Collins, Joan (Henrietta) (1933– )

English film and television actor. Her role as Alexis Carrington in the US TV soap opera Dynasty (1981–89) brought her international fame.

Collins was born in London and made her West End stage debut in 1946 and her film debut in 1952 in Lady Godiva Rides Again. She appeared in undemanding roles in a series of mediocre films for the Rank Organization 1952–55, and in Hollywood for Twentieth Century Fox 1955–62, appearing in, for example, The Virgin Queen (1955). From the late 1960s she gained a glamorous and slightly disreputable reputation on and off screen, especially after her role as an adulterous nightclub owner in The Stud (1978). Later screen appearances include the film In the Bleak Midwinter (1995), the US television series Pacific Palisades (1997), and the US soap opera Guiding Light (2002).

Her autobiography Past Imperfect was published in 1978. She has written some ‘sex and shopping’ novels, and is the sister of the novelist Jackie Collins.