Wasted Caress!

[alexis]

I just read the Kate interview and listened to the radio one. She is such a funny and lovely lady. I think I am going to buy her book.
I wonder what it would have been like if Caress had been a real threat to Alexis. What the secrets were? It could hardly have been normal sisterly rivalry. "Alexis used to steal all my best frocks and she kissed a boy I liked..." I just don't think the producers ever had any real intentions of bringing Alexis to the brink of disaster. What could they possibly have said about Alexis that would have shocked anyone? What could have been said that would ruin her? Unless it was murder really? And they wouldn't have done that. So Caress was always going to wasted. It's such a crime that they didn't have Alexis nearly lose everything. Have to go into hidding, hire a real body gaurd, and be desperate for help and with nobody to turn to because everyone is sickened by her and what she has supposedly done. Of course towards the end of the season it would be revealed that Alexis was infact innocent and the whole thing was made up by her derranged and jealous sister, kind of "What ever happened to baby Jane" only with satin evening gowns and pearls and diamonds, vivid colours, softly filmed.

But to see Alexis hidding out, maybe in jeans and a plain shirt, less make up and less wig. Just for a few episodes going incognito somewhere in a little cabin in the woods. Being brought things by Dex. Who maybe works to try and clear her name. Delving into Caress' past using leads from Alexis. Finding out just how nutts Caress is. And if they were going to go down the route of making everyone nicer, which they did. This would be a good way to do it. How do you make super bitch Alexis seem nice? Make her sister the Devil incarnate! And I think kate O'mara would have been fab if allowed to go all out and chew her way through the mansion.

[willie oleson]

Maybe Caress knew that when Alexis gave birth to a stillborn baby (Blake's 4th child) she took another one from the hospital or bought it from someone else - Caress? Yes yes and what a SURPRISE that Blake turned out to be the father of Caress' daughter! They both betrayed her. Alexis hates the idea of a child from her sister and ex-husband...

[alexis]

I just orderd Kate O'Mara's autobiography. Can't wait to get into it she seems lovely and bonkers too!

[Duke]

I really liked Caress and thought it made a lot of sense in theory to bring in Alexis's sister. It could have been interesting to learn more about the Morrell backstory and family, but they didnt really seem to know what to do with her. Kate O'Mara was great to watch regardless. It's a shame Fallon wasnt in any of the same seasons. I think it would be interesting to see how Alexis, Caress, Fallon interacted. Would have been fun to see Sable with the Morrell sisters too.

[SnarkyOracle!]

When the writers aren't creating real storylines, then no new character can avoid being wasted.

I say, have Caress be the culprit who pointed Blake in the direction of catching Alexis with Roger Grimes -- which explains a lot about the enmity between sisters, and why Alexis had her thrown in a Caracas prison.

[Gabriel Maxwell]

Would have been fun to see Sable with the Morrell sisters too.

That's one of my favorite fantasies. Though I wonder if Caress and Sable would team up against Alexis or not.

[cjc]

Always wondered how Frankie would have got on with Caress and Alexis.

Thought Kate O'Mara leaving had something to do with an illegitimate son she had adopted selling his story to the press.

[willie oleson]

Thought Kate O'Mara leaving had something to do with an illegitimate son she had adopted selling his story to the press.

Sounds more soapy than her Dynasty adventure.

[alexis]

Always wondered how Frankie would have got on with Caress and Alexis.

Thought Kate O'Mara leaving had something to do with an illegitimate son she had adopted selling his story to the press.

I don't think thats true. But I'll know soon enough once I finish the book I'm reading at the minute I'll get stuck in to Kate's book.

[alexis]

Ok so I'm reading Kate's book VAMP UNTILL READY, which first I have to say is a very, very good read. She is a very bright and very funny woman and totally lovely. She has a very enjoyable writing style. I really recommend it to DYNASTY and tv fans there are lots of stories from her very long and varied career in theatre, tv and film. She's just lovely.

I've posted a few details from the book. Don't read if you want to buy the book. I just thought this was interesting.

Well anyway I'm half way through the book and just in the middle of her DYNASTY period. It's the most detailed of any account of the show I have read. And it's not even that detailed. She goes on about how she indeed originally auditioned for the role of Sable in The Colbys. She was flat broke at the time and really needed the work and spent her last £300 on a Valentino suit to wear to the audition. She got asked to do a test on film but of course she never got the role and went on to another job in the theatre. She agreed to the the theatre role and was in rehearsals when her agent called a few weeks later and said that her screen test had went down a storm in LA and that they wanted her for DYNASTY to play Joan Collins' sister. She said that she couldn't walk away from the play she was in and that she just couldn't do it. They begged her, she said no! The called again and again. They offered to buy her out of the play, she refused. Then they asked when she finished the play she told them October, and they said they would wait for her and that everything would be arranged and she would fly out as soon as the play finished. Basically they hounded her! Which is so bizzare as when they got her at much fuss and expense they did nothing with her!

She was put up in a hotel with her agent and was taken to the WB studios. Where she met Elaine Rich and then the Pollocks. Who she says confessed they made it all up as they went along. It appears that scripts and the writing of the show were not at the top of the agenda. She was ferried off to the make up department and had that tested and her hair, then they sent her to wardrobe. She says she was thrust into numerous ghastly frocks! her words. Then they put in a gorgeous dress and Nolan Miller came and tweeked and pinned it and was ooohing and ahhhhing and what not. And then it had to be approved by Elaine Rich who had a meltdown because it was too Joan! Nobody could have Joans look. There was a tremendous fuss about this. So that dress was scrapped and nothing was suitable so Kate was sent shopping in Beverly Hills with a wardrobe assistant the next day to all the best stores. Theres a lot of talk about wardrobe and hair. Elaine Rich had to approve all the outfits? She is described as show runner! Who is this woman? Why the power?

Kate talks about her first day filming at the studios, she says that the dressing rooms were not all like the kind she found at the BBC at Elstree or at Pinewood in the uk, where you would mostly have a suite, with a bedroom, a shower, bathroom and sitting area all quite nice. In Hollywood it was not so grand, no private bathroom, and the studios did not have facilities to wash ones hair! Tiny dressing rooms. Kate was given Diahann Carroll's dressing room. Awards all over the place, fan letters and framed letters from the Kennedy's on the walls. (I think we know why miss Carroll wanted Kate off the show)
That day she met Linda Evans who she described as beautiful and Kate says that she welcomed her to they show and wanted to know if she was ok. She says pretty much the same of John Forsythe, most of her scenes were with him and she describes those scenes as lovely to do. I imagine he was very professional and she liked that. She says she liked him alot.
Then she was asked would she like to meet her sister she was very excited and said yes, so the assistant ran down the hallway, past Linda Evans dressing room and into Joan's. Kate said she heard a squeal of excitement and then the clap of Joans heels running up the corridor and busting into her dressing room. She says Joan was dressed completly in cream and gold, this is at like 5am. Joan had no make up on and her hair scrapped back in an elastic band. Kate describes her very beautiful! Joan was lovely too her and excited about finding out about Alexis' dirty past which Kate's character Caress would reveal. Joan suggested that Caress should have an affair with Dex Dexter Alexis' husband. That would stir up the show! (Actually thats a pretty good suggestion. Much better than what happened)
Kate has nothing bad to say of Joan. She says she was very professional and a great actress to work with. Theres mention that sometimes Joan would not do what was scripted and that she would improvise sometimes if she thought that the script wasn't good. They did this apparently in the first take of their first scene together. Which was scrapped and redone the scripted way. Theres no mention of Joan being a bitch or a nasty on set. Only one day that she was late and kept people waiting. Kate heard her crying and going on about how her life was not her own and nobody knew what it was like for at the time. Kate said she imagined that Joan's live was tough or something to that effect. I am not direct quoting here. I read this all last night.

These are just some of the details in the book. Buy it if you can and like stories about tv, film and theatre. It mentions everything and everyone from Roger Moore to Peter O'Toole to DR WHO to Omar Shariff to Shirely McClean to Peter Cushing to Joan Collins. Kates life and career is facinating.

P.s
Yes Kate did have a baby and give it up for adoption aswell as having her son Dickon whom she raised and yes this boy did go to the press many times during her career and at the height of her DYNASTY fame. I wrongly believed she had only one child.

[alexis]

Sorry I tried to put that in a SPOILER and it didnt work... Sorry.

[SnarkyOracle!]

Sorry I tried to put that in a SPOILER and it didnt work... Sorry.

Would you like me to fix it for you?

[alexis]

Would you like me to fix it for you?

Please. And thank you.

[SnarkyOracle!]

Please. And thank you.

Done!

[SnarkyOracle!]

Elaine Rich had to approve all the outfits? She is described as show runner! Who is this woman?

The Pollocks were the show runners; Miss Rich, Esther Shapiro's former assistant, was the floor runner.

[alexis]

The Pollocks were the show runners; Miss Rich, Esther Shapiro's former assistant, was the floor runner.

So the show runners are the ones who plot it and write it and such and the floor runner follows their orders and make sure everything runs smoothly on set? Makes sure it all looks right and the cast happy? Or is it not as specific as that? I have no idea how it all works. It seems DYNASTY had too many cooks and thus made a very spoiled broth.

While on the subject of Miss O'mara it seems that both Morrell sisters shared the same horrible fate where there childern were concerned in real life. Both Joan Collins and Kate O'mara had a child who had an accident, were in a coma and thought not to recover. Both women had faith and said that their child would pull through and both did! Isn't that strange that two actresses playing sisters would share the same experience?

[SnarkyOracle!]

So the show runners are the ones who plot it and write it and such and the floor runner follows their orders and make sure everything runs smoothly on set? Makes sure it all looks right and the cast happy? Or is it not as specific as that?

Apparently, that's essentially what it was: the Pollocks guided the "artistic" aspects of the show, and Rich barked orders at the underlings.

It seems DYNASTY had too many cooks

And yet not a single chef amongst them.

[grant jennings]

When the writers aren't creating real storylines, then no new character can avoid being wasted.

I say, have Caress be the culprit who pointed Blake in the direction of catching Alexis with Roger Grimes -- which explains a lot about the enmity between sisters, and why Alexis had her thrown in a Caracas prison.

I'm dying to know, what is Caress' motivation for exposing Alexis' infidelity? Moral outrage?! Or was it unintentional? If Alexis has it in for Caress because of this, why are would they be together on Zach Powers' yacht?