Joan Collins Biography

Date of Birth: May 23, 1933

London, England native, Joan Collins, daughter of a London theatrical booking agent, made her first theatre bow in a production of The Doll's House. She was only nine, and was cast in a male role. Perhaps it was luck, or just hard work, but two of Collin's childhood wishes were granted. The first came true when she made her debut on Broadway, and her second became a reality when, in 1991, she starred as Amanda in Noel Coward's Private Lives.

As she got older, she became a sort of sexy, glamorous performer. Collins first appeared before the cameras in a small role as a beauty contestant in Lady Godiva Rides Again (1953). She made an auspicious American debut as an Egyptian temptress in Land of the Pharoahs(1955). This assignment led to a contract with 20th Century-Fox, where despite a few good dramatic parts such as in films like Girl on the Red Velvet Swing (1955) and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1958), she was frequently playing wayward young girls or femme fatales and written off by critics as being little more than decorative.

After numerous forgettable films throughout the 1950s, Collins began appearing to great effect on TV in the early 1960s, often as sultry, man-eating women. She was perilously close to "perennial starlet" status during this time. By the 1970s, she was appearing in low-budget horror films and softcore pornography. Offscreen, she gave the journalists plenty of headline material; if her autobiography, Past Imperfect is to be believed, she dallied with virtually every male actor in Hollywood.

Her maturation from mere personality to superstar came about when she was cast in 1981 as glamorous and predatory Alexis Carrington on the universally popular television soap opera Dynasty. The show was a God sent for Collins, as her career had been going nowhere at the time. Despite professional and personal setbacks, Collins has managed to survive in this cut-throat industry.

In 1996, she made an appearance in a key role as a theatrical agent in Kenneth Branagh's A Midwinter's Story, and was cast as Mrs. Heidelberg in The Clandestine Marriage (1999) and as Wilma's mother, Pearl, in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).

She most recently made an appearance as herself in the comedy Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016) starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. She also starred in the drama The Time of Their Lives (2017).

Like many in this industry, Collins walked down the isle a number of times. In 1952, she married Maxwell Reed and divorced him four years later. Next up was fellow actor, Anthony Newley. This marriage lasted a bit longer with two children, Tara and Sacha, as a result. After divorcing Newley in 1971, she decided to marry Ron Kass. This marriage lasted 12 years and Collins's third child, Katy was born. In 1985, she married Peter Holms, but this union only lasted two years.

Not the only one with artistic talent, her sister Jackie, is a highly successful romance novelist, whose books The Bitch and The Stud were turned into films, both starring her older sister.