Joan Collins speaks on ‘clever’ career move to multiply money as a young star

Dame Joan Collins revealed in the early days that she had to fight for every penny as she was not given any preferential treatment as a “young star”.

The Dynasty actress reflected on negotiating her first contract when she was first offered only “$1000” a week to go to Hollywood.

Speaking on if she was treated like a showbiz starlet as a fledgling actress, Joan told Decca Aitkenhead: “I wasn’t treated at all, like a precious young star.

“Really, there were quite a bunch of us, you know, under a contract that was. Robert Wagner, Jane Mansfield, Deborah Padgett, Terry Moore. And we were kind of a utility, but I was quite clever, because I didn’t really want to go to Hollywood, I still wanted to be in the theatre.

“So when I got the offer to go to Hollywood and the offer was $1,000 a week, which is a lot of money. I said, ‘No, I want $2,500 a week’.”

Joan was born in Paddington, London, and began her acting training in her teenage years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

She signed with The Rank Organisation when she was 17 years old and appeared in minor roles in British films such as Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) and The Woman’s Angle (1952) before taking on a supporting role in Judgment Deferred (1952).

In 1955, Joan joined 20th Century Fox and starred in several films, including The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, The Virgin Queen, and Land of the Pharaohs, which gained a cult following.

She continued to act in films throughout the late 1950s and appeared in The Opposite Sex (1956), Sea Wife (1957), and The Wayward Bus (1957).

After her performance in the epic film Esther and the King (1960), she was released from her contract with 20th Century Fox.

From 1981 to 1989, she played Alexis Colby in the soap opera Dynasty, which made her an international superstar.

Her performance won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama in 1982, and she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1984.

She was one of the highest-paid actresses in the 1980s, thanks to her role in Dynasty, which led to her having various endorsements and business ventures.

Since then she has received numerous awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award, a People’s Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

As one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983.

These days, Joan enjoys spending quality time with her beloved husband Percy Gibson, whom she has been in a relationship with for nearly two decades.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain in 2020, the veteran actress was asked if she would have met her now-husband when she was in her 30s, to which she replied “He wasn’t born!” referencing the 31-year age difference between the pair.

The star joked: “As you know, [Percy] is somewhat younger than me. At first, people would always say, ‘What are you going to do about the age difference?’ I’d say, ‘Well if he dies he dies!'”