Joan Collins: “I went through a period of wanting to be a detective”
Saga Magazine joins the 93-year-old actor on the red carpet to hear why her latest film role as a true-crime sleuth so appealed to her.
Saga Magazine joins the 93-year-old actor on the red carpet to hear why her latest film role as a true-crime sleuth so appealed to her.
Dame Joan Collins is back on the big screen as a glamorous detective solving crime and dishing out deadly one-liners in her new film A Murder Between Friends. And one look at her glitzy wardrobe tells you that the 93-year-old’s character is about as far from Miss Marple as it gets.
Saga spoke to Joan on the red carpet of this week’s UK premiere, where she revealed the film gave her a chance to achieve a long-standing ambition to play a detective.
“I went through a period of wanting to be a detective when I was a child because there was one called Dick Barton who was a special agent who was always on the radio,” she says.
“I was given a detective set when I was a child, with handcuffs and magnifying glasses. The character I play, Francesca Carlyle, is also an actress who became famous by solving crimes on TV. And she’s very similar to Alexis, who I played in Dynasty – I chose all the clothes she wears.”
Since being catapulted to Hollywood fame in the 1950s, Joan’s star has never faded. Perhaps her most famous role is that of Alexis Carrington Colby, the woman with a score to settle against her ex-husband in the 1980s soap opera Dynasty.
Her latest film is a glossy whodunnit which sees a murder among a group of friends staying in a country estate. Joan steals the show as true crime TV star Francesca Carlyle, who turns real-life detective to crack the case.
Joan posed on the red carpet at London’s Curzon Mayfair with her husband Percy Gibson, as well reuniting with Elizabeth Hurley, who played her on-screen daughter in the E! Channel’s soapy drama The Royals. Christopher Biggins, Tamara Beckwith and Elizabeth’s son Damian were also on the red carpet.
Some might praise Joan for taking on a starring role which involved filming on location in Prague at 93, but she believes it’s rude to discuss a woman’s age – or ask her how old she is.
“I think what is important is not age, but how you look, feel and behave,” she told Saga Magazine in a previous interview. She also pointed out: “People have been calling me an older woman since I was 38.”
With a new movie and a knack for looking stunning on every red carpet she steps onto, Joan has no plans to retire any time soon.
“People say, why don’t you put your feet up?” she says. “I do put my feet up and I don’t do anything I don’t enjoy.”
(Hero image credit: Getty/Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage)
Click below for your chance to win a 15-night cruise to the Canary Islands on board Saga's Spirit of Adventure, worth more than £8,300.
Dame Prue Leith talks about her secret to staying young and why she’s finally slowing down at 86.
TV’s Dr Hilary Jones on why he wants sweeping reform to modern healthcare.
The actor bids farewell to Downton and looks forward to his starring role in a new West End show.
The TV historian on overcoming a difficult childhood and what it was like to appear on Celebrity Traitors.
The wildlife filmmaker on his close call with a polar bear and why hanging out with lions is less scary than driving in the UK.
The Irish author, 62, on escaping the news through writing, staying sober and scrolling the internet for pretty things.
The actress opens up to Jenni Murray on Saga's podcast Experience is Everything.
