Joan Collins has spent decades as one of television’s sharpest and most glamorous soap villains. But one old remark from behind the scenes still follows her.
Now, while reflecting on her ‘Dynasty‘ years and her new role as Wallis Simpson, the actress has explained why the line between character and reality became so uncomfortable for her.
Aaron Spelling’s Comment Blurred The Line Between Collins And Alexis in ‘Dynasty’
Back in 2005, during one of his final interviews, Aaron Spelling spoke about the force Collins brought to the role. He said, “We didn’t write Joan Collins. She played Joan Collins. Am I right? We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people, and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work.“
Sure, the comment sounded like praise. But it also suggested that Collins and Alexis were almost the same person. That idea followed the actress for years, especially after Alexis became one of television’s most famous and fiercely judged women. For Collins, the problem was not that people remembered Alexis. The problem was that the public image of Alexis began to stick to her personally. It became harder for people to separate the actress from the character she played.
Now, more than two decades later, 92-year-old Collins has addressed those comments in a new interview with British Vogue. She spoke while discussing her new role as Wallis Simpson in the biopic ‘My Duchess‘, and the conversation led her back to the way the press treated her during her ‘Dynasty‘ fame.
Collins said she could have related to Simpson’s experience of being judged by the public. She said, “If I’d ever met Wallis, I could have commiserated with her about how the press treated me while I was playing Alexis,” she adds. “I mean, when [Dynasty producer] Aaron Spelling said, ‘Joan is Alexis,’ that haunted me for so long. I said, ‘Aaron, why did you say that? You know that’s not true,’ and he said, ‘Honey, it gets headlines.’”
Joan Collins Still Sees The True Pain Behind Alexis’ Power
Spelling may have seen the line as something that would attract attention, but Collins saw it as a damaging simplification of who she was. The actress also made it clear that she challenged Spelling directly. She told him the statement was not true. But his answer showed how easily a headline-friendly comment could matter more than the person behind it.
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Collins played Alexis for eight of the ABC show’s nine seasons and later returned for the 1991 miniseries ‘Dynasty: The Reunion‘. Over the years, Alexis became famous as a ruthless soap villain. But Collins has always seen more complexity in the character.
Speaking to PEOPLE, she said, “I happen to think that Alexis was a very vulnerable and sad character. Because she had been banished from her children by Blake Carrington, who was a murderer. You know? We never hear about this, of course, because he’s a man. Do you think anybody ever mentioned that? Never, never once, not a single article or anything.“
She continued: “It was never mentioned that, perhaps, Alexis Carrington became somewhat of a bitch because of the way she was treated. She was also extremely witty, with great, great lines of dialogue, and a big go-getter in terms of what she achieved. And if she tread on some people to get it… Well, so did many men in business.“
Alexis remains a major part of her legacy, but she still wants people to understand the difference between performance and reality. Aaron Spelling’s comment may have “got headlines,” but for Collins, it also carried a personal cost.
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