casting couch

A Studio Exec Sexually Propositioned Joan Collins for the Lead in Cleopatra, She Says

“I was never ever, ever, going to settle for giving my body to some old man for a role.”
joan and liz
Joan Collins and Elizabeth Taylor during Royal Premiere of Comfort and Joy at Academy Theater in Beverly Hills in 1984.By Ron Galella/Getty.

Joan Collins has long been candid about how she almost landed the lead role in Cleopatra, the fabled, famously expensive 1963 production that made Elizabeth Taylor the first actress in Hollywood to command a $1 million payday. As the story goes, Collins—who had a contract with 20th Century Fox at the time—was close to landing the part, until the production became so grand that the studio opted instead for Taylor, a much bigger star at the time.

But in a new Sunday interview with CBS, Collins alleged that she actually walked away from the role by choice—after a studio exec sexually propositioned her, promising her the movie if she would sleep with him. Or, as he euphemistically put it, if she would be “nice” to him, Collins said.

“This was the casting couch,” the Dynasty star said. “He was head of the studio, and he said, ‘I can put you up in a nice little apartment, and I’ll come and visit you. And you’ll not only get all the best roles at Fox, but we’ll see that you get Cleopatra.

She was presumably referring to Spyros Skouras, who would have been president of the studio at the time. Collins rejected the alleged offer. “I was never ever, ever, going to settle for giving my body to some old man for a role—or even young man, or anybody,” she said. “I would never do that, ever, ever.”

The actress has talked about her near-casting experience before, telling CNN in 2011 that she essentially had the role until the movie started becoming more and more expensive (so pricey that it nearly bankrupted Fox). “They decided that they didn’t want little old me because I wasn’t a big enough star,” Collins said. However, she also said that when Taylor was hospitalized during production, her agent called excitedly, saying they might need to re-cast the role—and that Collins was at the top of the list.

“I said, ‘I can’t do that! She’s a friend of mine. I would feel absolutely dreadful,’” Collins said. “He said, ‘Listen, this is show biz, kid.’”

Taylor, to Collins’s relief, recovered, and was able to carry on with the film. The pair remained friends for years, going to premieres together and teasing each other over their many marriages (Collins with five, Taylor with eight). “Most women really liked her. She was a gal’s gal,” Collins said fondly.

Collins, meanwhile, stayed in the business, racking up film roles and TV roles in shows like Star Trek and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. before landing the lead in Dynasty, the soapy 1981 TV show that became her biggest hit—earning her an Emmy nod and a Golden Globe.

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