started dating the then-unknown actor Warren Beatty in 1959.
In 1960, they became engaged; however, his adultery caused them to break up. Joan wrote in her 1978 autobiography that she had an abortion to avert a scandal that at the time may have gravely hurt their careers after she fell pregnant by Beatty. She has two kids, Tara and Alexander, with actor and singer Anthony Newley, whom she married in 1963.
In 1972, she married Ron Kass, an American businessman, who would become her third spouse. Joan’s wedding to Kass ended in 1983, and on November 3, 1985, she wed former singer Peter Holm in a ceremony held in Las Vegas.
On August 25, 1987, they divorced after a difficult separation. On February 17, 2002, she wed Percy Gibson at London’s Claridge’s Hotel, her fifth husband and younger by 31 years. Joan had three grandchildren as of the year 2019.
FAQs
What is most well-known about Joan Collins?
Joan Collins is an English actress from the London neighborhood of Paddington. She is best known for her role in the soap opera "Dynasty" as the vengeful schemer Alexis Carrington Colby (1981-1989). Collins was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997 for his work in the theater.
How old is Joan Collins’ husband compared to her?
After a very bad breakup, they got a divorce on August 25, 1987. She married Percy Gibson, who is 31 years younger than her, on February 17, 2002, at Claridge's Hotel in London. He is her fifth and current husband. Collins had three grandchildren as of 2019.
What age was Joan Collins when Dynasty started?
Dame Joan tells Graham Norton about her time on Dynasty: "When I got the part, I was in my 40s, Linda Evans was in her 30s, and John was 62, but the press kept talking about us as older women and never mentioned John's age."
