Dynasty secrets from the set and the friendships behind the scandals
In their first Dynasty During a catfight, Alexis Colby threw a vase of flowers at her rival, Krystle Carrington’s head, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
“If you want a rematch, just whistle,” snorted Carrington, played by Linda Evans, to her nemesis, played by Joan Collins. “It was a powerful time in my life,” said Evans, 83. “Thank God the Dynasty came along.”
So did 60 million people who watched the season 5 finale of the quintessential ’80s primetime soap.
By then, the series, about the exploits of a filthy rich Denver oil family, had become a national obsession.
Dynasty – which ran from 1981 to 1989 – “was spectacular,” the late Diahann Carroll, who played Dominique Deveraux, once recalled. “Everyone said, ‘Hi, Diahann,’ and ‘You hit Joan Collins! Thanks, Diahann.'”
The actors got along better than their characters: “Joan and I were friends,” Carroll noted.
But it didn’t always go smoothly.
“Joan was jealous of Linda because she was so loved by the rest of the cast,” says Gordon Thomson, 81, best remembered as “deeply troubled jerk” Adam Carrington. “Linda was beautiful to look at and just as glorious inside.”
Collins, 92, stole the show when she arrived as Alexis in the second season.
“At the end of the first season there was a trial and someone arrived with a big white and black hat, and we didn’t know who the face would be,” recalls Pamela Bellwood, 74, who played Claudia Blaisdell. “Of course Joan came in and really breathed life into it.”
Yet the sexy star annoyed John Forsythe, aka Blake Carrington, when she posed nude in Playboy in 1983. “John stormed into producer Aaron Spelling’s office and said, ‘How dare she!?’” Gordon said. “John protected the show.”
Forsythe, who died in 2010, was just as kind as Blake, his co-stars recalled – and he insisted that Blake would never cheat on Krystle with Lady Ashley Mitchell, played by Ali MacGraw, even though that had been the writers’ plan.
“When Ali arrived, there was a huge bouquet of flowers from John. The card said, ‘This isn’t going to happen,'” Thomson recalls.
Not all actors enjoyed the juggernaut. Pamela Sue Martin, 73, who played Fallon, left in 1984. “She couldn’t handle the pressure anymore,” said John James, 70, who played her husband Jeff Colby. Emma Samms, 65, stepped in to replace her.
But the switch did not harm the viewing figures. For nine seasons, the Carringtons and their scandals won over viewers around the world.
“We had an impact,” admitted James, who recently met a woman named Fallon. “I said, ‘Fallon? That’s an interesting name.’ She said, “My mom watched Dynasty.” It’s the third time I’ve met someone named Fallon. ”
