As “Dynasty” super-villainess Alexis Carrington Colby, Joan Collins was not just the most deliciously bitchy diva in entertainment, but also one of the most fashionable. As such, she knows when fashion works, and when it does not.
In her role as the extremely wealthy Ruth Van Rydock on “They Do It With Mirrors,” a Miss Marple “Masterpiece Mystery” airing tonight at 9 on PBS, it most certainly did not.
“The clothes were quite awful,” says Collins. “In one scene I was supposed to wear a fur coat and a hat, and the designer brought in the most moth-eaten, ratty old coat and hat I’ve ever seen. I said, ‘Ruth wouldn’t wear this. It looks like it’s been pulled off the dump.'”
Needless to say, this would never have been tolerated on “Dynasty,” one of the top-rated shows on television throughout the eighties, and the one that made Collins both a television icon and one of the highest-paid performers in the medium at the time.
“On ‘Dynasty,’ it would be, ‘we’ve got to put Alexis in a fur coat. Let’s get the best fur coat we can,” she says.
At the same time, Collins, who speaks to the Post by phone from her holiday home near St. Tropez in France, wants to make it clear that her comments on PBS’ fashion faux pas are not a complaint. she is far from the spoiled pretension of her legendary character.
“I consider myself just a jobbing actor,” she says. “I don’t go in with an entourage and special makeup man and hairdresser and all that. I just go in and do my job. So the fact that I was given a ratty old fur coat and hat to wear even though I was supposed to be one of the richest women in the world — you just have to shrug and say, ‘well, this is what they want for their production. That’s fine. It’s not my fault.”
And despite both the massive success and the fashionable indulgences of “Dynasty,” Collins almost seems to distance herself from the show, dismissing it several times in response to questions as “a very long time ago,” and offering little else.
Which is not to say she doesn’t enjoy the recognition.
“I walk around the outdoor markets, the beach, or the streets of St. Tropez, and I still get it, particularly with Italian ladies or Iranian ladies,” she says, slipping suddenly into an ethnic character voice. “‘Oh, it’s Alexis! It’s Alexis! Can I have your autograph?'”
While Collins says she’s not exactly being “showered with scripts” these days, she’s also not waiting around, busy as she is with jewelry and skin care lines, writing columns for several British newspapers, and other endeavors. We try to get more information, but after twenty minutes, Collins decides that this reporter has gotten quite enough information, thank you very much, and that the interview is over. It’s almost as if Alexis has returned.
“You’re only doing 600 words, aren’t you,” Collins asks. “I think you’ve got your 600 words, don’t you think?”
MASTERPIECE MYSTERY
Sunday, 9 p.m., PBS