Joan Collins

Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist.

She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

In 1983, Collins was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been recognised for her philanthropy, particularly her advocacy towards causes relating to children, which has earned her many honours. In 2015, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services, presented to her by the Prince of Wales.

Collins trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She signed to The Rank Organisation at the age of 17 and had small roles in the British films Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) and The Woman's Angle (1952) before taking on a supporting role in Judgment Deferred (1952). She went under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1955, and in that same year she starred as Evelyn Nesbit in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Elizabeth Raleigh in The Virgin Queen and Princess Nellifer in Land of the Pharaohs, the latter garnering a cult following. Collins continued to take on film roles throughout the late 1950s, appearing in The Opposite Sex (1956), Sea Wife (1957), and The Wayward Bus (1957). After starring in the epic film Esther and the King (1960), she was, upon request, released from her contract with 20th Century Fox.

Collins appeared only in a few film roles in the 1960s, notably starring in Seven Thieves (1960), The Road to Hong Kong (1962), and Warning Shot (1967). She also appeared in an episode of Star Trek (1967) and in Subterfuge (1968). She began to take on local roles again back in Britain in the 1970s, appearing in the films Revenge, Quest for Love (both 1971), Tales from the Crypt, Fear in the Night (both 1972), Dark Places and Tales That Witness Madness (both 1973), as well as Empire of the Ants (1977), which earned her a Saturn Award nomination, The Stud, Zero to Sixty (both 1978), Game for Vultures, and The Bitch (both 1979).

From 1981 to 1989, Collins starred as Alexis Colby in the soap opera Dynasty, which made her an international superstar. It brought her critical acclaim, winning her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama in 1982, and earning her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1984.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Collins worked sporadically in acting. She took fewer film roles, most notably appearing in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) and the TV movie These Old Broads (2001) alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine. She made her comeback to mainstream television in the 2010s, taking on recurring roles in the series Happily Divorced (2011–2013), The Royals (2014–2018), Benidorm (2014–2017) and American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018). Her first starring film role since the 1980s was The Time of Their Lives (2017), and she has also appeared in various independent films, which includes the critically acclaimed Gerry (2018).

Early life

Joan Henrietta Collins was born on 23 May 1933 in Paddington, London,[1][2] and brought up in Maida Vale, the daughter of Elsa Collins (née Bessant), a dance teacher, and Joseph William Collins, a talent agent[3] (whose clients would later include Shirley Bassey, the Beatles and Tom Jones).[3] Her father, a native of South Africa, was Jewish, and her British mother was Anglican.[4][5][6][7] She had two younger siblings, Jackie, a novelist, and Bill, a property agent.[8][9] She was educated at the Francis Holland School, an independent day school for girls in London.[10] Collins made her stage debut in the Henrik Ibsen play A Doll's House at the age of nine, and at the age of 16 trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. At the age of 17, Collins was signed to the Rank Organisation, a British film studio.

Personal life

At the Goldene Sonne Awards in 2023

Collins has been married five times.[54] Her first husband was Irish actor Maxwell Reed, whom she wed on 24 May 1952 after he date raped her.[55][56] She was 19 and he was 33.[57] Collins divorced Reed on 29 May 1956, following a two-year separation.[58] From 1955 to 1957, she was in a relationship with producer Arthur Loew Jr.[59]

In 1959, Collins began a relationship with then-unknown actor Warren Beatty and moved with him to New York, where he made his Broadway debut in A Loss of Roses (1959).[60][61] The couple became engaged in 1960, with Collins even beginning to design her wedding dress.[61][62] Collins revealed that she underwent an illegal abortion, fearing a pregnancy would damage their careers.[63] As Beatty rapidly rose to stardom, the relationship grew strained when they returned to Los Angeles.[61] Amid reports of his affair with Natalie Wood, Collins ended the engagement in 1961.[61] She later stated, "It was a sad ending to almost two years of togetherness but ours was a doomed relationship and our marriage would never have lasted because Warren loved the ladies too much."[61] Collins subsequently dated Wood's estranged husband, Robert Wagner, which she described as platonic relationship.[61][64]

In 1961, she began dating singer-songwriter Anthony Newley; they married on 27 May 1963 when Collins was five months pregnant. They had two children, Tara (born 12 October 1963) and Alexander (born 8 September 1965). The couple divorced on 13 August 1971. Collins wed her third husband, American businessman Ron Kass, on 11 March 1972 when she was six months pregnant with their daughter Katyana (born 20 June 1972). 
Collins and Kass divorced on 6 May 1983. She married former singer Peter Holm on 6 November 1985. Collins sought an annulment in December 1986, but was instead granted a divorce 24 August 1987.

Between marriages, Collins dated

• Mercedes-Benz heir Friedrich Christian Flick,
• realtor Bill Wiggins,
• director George Englund,
• art dealer Robin Hurlstone,
• producer Robert Evans and
• actors Gardner McKay, Harry Belafonte, Dennis Hopper, Sydney Chaplin and Ryan O'Neal.

Collins has been married to her fifth husband Percy Gibson, who is 32 years her junior, since 17 February 2002. The couple met in 2000 when Collins and her ex-boyfriend George Hamilton performed the play Love Letters at the Marines' Memorial Theatre in San Francisco and Gibson was the producer. The wedding took place at Claridge's Hotel in London. Collins has four grandchildren.

Collins maintains residences in Belgravia, Beverly Hills, and Saint-Tropez, describing her life in 2010 as being "that of a gypsy". 

In 2019, Collins and Gibson escaped a "terrifying" fire at her London flat in Eaton Place. Gibson was able to contain the blaze using a fire extinguisher before the emergency services arrived. Collins was treated for smoke inhalation but was otherwise unharmed and thanked the emergency response crews on social media. 

In 2021, she sold her condo in New York City for $2 million.