Happy 90th Birthday Joan!

Smarty, funny and successful! We celebrate glamorous nonagenarian Dame Joan Collins

- CLAIRE SAUL

All The World's A Stage

The daughter of a theatrical agent and a dance teacher, it seems that Joan was destined for a career in the world of entertainment.

She made her London stage debut at the tender age of nine, in Ibsen's A Doll's House. In her late teens, while honing her acting skills at RADA, she was signed to the Rank film studio, making her silver screen debut in 1951 with Lady Godiva Rides Again. This launched a career that has subsequently clocked up an impressive 70+ feature films, starring alongside some of the industry's most legendary names including Bette Davis, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

It was her lead role in the 1978 film The Stud, based on the racy novel written by her younger sister Jackie, and its 1979 sequel The Bitch, that brought Joan to the attention of the creators of a new, uber-glamorous primetime soap opera who were looking to boost its struggling ratings. Season two of Dynasty in late 1981 introduced the world to the beautiful and vengeful Alexis, the first wife of Blake Carrington and an instant foe to her successor in the marital stakes, the earnest Krystle Carrington.

The show's popularity soared as the world watched 205 episodes of catfights, intrigues, champagne-toting bubble baths and a roll-call of rich and handsome love interests, all conducted in the full, shoulder-padded glory of 80s couture, big hair and make-up to the max.