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Updated on: March 30, 2024
Dame Joan Collins got her start in British films before making her way to Hollywood stardom during the Golden Age of cinema.
Collins made her big break with a role in 1952’s I Believe in You which led to roles in Cosh Boy and Our Girl Friday the following year. She subsequently secured Hollywood roles in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), Sea Wife (1956), Island in the Sun (1957), Rally round the Flag, Boys (1958) and more before returning to the U.K. when she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor for the title role in 1963’s Cleopatra.
In a CBS interview in 2019, Collins alleged that she had walked away from the film after a studio exec promised her the role if she would sleep with him.
“I was never ever, ever, going to settle for giving my body to some old man for the role — or even young man, or anybody,” Collins said at the time. “I would never do that, ever, ever.”
Collins eventually returned to Hollywood, bouncing between California and the U.K. for television and film roles. While she starred on several TV series through the years — from Roseanne and The Nanny to Will & Grace — she’s best known for her role on Dynasty. She earned multiple Golden Globe nominations for her performance, winning in 1983, and was up for an Emmy Award in 1984.
Off screen, Collins was married four times before finding love with producer Percy Gibson, whom she met while starring in the 2000 play Love Letters.
“I had declared that I never wanted to marry again,” Collins wrote in a 2018 essay for the Daily Mail. “I kept to that promise until I met Percy.”
The couple tied the knot in 2002, and their marriage has lasted longer than any of Collins’ previous trips down the aisle.
“I kissed a lot of frogs before I found my prince,” Collins wrote in her 2011 memoir, The World According to Joan. “For those women who are looking for a life partner, that old saying that men are like buses and ‘if you wait long enough the right one will come along’ is true for a reason.”
Keep scrolling to see a timeline of Collins’ career in photos:
Credit: Harry Langdon/Getty Images
Joan Collins Through the Years: Her Roles in ‘Dynasty,’ ‘The Royals’ and More
Dame Joan Collins got her start in British films before making her way to Hollywood stardom during the Golden Age of cinema. Collins made her big break with a role in 1952’s I Believe in You which led to roles in Cosh Boy and Our Girl Friday the following year. She subsequently secured Hollywood roles in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), Sea Wife (1956), Island in the Sun (1957), Rally round the Flag, Boys (1958) and more before returning to the U.K. when she was replaced by Elizabeth Taylor for the title role in 1963’s Cleopatra. In a CBS interview in 2019, Collins alleged that she had walked away from the film after a studio exec promised her the role if she would sleep with him. “I was never ever, ever, going to settle for giving my body to some old man for the role — or even young man, or anybody,” Collins said at the time. “I would never do that, ever, ever.” Collins eventually returned to Hollywood, bouncing between California and the U.K. for television and film roles. While she starred on several TV series through the years — from Roseanne and The Nanny to Will & Grace — she’s best known for her role on Dynasty. She earned multiple Golden Globe nominations for her performance, winning in 1983, and was up for an Emmy Award in 1984. Off screen, Collins was married four times before finding love with producer Percy Gibson, whom she met while starring in the 2000 play Love Letters. “I had declared that I never wanted to marry again,” Collins wrote in a 2018 essay for the Daily Mail. “I kept to that promise until I met Percy.” The couple tied the knot in 2002, and their marriage has lasted longer than any of Collins’ previous trips down the aisle. “I kissed a lot of frogs before I found my prince,” Collins wrote in her 2011 memoir, The World According to Joan. “For those women who are looking for a life partner, that old saying that men are like buses and ‘if you wait long enough the right one will come along’ is true for a reason.” Keep scrolling to see a timeline of Collins’ career in photos:
Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1952
Collins had her big break as a juvenile delinquent in 1952’s I Believe in You. She married her first husband Maxwell Reed that same year, but the pair divorce in 1956.
Credit: Donaldson Collection/Getty Images
1954 to 1955
Collins was picked by American director Howard Hawks for his 1954 film Land of the Pharaohs. Collins’ role as Princess Nellifer was her gateway into Hollywood before starring as Elizabeth Throckmorton in 1955’s The Virgin Queen.
Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images
1956 to 1960
Collins’ American film career continued with The Opposite Sex (1956), Island in the Sun (1957), The Bravados (1958) and Seven Thieves (1960).
Credit: John Pratt/Keystone Features/Getty Images
1961 to 1963
Despite being attached to play the title role in 1963’s Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor was cast instead of Collins. She returned to London, starring opposite Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in The Road to Hong Kong (1962).
Collins married actor Anthony Newley in 1963, welcoming children Tara and Alexander. They divorced in 1971.
Credit: John Downing/Daily Express/Getty Images
1967 to 1970
Collins bounced between America and the U.K. for various projects, including Warning Shot (1967) and Subterfuge (1968), later starring alongside Newley in 1969’s Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? In 1970, she appeared in The Executioner and Up in the Cellar.
Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1971 to 1973
Collins returned to Britain, where she worked on Tales from the Crypt (1972) and more horror films.
She married The Beatles’ manager, Ron Kass, in 1973. They share a daughter named Katyana and called it quits in 1983.
Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
1978 to 1980
Following a brief lull, Collins was launched back into stardom when she starred in the film adaptation of The Stud based on her sister Jackie’s novel of the same name. A sequel titled The Bitch was released in 1979. One year later, Collins released the bestselling novel Love & Desire & Hate.
Credit: Eddie Sanderson/Getty Images
1981 to 1987
Collins joined the cast of the soap opera Dynasty for its second season. For her role as Alexis Colby, she was nominated for six consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama from 1982 to 1987, winning in 1983.
The Fearless actress married her third husband, Peter Holm, in 1985 before producing and starring in the CBS miniseries Sin. Collins and Holm divorced in 1987. (She later referred to their marriage as “a momentous mistake” in a 2022 Saga Magazine interview.)
Credit: Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images
1988
Collins earned the highest honor from the International Foundation for Children with Learning Disabilities for her continued support after becoming a patron in 1983. The Joan Collins Wing at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit was opened in her honor in 1988.
Credit: MARIA R. BASTONE/AFP via Getty Images
1989
Collins made her Broadway debut as Amanda in Private Lives. Following a U.S. tour, she starred in the same role in London’s West End.
Credit: Eddie Sanderson/Getty Images
1995 to 2002
Collins starred in the American television movie Annie: A Royal Adventure as Lady Edwina Hogbottom and made guest appearances on The Nanny and Will & Grace. She also coproduced and starred in the 1999 film The Clandestine Marriage opposite Nigel Hawthorne.
In 2001, Collins starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds in These Old Broads written by Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher. One year later, she married Gibson, her fifth husband.
Credit: Eddie Sanderson/Getty Images
2006 to 2007
Collins toured the U.K. in a one-woman show titled An Evening with Joan Collins, during which she detailed the highs and lows of her career. The successful tour was followed by another show, Joan Collins Unscripted. From 2006 to 2007, Collins also toured North America in the play Legends! with former Dynasty costar Linda Evans.
Credit: Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
2010 to 2014
Collins joined the cast of the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe for a short run as Lady Joan in 2010. She appeared on the sitcom Happily Divorced from 2012 to 2013 before starring on The Royals as Grand Duchess of Oxford in 2014.
Credit: DAVID CRUMP/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
2015
Collins was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her charitable services. King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, presented her with the honor.
Credit: FX/YouTube
2018
Collins joined the cast of American Horror Story for its eighth season, Apocalypse, portraying Evia Gallant and the witch Bubbles McGee.
Credit: Strike Media/YouTube
2022
Collins starred in the musical film Tomorrow Morning based on the play of the same name.
Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
2023
Collins published her memoir Behind the Shoulder Pads: Tales I Tell my Friends. Following her book’s release, Collins launched a tour across the U.K. with the same title.
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