Dame Joan Collins (born 23 May 1933; age 91) is the English actress who played Edith Keeler in the Star Trek: The Original Series first season episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". Well known for TV and movie appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, Collins arrived in Hollywood in the mid-1950s, and made a number of films until the early sixties, when her career slowed by her choice. These include her starring role in Land of the Pharaohs (1955), The Virgin Queen (1955, with Jay Robinson and Leslie Parrish) and The Road to Hong Kong (1962, with Walter Gotell). She is the sister of best-selling novelist Jackie Collins.
Collins filmed her scenes as Edith Keeler on Friday 3 February 1967 at the 40 Acres backlot, Monday 6 February 1967 at Desilu Stage 11, Tuesday 7 February 1967 and Wednesday 8 February 1967 at Desilu Stage 10.
Other work[]
In the sixties, she made a number of notable television guest-appearances (including her appearance on Star Trek). She appeared in two episodes of Batman alongside Yvonne Craig, Frank Gorshin and Gil Perkins, an episode of Mission: Impossible featuring Logan Ramsey, Jon Lormer and Robert Bralver, and an episode of The Virginian directed by Don McDougall. She returned to film in the early seventies.
The seventies were more of a low period. However her appearance in The Stud, based on a book by her sister Jackie was commercially successful making back more than thirty times its budget. In 1979, she made a memorable appearance in the British series, Tales of the Unexpected in the episode "Neck". She also guest starred in a first season episode of Space: 1999 (starring Martin Landau, Nick Tate and Clifton Jones).
In 1981, Collins' career was revitalized by her starring role as the predatory Alexis Carrington in Dynasty, arguably her most famous role to date. Dynasty also featured Trek alumni Stephanie Beacham and Lee Bergere. Douglas S. Cramer served as executive producer on the series. The 2005 TV movie Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure was a documentary behind-the-scenes of Dynasty. Here, Joan Collins was played by Alice Krige.
She was also the face of a prominent Cinzano advertising campaign on British television. One of her Cinzano commercials featured an appearance by a young Marina Sirtis.
She has been married five times and lives an international lifestyle. She is a successful author in her own right. She has also done intermittent stage acting and is a graduate of RADA.