LIFE AFTER 50: THE JOY, HAPPINESS AND ENERGY OF JOAN COLLINS

The flamboyant actress and author shares her secrets for staying young and sexy at any age.

By Sandi Berg

 While Joan Collins is best known for her role as Alexis Carrington on the 1980’s prime time television soap opera, “Dynasty,” long before she took to the small screen as one of television’s most legendary divas she had appeared on the big screen opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest stars including Paul Newman, Richard Burton, Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Gregory Peck.

It was certainly no fluke that the London-born Collins became an actress being as that she was raised in a showbiz family. Her grandfather was a theatrical entrepreneur, her father was a theatrical agent, and her grandmother, mother, and two great aunts were all dancers. Collins herself made the decision to continue on in the family business when she was only 17.

Accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she was soon signed by the J. Arthur Rank Film Company where she made her screen debut as a beauty contest entrant in the 1951 British comedy, “Lady Godiva Rides Again,” followed by a role in “I Believe in You,” based on the book “Court Circular” by Sewell Stokes.

In 1954, Collins was signed by 20th Century Fox as their answer to MGM’s Elizabeth Taylor. She made her American film debut in Howard Hawks’ 1955 film, “Land of the Pharaohs” and continued to do screen and modeling work both in the U.S. and the U.K. throughout the latter years of the 1950s.

Most American baby boomers first came to know Collins when she appeared in “The City on the Edge of Forever” episode of the 1960’s “Star Trek” series. In that episode, which has gone on to become a classic with Trekkies, Collins portrayed Sister Edith Keeler – the love interest of Captain Kirk. During the ‘60s she also appeared in the campy “Batman” television series as “The Siren,” a deadly villainess who could put men under her spell by singing a note three octaves above high C.

Click here to read the full article in Life After 50 Magazine.