After telly bosses announce return of bitchy 80’s classic Dynasty we reveal what the original cast have been up to
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IT was the bitchy US telly drama famed for catfights, cliffhangers, huge shoulder pads and even bigger hair.
Now 1980’s favourite Dynasty is being remade - or ‘rebooted’ - for a younger generation by the moguls behind Gossip Girl and The OC.
Yet it is still expected to follow the ups and downs of the Carringtons and the Colbys - two feuding oil-rich families from Denver.
The soap made household names out of Heather Locklear, Joan Collins and Linda Evans - whose own lives were often as dramatic as the characters they portrayed.
Now Nick Pritchard and Jacob Lewis have looked back to see what happened to the original stars since the last episode screened in May 1989.
❶ JOHN JAMES - Jeff Colby
James, 60, went on to star in the Dynasty spin-off The Colbys.
His daughter Laura James, 25, won the 19th season of America’s Next Top Model.
She followed in her father’s footsteps by launching her acting career with Hello Ladies: The Movie, starring alongside The Office’s Stephen Merchant.
❷ HEATHER LOCKLEAR - Sammy Jo Carrington
Heather Locklear, 55, found success in Spin City and Melrose Place.
Is equally famous for her romances which include marriages to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.
Her daughter Ava Sambora, 18, is now a bikini model.
Heather was also engaged to her former Melrose Place co-star Jack Wagner, but the couple never made it to the altar, breaking off their romance in 2011.
Currently starring in TV show Too Close to Home.
❸ AL CORLEY - Steven Carrington
Corley, 60, left Dynasty after complaining his character’s sex life was too confusing - being in both gay and straight relationships.
He was replaced by the actor Jack Coleman and the change of appearance was attributed to plastic surgery after an oil rig explosion.
Corley went on to become a huge pop star in France and Switzerland.
❹ EMMA SAMMS - Fallon Carrington Colby
English actress Emma Samms, 56, has since appeared in four episodes of Holby City and The Bill.
In June 2014 she was a contestant in BBC gymnastics show Tumble and was the second celebrity to be kicked out.
At the height of Dynasty fame she twice declined offers to appear nude in Playboy.
She was made an MBE in 2016 for services to sick children after co-founding the Starlight Children’s Foundation, an organization that helps sick children and their families cope through entertainment and education.
❺ JOAN COLLINS - Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan
Dame Joan, 83, became a novelist while still playing Alexis on Dynasty. She has now written 18 books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Sold off many of her personal possessions by auction last year including love letters from Warren Beatty.
Currently has a cameo in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
❻ JOHN FORSYTHE - Blake Carrington
Died in April 2010 of pneumonia at his home in California, aged 92.
After Dynasty he voiced Charlie in the Charlie’s Angels films starring Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore.
❼ GORDON THOMSON - Adam Carrington
The 71 year old enjoys the quieter life, explaining recently: “I read and I read. It is one of the most gorgeous pleasures in life.”
Has had small roles in Poseidon, a remake of The Poseidon Adventure, and Little Miss Sunshine.
❽ LEANN HUNLEY - Dana Waring
REPRISED her role as Anna DiMera on Days of Our Lives in 2007, after initially leaving the soap for Dynasty in 1986.
Leann, 61, also popped up on Murder, She Wrote and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
❾ LINDA EVANS - Krystle Grant Jennings Carrington
The 73 year old continued her acting career with a string of TV roles before retiring in 1987 and moving to remote back country in Washington State where her home sits in 70 acres of woodland.
Won the 2009 U.K. edition of Hell’s Kitchen, beating Ade Edmondson in a closely fought final.
ROCK HUDSON - Daniel Reece
His final role was in Dynasty. Rock was diagnosed with HIV while filming and the scriptwriters wrote his character out when his health started declining rapidly.
He died of AIDS-related complications in 1985 aged 59.
MICHAEL NADER - Farnsworth “Dex” Dexter
The 71 year old had a brief stint on long running US soap All My Children after Dynasty, but his contract was terminated when he was arrested for drug possession.
He then tried and failed to sue the network ABC for firing him.
KATHLEEN BELLER - Kirby Anders
The 60 year old married English musician Thomas Dolby in 1988.
Their son Harper Robertson was born a girl, but had gender reassignment surgery, now lives in Suffolk and raises awareness for trans rights.
Kathleen said: “I don’t think we would have ever dared hope Harper would be as happy as he now is. It’s such relief.”
KATE O’MARA - Cassandra ‘Caress’ Morrell
Died aged 74 in 2014 with ovarian cancer. After Dynasty she had parts in Doctor Who and Absolutely Fabulous.
Her elder son Dickon suffered drink and drugs problems. In December 2012 the then 49 year old hanged himself in the garage of his mother’s house in Long Marston, Warwickshire.
The inquest into his death last April heard that he appeared to have been sleeping secretly in the garage after O’Mara, struggling to cope with his unpredictable behaviour, asked him to leave.
CATHERINE OXENBERG - Amanda Carrington
Oxenberg, 55, has gone on to act in a string of B-movies alongside her second husband Casper Van Dien including Sharktopus vs. Whalewolf, Ratpocalypse and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder.
The couple divorced last year. She previously married the producer of Chinatown, Robert Evans only for it to be annulled after just nine days.
PAMELA BELLWOOD - Claudia Blaisdel Carrington
Since leaving the series to become a full time mum, Pamela Bellwood, 65, has acted in the odd made-for-TV movie.
In 1983 Pamela went to Africa for a semi-naked Playboy shoot with Masai tribesmen, before turning down another $1m to pose for Hustler.
The actress later said her father didn’t speak to her for a month after the Playboy shoot.
JACK COLEMAN - Steven Carrington
Coleman, 58, played one of prime-time television’s first openly gay characters after taking over this role from Al Corley.
Since then, the straight actor has played a gay man in The Vampire Diaries as well as in The Office when he played the closeted State Senator Rob Lipton.
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DIAHANN CARROLL - Dominique Deveraux
Diahann Carroll, 81, went on to have enormous success as an actress and singer.
But the star admitted that her fame took its toll on her relationship with her only daughter Suzanne.
Carroll also beat breast cancer after being diagnosed in 1997.
She is set to appear in the remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid next year.
STEPHANIE BEACHAM - Sable Colby
Earlier this year the 69-year-old revealed how her life had been “screwed up” and a loving relationship with a partner she should have married was destroyed after she was raped in the early 1970s.
In 2009 the actress played Martha Fraser, a love interest of Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.
She was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007 and entered Channel 4’s seventh and final series of Celebrity Big Brother finishing in 5th place.