Dame Joan Collins talks tensions on the set of Dynasty

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-Forsythe.html

By ELLIE PHILLIPS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 05:09 EST, 17 December 2021 | UPDATED: 05:21 EST, 17 December 2021

She's never hidden the fact that there was a lot of drama behind the scenes.

And in scenes to set to air on Friday night's Graham Norton, Dame Joan Collins talks tensions on the set of Dynasty as she reveals late co-star John Forsythe didn't speak to her for an entire season.

The actress, 88, explains how back in 1986 she accepted an award on-stage, on behalf of the television drama, leaving John seething and ultimately freezing her out for a whole season of filming.

The soap opera, that aired on ABC from 1981 to 1989 followed the pair's toxic dynamic after Blake remarried Krystle Carrington, played by Linda Evans.

Talking about her time on Dynasty, Dame Joan explains to Graham Norton: 'I was in my 40s when I got the role, Linda (Evans) was in her 30s, and John was 62, but the press would go on about us as older women and never mentioned John's age.

'There was so much ageism in Hollywood, so I'd bring it up in interviews and Mr. Forsythe didn't like it.

'Then when I accepted the People's Choice award before he could, he refused to speak and walked off stage.

'He didn't speak to me for a whole season after that and when I had to do a scene where he was supposed to try and strangle me, I insisted on having a stand-in!'

In 2019 Joan revealed the true extent of the 'resentment' behind-the-scenes of Dynasty, opening up to Attitude magazine like never before.

'I've been asked this question a million times, and when I was doing it, I would poo-poo it. I'd say, "Oh, no, no!" But yes. There was [a lot of resentment].

'And now I know there was because many people have come back to me who were around at that time and said, "They bloody hated you, Joan!"

'First of all, the fact that I was English, some didn't like that. This English woman comes in and saves the show. This is what the media said, because the show was about to be cancelled.

'Even now, when we get together for Dynasty reunions as we did a few years ago, I see an antipathy towards me.'

Of the men she worked with, Joan went on: 'Also, if you look at some of the things that John Forsythe, Gordon Thompson [Adam Carrington], and even Michael Nader [Dex] said about me in interviews, they were not nice.

'I have never said anything about it before, but now the time has come. Let's call a spade a spade.

'The first scene I did, which was me sitting in the defendant's box in court, being interviewed by a fabulous actor called Brian Dennehy, and staring at the whole cast who were looking at me. I looked at them and I saw their dislike.

'I saw, sitting in the audience, John Forsythe as Blake, Linda as Krystle, Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon. Then John James, he was playing Jeff Colby, who I felt an affinity with.

'He was the only one who gave me the vibe of, "I like you, Joan," because I felt that the others didn't.

'There wasn't a lot of love lost between [many of] us, particularly John, who played Blake.

'I don't know if you've seen any of the DVDs of Dynasty - John had to have his picture twice as big as anybody else, even though Linda and I were important.

'He couldn't bear that. He had to have more lines than anybody.'

Joan, talking about the new BBC documentary This is Joan Collins, confesses to Graham Norton: 'I was asked to do it several times before, but I would only do it if I could be in control and I didn't want talking heads.

'There are interesting things in it because I met so many fascinating people.

'Some people think I am grand, but I am not, and you see me as I am, it's very down to earth. I've seen it and it's very entertaining.'