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Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan is a fictional character on the American TV series Dynasty. The role was originated by Joan Collins in the first episode of the show's second season in 1981 (the character appeared briefly in the first season finale, non-speaking and face unseen).[1] Collins remained on the show until the finale in 1989, and then returned as Alexis for the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. Alexis' schemes to destroy ex-husband Blake, undermine his marriage to angelic Krystle and control her children drive much of the action over the series' run. Often seen smoking her trademark black Nat Sherman cigarillos, Alexis rises and falls again and again, continually stirring up trouble for all around her. During the series Alexis is married three additional times, to Cecil Colby, Dex Dexter and Sean Rowan. Alexis is widowed by Cecil, and her other marriages end in divorce. The name Alexis uses the most consistently over the course of the series is Alexis Colby, though her marriage to Cecil Colby is her shortest. Alexis is romantically linked to a number of men over the years, including oilman Rashid Ahmed, tennis pro (and Krystle's first husband) Mark Jennings, King Galen of Moldavia, shipping tycoon Zach Powers, Congressman Neal McVane, Blake's brother Ben Carrington, Dirk Maurier and Gavin Maurier. However, at times it seems that Alexis has never stopped carrying a torch for ex-husband Blake.
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Season One: Enter Alexis
In Dynasty's first season finale episode, "The Testimony," Blake Carrington is on trial for killing his son Steven's male lover, Ted Dinard. A veiled surprise witness appears, and Blake angrily asks his lawyer: "What's she doing here?" Blake's daughter Fallon gasps in recognition, "Oh my God, that's my mother."
Season Two
As the second season opens with the episode "Enter Alexis", the character has not only a face but a name: Alexis Morell Carrington. She had been exiled from Denver by Blake after an affair with Carrington estate manager Roger Grimes; her testimony, that Blake has a violent temper, proves damaging to his case. At odds with his father, Steven is drawn to the mother he hardly remembers; Fallon, however, is devoted to Blake and has long held a grudge against Alexis, a grudge further fueled by her testimony. Fallon says to her mother:
| “ | You're even more beautiful and more ugly than that grand English lady I vaguely remember, and whom I've tried very hard to forget existed these past sixteen years. | ” |
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— Fallon Carrington Colby, "Enter Alexis"
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Alexis soon sparks the ire Blake's wife Krystle, and brazenly moves into a cottage on the Carrington estate: her former art studio which she still owns, thanks to a technicality. The household staff remembers the first Mrs. Carrington all too well — especially longtime Carrington majordomo Joseph Anders. Staunchly loyal to Blake, Joseph has a particular dislike for socialite Alexis and has followed her scandalous adventures for years through the tabloids. Fallon, though not openly hostile, keeps an icy distance from Alexis and the two trade subtle barbs; Steven is seduced by his mother's apparent devotion to him, but soon gets a taste of her poison. According to Alexis, Fallon is not Blake's daughter at all: her father is really Blake's longtime friend and business rival, Cecil Colby. The secret eats at Steven, and Fallon eventually finds out. Ultimately, it is proven untrue. Alexis makes an enemy in Krystle when she purposefully fires a shotgun to make Krystle's horse throw her; a pregnant Krystle loses her baby, and is told she will probably be unable to have more. Alexis becomes romantically involved with Cecil, now Blake's adversary, but Cecil has a heart attack while in bed with her. They marry on his deathbed, Cecil exacting a promise from Alexis that she will use his company ColbyCo to ruin Blake.
Season Three
In 1982, after their infant grandson L.B. Colby (son of Fallon and Jeff Colby) is kidnapped, former spouses Blake and Alexis make a televised plea that he be returned. Alexis confesses a dark secret from their past: their firstborn son, Adam, had been kidnapped as a baby and never recovered. Traumatized by the event, they had hidden his existence from their subsequent children Fallon and Steven. Meanwhile, in Billings, Montana, an old woman named Kate Torrance tearfully tells her grandson Michael that he is really the Carrington heir. Armed with items from Adam Carrington's baby carriage, lawyer "Michael" comes to Denver and is eventually accepted as a Carrington; but like Alexis, his selfishness, greed and ambition put him at odds with all of his relatives at one time or another.
Season Four
Season Five
In 1984 a young woman named Amanda Bedford appears on Alexis' doorstep; she is Alexis' daughter,[2] and as news of her spreads, Blake takes a special interest. He soon learns that Alexis was pregnant when he banished her decades before. Though Alexis insists that Amanda's father is a ski instructor with whom she was involved, it is eventually revealed that she is indeed Blake's daughter.
Behind the scenes
Candidates for the plum role of Blake Carrington's ex-wife, initially named Madeleine, included film legend Sophia Loren.[3] [4] A change in the writing and the addition of Alexis were credited with lifting Dynasty in the ratings, and the character "quickly set off a host of female imitators in other prime-time soaps." [5] Alexis' annual catfights with Linda Evans' Krystle became eagerly anticipated, [6] and Alexis would later have similar brawls with Dominique Deveraux (Diahann Carroll) and Sable Colby (Stephanie Beacham). Alexis was conspicuously absent from the Season Six opener which folled the infamous Moldavian Massacre cliffhanger; Collins was in a tense contract renegotiation with the show, seeking an increased salary. As a result, the first episode of the season had to be rewritten to explain her absence and many scenes were abandoned or given to other characters. Collins' demands were met (she reportedly signed a $60,000 per episode contract) and she returned to the series in the season's second episode, though a planned storyline to make her Queen of Moldavia was scrapped. As Dynasty declined in ratings in later seasons, Collins was contracted for only 13 of the 22 episodes in the series' ninth season as a money-saving move (by this time, Collins was bringing in $120,000 an episode). She later announced that she would not return for a tenth season; longtime costar Evans had left earlier in the season and Michael Nader had also announced his intention not to return, and the show was subsequently cancelled.
See also
Notes and references
- ^ Maggie Wickman appeared at the end of "The Testimony" as the veiled surprise witness who would later be identified as Alexis.
- ^ Amanda's arrival is foreshadowed in the Season Four episode "Birthday" when Alexis mentions that she has been through four pregnancies. Krystle notes the discrepancy (at this time, Alexis is known to have just three children, Adam, Fallon and Steven), but Alexis explains that one resulted in a miscarriage. Amanda appears 11 episodes later in "Amanda."
- ^ Aaron Spelling/Douglas S. Cramer interview by Richard Hack in The Hollywood Reporter; retrieved at UltimateDynasty.net ~ Casting
- ^ Schemering, Christopher. The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, September 1985, pg. 80, ISBN 0-345-32459-5 (1st edition)
- ^ Schemering, C. The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, pg. 80
- ^ Schemering, C. The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, pg. 81
