What happened to the cast of “Dynasty”? See the stars 45 years after the premiere
What happened to the cast of “Dynasty”? See the stars 45 years after the premiere
Maggie FremontSun, August 23, 2026 at 12:40 PM UTC
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John Forsythe, Joan Collins, and the whole Carrington clan, the titular dynasty from ‘Dynasty’Credit: ABC/Getty
Backstabbing, scheming, secret children showing up to cause trouble, brainwashing, amnesia, terrorist massacres at weddings, and shoulder pads… so, so many shoulder pads. Yes, this is Dynasty.
Richard and Esther Shapiro’s primetime soap, executive produced by the legendary Aaron Spelling, was billed as competition for Dallas when it premiered on ABC in 1981.
By 1985, the series, which revolved around the dramatic and exorbitantly rich Carrington family, was the No. 1 show in the country. Over the course of its nine seasons, Dynasty became a regular awards contender, winning the Golden Globe for Best Television Series–Drama in 1984 while remaining one of the most talked-about shows in pop culture. It changed not only the television landscape, but the fashion one, too.
Its success led to the spinoff series The Colbys, and decades later, Dynasty got the reboot treatment at The CW in 2017.
Below, Entertainment Weekly takes a closer look at some of the stars who made Dynasty so iconic.
01 of 09
John Forsythe (Blake Carrington)
John Forsythe as Blake / Forsythe at the American Comedy Awards in 1992Credit: ABC/Getty(2)
For nine seasons, veteran stage and screen actor John Forsythe played the ruthless oil tycoon and family patriarch Blake Carrington. (To his credit, Forsythe did attempt to soften the guy up as the years went on.)
He was nominated for three Emmys for his lead performance and won a pair of Golden Globes.
The New Jersey native began his career in radio and on the stage before his Broadway work led to a contract with Warner Bros. He eventually graduated to leading roles in films including The Captive City (1952), The Glass Web (1953), It Happens Every Thursday (1953), and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955). Later, he played the real-life investigator Alvin Dewey in the adaptation of In Cold Blood (1967).
However, it was television where he really made his mark. From 1957 to 1962, he starred on the sitcom Bachelor Father, then became a household voice as the unseen Charlie in Charlie’s Angels. Decades later, he reprised the role for the film adaptations in 2000 and 2003.
Following Dynasty’s runaway success, the veteran actor starred in the TV movie Opposites Attract (1990) opposite Barbara Eden and on Norman Lear’s political sitcom The Powers That Be. The series ran for two seasons.
Forsythe was married three times and had three children. He died in 2010 from complications of pneumonia at age 92.
02 of 09
Joan Collins (Alexis Carrington Colby)
Joan Collins as Alexis / Collins at the Power of Women London in London in 2026Credit: ABC/Getty; Doug Peters/Getty
As Blake’s scheming, villainous ex-wife Alexis, Joan Collins joined Dynasty in season 2 and injected a new energy — and glamour — into the series that helped its popularity explode.
The English actress — officially a dame as of 2015 — studied at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before making her screen debut in 1951. She proceeded to balance stage work with increasingly prominent film roles, notably Richard Fleischer’s The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955) and Howard Hawks’ Land of the Pharaohs (1955).
While not quite breaking through to true stardom, Collins still worked steadily on the big screen in addition to making high-profile guest appearances on TV, including Star Trek, Batman, and Mission: Impossible.
Her renaissance began in earnest when, in 1978, she starred in the hit adaptation of her younger sister Jackie’s novelThe Stud. That same year, she published her autobiography Past Imperfect, which became a best-seller. She later went on to publish multiple memoirs and lifestyle books, as well as six novels. Dynasty subsequently made her a television icon — and earned her a Golden Globe.
In the decades since, Collins has stayed busy, once again bouncing between film, television, and theater. She has completed work on Mike Newell’s upcoming biopic My Duchess, in which she plays Wallis Simpson.
Collins has been married five times and has three children.
03 of 09
Linda Evans (Krystle Carrington)
Linda Evans as Krystle / Evans in Germany in 2019Credit: ABC/Getty; Franziska Krug/Getty
Linda Evans’ Krystle, Blake’s secretary-turned-wife, is basically the opposite of Alexis — the fish-out-of-water nice girl.
Evans played Krystle through the early part of season 9, and later returned for the two-part Dynasty: The Reunion in 1991. During her run, she won a Golden Globe and earned a bevy of other award nominations. It remains her best-known role.
Prior to that, she was a regular on the Western series The Big Valley for four years, alongside Barbara Stanwyck and Lee Majors, and guest-starred on dozens of other shows, including The Rockford Files and Mannix.
After Dynasty, the Connecticut native largely stepped back from acting, aside from a handful of TV movies. She did, however, share the stage with Joan Collins in 2006-07 touring production of Legends! Most recently, she took her first movie role in decades in the acclaimed indie Swan Song (2021), opposite Udo Kier and Jennifer Coolidge.
For the most part, though, Evans has focused on fitness, wellness, and beauty.
04 of 09
Gordon Thomson (Adam Carrington)
Gordon Thomson as Adam / Thomson at the Hollywood Museum in 2023Credit: ABC/Getty; Jerod Harris/Getty
In season 3, it’s revealed that Blake and Alexis had a secret son who was kidnapped as a baby: Enter another iconic Dynasty villain, Adam, played by Gordon Thomson.
Thomson began his acting career in theater in the 1970s, including a stint in the famed Toronto production of Godspell, alongside future stars such as Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Gilda Radner.
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After his award-nominated run on Dynasty, Thomson turned mainly to daytime soaps, most prominently Santa Barbara and Sunset Beach.
He also made guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote and The Nanny and took on small roles in films including Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
05 of 09
Heather Locklear (Sammy Jo Carrington)
Heather Locklear as Sammy Jo / Locklear in Hollywood in 2026Credit: ABC/Getty; Paul Archuleta/Getty
Heather Locklear’s big break was her portrayal of Krystle’s niece, Sammy Jo, whom she played throughout Dynasty’s nine-season run.
But the up-and-coming actress didn’t stop there. She wound up pulling off the rare feat of starring in two hit network shows at the same time, joining T.J. Hooker for four seasons in the middle of her Dynasty run.
From there, she catapulted to superstardom on another Aaron Spelling-produced primetime soap, Melrose Place. Locklear played the conniving Amanda Woodward from 1993 through the end of the series’ seven-season run, earning four Golden Globe nominations in the process.
Right as that series came to an end in 1999, Locklear found another full-time gig — but this time in comedy, joining the hit sitcom Spin City for its final three seasons. She then headlined the short-lived drama LAX alongside Blair Underwood. In more recent years, she’s starred in multiple Lifetime TV movies in addition to guest roles on Hot in Cleveland, andFranklin & Bash, and Fresh Off the Boat.
The veteran actress has been married twice — first for seven years to rocker Tommy Lee, then for 12 years to Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, whom she divorced in 2007. They share one child.
06 of 09
Jack Coleman (Steven Carrington)
Jack Coleman as Steven / Coleman at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in L.A. in 2025Credit: ABC/Getty; Kevin Winter/Getty
In a role originally played by Al Corley, soap opera alum Jack Coleman took over as Steven, one of the first gay main characters on American television, in season 3. (The character needed plastic surgery after an oil rig explosion, of course.)
Fresh off a stint on Days of Our Lives, Coleman quickly made the character his own before departing at the end of season 8. From there, the Pennsylvania native made a steady home in television, guesting on Diagnosis Murder, Becker, and Nip/Tuck, as well as taking a key role in the ABC series Kingdom Hospital.
He really broke back into the mainstream, however, when he was cast on NBC’s superhero drama Heroes as the father of Hayden Panettiere’s all-important cheerleader, Claire Bennet. Since then, the character actor has appeared on The Office, Castle, Scandal, Westworld, and, most recently, Chicago P.D.
Coleman and Beth Toussaint have been married since 1996. They have one child.
07 of 09
Diahann Carroll (Dominique Deveraux)
Diahann Carroll as Dominique Deveraux / Carroll in Hollywood in 2018Credit: ABC/Getty; Chrissy Hampton/Getty
By the time she strutted onto Dynasty as the mysterious Dominique Deveraux in 1984, Diahann Carroll had already made a career of breaking barriers. Here, as Blake’s surprise half-sister, Carroll was, at the time, the only Black actress with a continuing role on a primetime soap.
By then, she was already a Tony winner for the musical No Strings (1962), as well as an Oscar nominee for Claudine (1974), alongside James Earl Jones. The New Yorker also headlined the acclaimed sitcom Julia from 1968 until 1971.
Dynasty became her second signature television role before she departed in 1987. While continuing to shine on the stage, she landed roles on A Different World, Lonesome Dove: The Series, and Grey’s Anatomy, among others. Most recently, White Collar fans fell in love with the legendary actress for her recurring part as June Ellington, which she played through 2014.
Carroll was married four times and had one child. She died in 2019 at the age of 84.
08 of 09
Pamela Sue Martin (Fallon Carrington Colby)
Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon / Martin in L.A. in 2015Credit: ABC/Getty; Barry King/Getty
Pamela Sue Martin originated the role of Blake and Alexis’s daughter Fallon but decided to leave the series after season 4. The role was later recast with Emma Samms.
Martin made a name for herself as a teen idol thanks to her stint as Nancy Drew in the late-’70s series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. Her film career, meanwhile, included a supporting role in the smash hit The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and a maternal turn in the coming-of-age survival classic A Cry in the Wild (1990).
Her acting work since leaving her signature role behind, however, has been sporadic. She has popped up on the small screen now and then, including in episodes of That ’70s Show and The L Word,and even appeared in the pilot for the 2019 reboot of Nancy Drew.
Martin has been married four times and has one child.
09 of 09
John James (Jeff Colby)
John James as Jeff Colby / James at a ‘Dynasty’ reunion in 2015Credit: ABC/Getty; Paul Redmond/Getty
As Fallon’s on-again, off-again lover and eventual husband Jeff, John James took the character from Dynasty to The Colbys before returning to the mothership series after the spinoff was cancelled following two seasons.
In subsequent years, the actor has mostly worked in soap operas, including runs on As the World Turns and All My Children.
James and his wife, Denise Coward, have been married since 1989. They have two children.
Where can I watch Dynasty?
Dynasty is currently available to stream on Pluto TV.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
