‘Dynasty’: Catfights, Cliffhangers, & Clothes, Oh, My! 1981-89

Why is Linda Evans, 5'8", the shortest person in the photo? Hair & high heels, baby! That may include Mr. Forsythe! 

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Part 1 of a 3-Part Piece: The Show

As a 20-something waiter who alternately worked and partied nights during the great ‘80s, I missed most of Dynasty during its original run. 30 years later, I found myself constantly sick while working with school kids. Looking for some mindless fun to watch, I decided on Dynasty.

The first season of Dynasty is often described as a dud, which isn’t totally true. The ratings were middling, finishing 24^th for the first half season. The problem was that it was about the super rich, and an expensive show to produce; also, Dynasty was created to compete with CBS’ established hit Dallas, which was the #1show for that season.

'Dynasty' producers proclaimed that audiences were not interested in the working class Blaisdel family of Season 1. Out with the poor, in with the super rich!

Dynasty began as a blend of thoughtful epic, like Giant, and a Ross Hunter-type gloss on the glamorous rich. The two sides never really meshed. With Season 2, the sudsy rich took over, and the working folks were sent packing—just like real life! The show then caught the wave of the super rich Reagan era. Still, it’s a shame Dynasty turned into a mindless cartoon, because in the era of Dominick Dunne and Kitty Kelley, it could have been a smart soap. The more serious takes on wealth, ethics, women, and gays fell by the wayside, and replaced by plot gimmicks that were stale soap clichés: amnesia, kidnappings, cliff hanger accidents and murder, and the biggest one of all, replacing actors by melodramatic means. Through the entire run of the show, all four of Blake and Alexis’ offspring were gradually replaced by other actors, to lesser effect.

The Season 1 cliffhanger featured a model, incognito as Alexis, because the producers hadn't cast the role yet! Joan Collins got the part and finally became a genuine star at nearly 50!

Dynasty was a bit like ABC’s Happy Days in its early seasons. The sitcom was low-key and its first two season ratings went from good to so-so. Creator Garry Marshall noticed that the show’s bad boy, Arthur Fonzarelli, captured the audience’s attention. Once Fonzie was the focus, Happy Days got hella ratings. As the show progressed, it became a caricature, and Fonzie’s “jumping the shark” on a motorcycle became a catchphrase for a show whose antics have gone beyond the pale. Dynasty would follow a similar trajectory. The second season introduced Joan Collins as Alexis, Blake’s vengeful ex-wife. In Collins’ words, Alexis became the female JR Ewing.

'Dynasty' stars Joan Collins, John Forsythe, & Linda Evans are all smiles, at the show's peak.

In its prime, Dynasty did break some new ground. First, despite all the pretty young scenery, veteran stars held the show together. Joan Collins became a bonafide star at 50, while John Forsythe and Linda Evans got another hit series. Diahann Carroll, as Dominique Deveraux, made television history again, as TV’s “first black bitch,” as the star herself put it. Women characters in professional positions of power were also forward-thinking for the era. Dynasty was the first time a TV series had a gay character in a starring role. Despite the flip-flopping over Steven Carrington’s sexuality, his character was never a stereotype or portrayed negatively.

As Steven Carrington, Al Corley played the groundbreaking role of the gay son for two seasons. Corley left when the show's creators kept flipflopping on his character's sexuality.

Critics and viewers say that Dynasty jumped their shark after the over-the-top “Moldavian massacre” cliffhanger. While Dynasty was all downhill after that, earlier moments like vixen Alexis doing a hoedown to seal an oil deal, with an encore of Marlene Dietrich’s ‘See What the Boys in the Backroom Will Have,’ was just one campy sign of things to come.

Rock Hudson joined 'Dynasty' for Season 5, as wealthy horse breeder Daniel Reece. He's madly in love with Evans' Krystle, natch. Hudson's later AIDS revelation brought real life soap opera to the show.

Season 5 was the beginning of the end for Dynasty, though nobody realized it at the time, as is often the case. First, the entire season was wasted prepping for the absurd Moldavia royal marriage between pouty Amanda Carrington and the Prince Charmless. Also, the fanfare that greeted genuine movie star Rock Hudson as guest star turned to tabloid gossip over his gaunt appearance, furthered by his abrupt departure from the show. Rock played Daniel Reece, the millionaire/horse breeder who loves Krystle. While Rock brought his usual authority to the role, it’s beyond sad watching this giant of a leading man, a shell of his former self. That summer it was revealed that Rock was ravaged by AIDS. Dynasty finally became the #1rated show, in its 5^th season, but got dinged in the ratings next season, and dropped rapidly each season after.

George Peppard played Blake in the 3-hour pilot, 'Oil.'
Producers were displeased with Peppard's performance & behavior.
He was replaced with John Forsythe.

If George Peppard had continued to play Blake Carrington beyond Dynasty’s pilot, it would have just been a retread of his tycoon bastard Jonas Cord in The Carpetbaggers. Peppard was considered problematic for a number of reasons and the producers decided to scrap George’s performance and cut him loose. In the early seasons of Dynasty especially, Blake almost feels bipolar, alternating between gentlemanly and stately, to temperamental and tyrannical. It’s a shame that Dynasty’s writing was often so cartoonish, since the veteran stars like John Forsythe bring empathy to their roles. Forsythe’s warmth, class, and intelligence somewhat alleviate Blake’s actions, like physical violence to anyone who thwarts him, or drunkenly raping his loving wife. (I recall watching this back in the early ‘80s and thinking it was an ugly dramatic twist even then.)  

John Forsythe became Blake Carrington, bringing warmth to a difficult role.

Critics point to the Moldavian Massacre as when Dynasty’s plots went downhill. I beg to differ, but the writing was bad from the start. Aside from the typical soap absurdity, the repetition was mind numbing. Of course, this show was made before the age of recording shows and binge watching. So maybe writers then felt they had more leeway in repeating plot points: kidnapped babies; Krystle constantly suspected of adultery; family members and former flames coming out of the woodwork; Alexis’ constant cock blocking Blake’s business deals; Blake lunging to choke anyone who disobeyed his commands; car accidents; trials; etc.

I love the 'National Enquirer' headline about Steven's rescue, so obviously fake. Also amusing is the Carringtons share the cover with their show's competition, 'Dallas!'

Forsythe and Evans were a great team as Blake and Krystle. But like all nice characters on soaps, they were the show’s punching bags, with everyone scheming against them. I get that no one likes to see characters happy all the time, but the Carrington couple barely survived one calamity before the next crisis, to the point where they barely had one episode of domestic bliss.

No, Blake didn't join the Witness Protection Program. Here, the tycoon is afflicted with trauma-induced blindness. Later, he suffered amnesia. Later still, shot. But then, so did other members of the Carrington family!

That repetition trickled right down to characters’ behavior, like Joan’s Alexis constantly dropping by the Carrington manse, like a glam Gladys Kravitz, to snoop around. How many times did Alexis barge into Blake’s office to have it out? Didn’t he have security? Then there were the famed catfights. The first few were campy fun, but soon everyone but household cook Mrs. Gunnerson was rolling around the mud, pool, or pond. And frankly, the catfights between Linda Evans and Joan Collins were mostly obvious male stunt doubles!

This photo sums up Joan Collins disdain for the 'catfights' the show became famous for. 

Speaking of repetition, it is one thing for daytime soaps to repeat, since they are on five days a week, year-round. Recently, I was watching early Dark Shadows episodes with my Mom. We were laughing at the redundant dialogue between the Collins clan, which sounded like Pee Wee Herman’s Big Adventure’s refrain, “I know you are, but what am I?” Dynasty started repeating tropes right off the bat and seems very lazy for a show that was supposedly so planned out.

Before Alexis Carrington became oil tycoon Alexis Colby, her official talent was as an artist. Judging from this effort, her paintings were aimed at Acapulco tourists!

What I always found hilarious about soaps like Dynasty is how totally unqualified family members are hired to run an oil business or start an upscale hotel, and instantly succeed! The greatest example is Alexis, whose life as a jet setter apparently prepared her to compete in the oil biz with ex-hubby Blake. Of course, Alexis’ skill set mainly involves seducing the competition, scheming, lying, and blackmail.

The cliffhanger for Season 3 took place in a burning cabin, yet Alexis & Krystle's
style differences are on display: glam for Collins, sporty for Evans.

When Dynasty hit its stride in the early seasons, both Linda Evans and Joan Collins looked amazing. Designer Nolan Miller played to their strengths—sleek and sporty for Linda, old-time glamour for Joan—and was a smart and professional designer, if not truly inspired or tasteful. This was apparent in later seasons, as the shoulder pads and furs grew and grew, and costumes that were supposed to be glam started to look drag queen garish.

George Hamilton, Robert Evans-lite as showbiz type Joel Abrigore, makes over aging starlet Rita to replace Krystle Carrington! Why didn't they just call Linda Evans' ex, John Derek?!

I think Season 6 of Dynasty was the worst, when Sammy Jo enlists crazy “director” George Hamilton to kidnap Krystle, with the help of a floozy double, Rita, amateurishly played by Evans. Linda, tarted up with big red hair, hard makeup, and bulky sweaters that would make Bill Cosby envious. Then the Colby clan came along, to use Dynasty as a springboard for its own TV show. Their characters were all either irritating or innocuous, except the great Barbara Stanwyck. Heston was still playing the aging alpha stud, bad toupee and teeth, pot belly and all. Brittle Stephanie Beacham reads all her lines like she’s snapping off celery with her teeth. The young folks were all a bland bunch, except for hunk Maxwell Caulfield, as Miles. On top of all this, the show was still mopping up cheesy characters’ fates from the Moldavian massacre—IMO, the assassins should have been better aims! All of this top-heavy, but not especially satisfying story-telling, caused Season 6 to drop to #7.

Double vision, and double shoulder pads, as quarterback Krystles get ready to rumble!

Between the cardboard Colbys, the two Krystles/kidnapping, and Moldavian aftermath, I lost serious interest in Dynasty. From Season 7 onward, I skipped over the repeat plots: cliffhangers involving car crashes; staircases, murder trials, or getting shot. What did that leave?

'The Colbys' were too carbon copy to successfully cash in on 'Dynasty.'

Well, Alexis’ final wedding, to crazy Sean Rowan, is amusing. Their tacky Mexican wedding, with Joan in a red poufy dress, is nearly worth the whole storyline. The ‘Who killed Roger Grimes?’ plot was fun and the resolution made me smile. TV has always lifted plots from classic movies. Though hardly a classic, I love the theft from Hitchcock’s Marnie, in regard to Fallon’s memory of who killed Roger. J. Eddie Peck as cutie from the past Roger, with Joan as young Alexis, photographed from a discreet distance.

Did it seem like by 'Dynasty's' demise, every character was arrested for murder, or the victim in question?

Producer Aaron Spelling loved old-time stars and veteran actors. His many shows were a haven for aging actors for several decades. Many young actors were brought on board, but it was the older actors who provided the foundation for Dynasty. Lee Bergere, as Joseph, the domineering major domo of the Carrington household, was a versatile scene stealer for the first four seasons. The same is true of Peter Mark Richman, as Andrew Laird, Blake’s long-suffering lawyer.

Somehow, I don't think John Saxon as Mideast oil tycoon,  Rashid Ahmed, would fly today!

Valley of the Dolls’ Paul Burke played Neal McVane, the crooked politician. Burke was another aging actor arriving on Dynasty, toupee and tux at the ready. The Six Million Dollar Man’s Richard Anderson was Blake’s business pal, Buck Fallmont, with Pat Crowley as his wife, with a secret. Diana Douglas, Kirk’s ex-wife and Michael’s mom, plays wacko Mother Blaisdel. Kevin McCarthy shows up to play yet another sleazy shyster. So does Bradford Dillman. Along with Lloyd Bochner as Cecil Colby, they make a slimy TV villain trifecta!

Oily oil tycoon Cecil Colby, played by Lloyd Bochner, with
demure bride in white, Joan Collins' Alexis.

Amidst an army of capable actors, just how bad were the actors playing the pivotal parts of Thomas Carrington and Adam’s adoptive mama? Both characters in their respective stories are on their deathbed, but they inspire hilarity instead of heartbreak. Surprisingly, both accomplished actors! Veteran British actor Harry Andrews played Blake’s estranged patriarch, and is so hammy, he recalls the latter day Orson Welles. And veteran actress Lurene Tuttle as Adam’s “grandmother,” who actually kidnapped him as a baby, is so amateurish, it’s comical. 

You will be amazed at how many familiar names appeared on Dynasty. Here’s the IMDB link to the full cast and crew: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081856/fullcredits

Diahann Carroll & Billy Dee Williams were one of the very few black couples on TV in the 1980s.

When Dynasty was at its peak, the stylish soap had energy, humor, and style. Even when the later seasons were a letdown, you could enjoy the cast and the show on a camp level. The less said about the depressing, two-part TV reunion movie, the better! And the recent Dynasty reboot looks tacky and cheap. If you’re going to go for the cheese, go with the tasty original.

Alexis get your gun! A classic 'Dynasty' moment, with ex-wife taking the new bride on a ride!

Krystle loses her baby after getting thrown from her horse,
and bitch Alexis shows no remorse! 

The Carpetbaggers 1964

This is about as close to swingin' as 'The Carpetbaggers' gets!

Harold Robbins’ The Carpetbaggers was a “bad” book that was made into “dirty” movie. Like Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls’ and its movie version, I always wondered as a kid how much of the “good parts” got cut when they were shown on TV.

Today, I can say there aren’t any truly “good parts” to either movie! The Carpetbaggers is all 1964 T & A tease, there’s no bad language, and the one “nude” scene filmed with Carroll Baker never made to the screen.

One of the few times George Peppard cracks a smile as ruthless tycoon Jonas Cord.

The Carpetbaggers is just a soft core cartoon of the life of Howard Hughes, the rich kid who ran with the ball—making airplanes, movies, and business deals. Hughes was famous for the women in his life, though what actually went on behind doors has been questioned over the last few decades. In real life, even the young Hughes was shy and eccentric, which made women want to mother him. However, in The Carpetbaggers, Jonas Cord is a cool, cruel stud who is catnip to the ladies and a ballsy business man and innovator. He works hard, plays hard, and drinks hard. In short, Jonas Cord is a cartoon daydream of what every man dreamed to live like back in the early 1960s. Except that this movie takes place during the ‘20s & ‘30s.

The Carpetbaggers’ plot and dialogue are cartoonish. The women always seem to be in negligees or nude under furs, the men are hard-drinking and dirty-dealing, and it all feels more like Hugh Hefner than Howard Hughes. John Michael Hayes, who started off screenwriting for Hitchcock, later became the go-to guy to “clean up” all those “dirty” books like BUtterfield 8 and that other Robbins epic, Where Love Has Gone.

Nevada Smith and Rina Marlowe goin' Hollywood in 'The Carpetbaggers.'

The Carpetbaggers abounds with amusing moments, such as the pompous opening narration that sounds more suited to a biblical epic, which aptly describes Jonas Cord, Jr. as “fabulous and fictional!”

Or the early scene that establishes Jonas’ source of pain, where he enters the room of his long-lost twin brother, who apparently went insane. His father had the other brother banished to an institution. When Jonas opens the long-sealed off room, a cloud of dust emanates that resembles a small atomic bomb going off.

To give you an idea how phony this movie is, there’s the scene where Jonas Cord reacts to the death of stepmother/sex bomb Rina Marlowe by going on a bender. He wakes up in a whorehouse a week later, worse for wear. Peppard hilariously sports shiny grey greasepaint that’s supposed to be unshaven stubble—he looks like a weary clown.

George Peppard, as Jonas, with then real-life wife Elizabeth Ashley, as long-suffering Mrs. Cord.

 Adding to the artificiality of all this is that except for the opening aerial scene, the entire movie seems to have been filmed on Paramount’s sets or back lot, and looks it.

Edith Head's hybrid creations—the costumes have just barely enough period detail to depict the ‘20s and ‘30s era, but veer toward ‘60s style—add to the unreality. This isn’t Head’s fault: Edith once spoke about getting berated by producer Hal Wallis, for trying to sneak period details into her costumes for 1965’s The Sons of Katie Elder. Authenticity was not the order of the day for ‘60s period movies.

The one true highlight of The Carpetbaggers is the swaggering Elmer Bernstein score, especially over the opening credits. Bernstein rocks, as always.

George Peppard gives a committed if one-dimensional performance as Jonas Cord, Jr. The blonde actor with the piercing blue eyes was a bit like Paul Newman, but without his sculpted face and abs, much less his empathic qualities. While Peppard played similar cynical roles as Paul, George’s sneering cads were closer to Laurence Harvey than Paul Newman. Peppard, a heavy drinker, already looks soft here. And the scenes of 35-year-old George as a college-age daredevil are a bit much.

'The Carpetbaggers' was Alan Ladd's last film, who died at 50, a decade after his greatest role as 'Shane.'

Alan Ladd, in his last performance as Nevada Smith, is a bit like watching Clark Gable in The Misfits, a welcome yet sad sight. Like other older icons playing guest starring roles in the ‘60s, Ladd is the most interesting and authentic thing about The Carpetbaggers. Laconic and weary, Ladd is the observer of the action, and is fascinating to watch. After the climactic brawl between Jonas and his mentor, Cord asks Nevada what he can do to make amends. Before walking out, Ladd, in a nod to Gable’s Rhett Butler, replies, “Junior, I haven’t the faintest idea.”  Sadly, Alan Ladd died shortly after making the film, from a mix of alcohol and sleeping pills.

Carroll Baker as Rina isn't guessing Ladd's Nevada Smith's weight, but his age! And guesses wrong.

However, the love scene that brings Nevada Smith and Rina Marlowe together—Alan Ladd and Carroll Baker—is cringe-worthy. When Rina asks how old Nevada is, Smith says 43. Ladd was only 50, but after years of cigarettes, booze, and pills, he frankly looks closer to 60. Even more eye-rolling is when Baker replies that he looks 30, as Ladd tries to button up his shirt, her pawing his chest, with a clear side view of his jowls.

Capping this ludicrous scene is when Nevada asks Rina how old she is. Baker purrs that she’s 20—and Ladd replies that she looks 30! Baker had been kicking around Hollywood nearly a decade when it was decided to give her a Marilyn Monroe-type sex symbol build up at age 33.

After a decade as a "serious" method actor, Carroll Baker got the sex symbol build up at 33.

This came courtesy of Carroll’s studio, Paramount, and producer Joseph E. Levine. Other actresses claimed they were offered the role of Rina Marlowe aka Jean Harlow, including Joan Collins and Angie Dickinson. No knock on Baker, but after starting off in Hollywood as an imported Actors Studio “serious” actress—a decade later she was getting groomed as a sex goddess? This seems a bit ass backward—which is how it came to pass, as Baker bumbled through later sexy roles Sylvia and most notoriously, Harlow. I recall acerbic critic Judith Crist saying that The Carpetbaggers’ Carroll Baker had “all the sex appeal of a whole wheat muffin.”

Carroll was no cat on a hot tin roof: "Junior! Junior! Junior!"

In this type of role, Carroll Baker’s style always came across like Elizabeth Taylor-Lite. After a failed attempt at seducing Jonas Cord, Jr., following the death of his father, Baker shrieks after him, “Junior! Junior! Junior!” Carroll sounds puny and petulant, lacking the verve in which Taylor put over the equally junky BUtterfield 8.

40-year-old Martha Hyer's Jennie Denton as the young successor to Baker's late Rina Marlowe.

The studio star system was pretty much over at this point and Hollywood had many sexy young starlets all dolled up and nowhere to go. So, why was 40-ish Martha Hyer cast as a Jane Russell kind of starlet with a Joan Crawford kind of past? Russell was tapped by Hughes at 19 as his next sex symbol. Hyer benefited as the fiancée, later wife, of super producer Hal Wallis, whose films were released through Paramount. One of the most synthetic of Hollywood's ‘50s blondes, Hyer was neither sexy enough to suggest Monroe, nor classy enough to suggest Grace Kelly. Except for Martha's plusher curves, Baker and Hyer are interchangeable, bleached blonde ‘60s Playboy bunnies, playing dress up as ‘30s starlets. Baker became more interesting later, as a character actress; Hyer didn't, and eventually retired.

Elizabeth Ashley has always grated on my nerves, especially as she grew older and hammier, in the Kathleen Turner self-aggrandizing mode. But here, Ashley is young and gamely appealing, and about the only person resembling a human being among the younger cast.

Robert Cummings oozes more camp than sleaze as the agent negotiating with Martha Hyer.

Robert Cummings is laughable as sleazy, wolfish agent Daniel Pierce. I don’t know what Bob’s deal was off-camera, but on-camera, he comes across as such a flamer that the only pants that he would be believable trying to get into are Jonas Cord’s!

There’s a great supporting cast, but they’re stuck in stock roles: Lew Ayres as the long-suffering family lawyer; ‘40s femme fatale Audrey Totter has one scene as the hooker with a heart of gold; Leif Ericson appears in the opening, as the overbearing Jonas Cord, Sr.; and Martin Balsam as the crass studio head.

The colorful cast of The Carpetbaggers.

Like Valley of the Dolls, The Carpetbaggers got terrible reviews but made a fortune, from the public flocking to see if the film version was as dirty as the book. Today, The Carpetbaggers is just a mildly entertaining cartoon of a movie that milks every cliché about Hollywood. Enjoy!

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