'Dynasty' Heirs Remember the Beginning
Before Alexis, the definitive television vixen of the 1980's, there was Dynasty, which, in its first season—recently released on DVD by Fox—was historic, cinematic and more substantive than many of today's top-rated soaps. Remembering a series derived from classic Hollywood melodramas, Box Office Mojo recently talked with the creator and stars of the show that dominated TV ratings in the '80s and made TV almost as glamorous as the movies.
Seeking to compete with CBS' popular soap, Dallas, ABC turned to Richard and Esther Shapiro, who had worked on sweeping ABC miniseries such as the World War 2 epic The Winds of War and Pearl (about the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor), to create a larger than life show.
The Shapiros envisioned a drama about the lifeblood of American capitalism: oil.
In fact, they originally called the series Oil, though test audiences later convinced them that Dynasty sounded more attractive. Whatever the title, Esther Shapiro was especially interested in creating homage to the smart movies of the '30s and '40s.
"We didn't care if the show looked a little brighter," Shapiro recalls. "If you look at the old movies, most of them were shot on soundstages, which is why you can actually hear the dialog. Not anymore—today everything is so grim. For Dynasty, we used strong women [archetypes] like Rosalind Russell, Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck. We used smart dialog like The Philadelphia Story."
The soap opera's basic thread was oil businessman Blake Carrington and his marriage to Krystle, his secretary—itself something of a taboo, though it also reflected America's new president, Ronald Reagan, a Californian who was about to be inaugurated as the nation's first divorced president. It was part of the Shapiros' attempt to restore a sense of grandeur to television, but it would be built on the love between a man and his wife—and that was how Esther Shapiro aimed to beat Dallas.
"To find the real conflict and drama, you have to find it among people who love each other," she insists. "It's real easy to depict people who hate each other. If you can find conflict in love, the audience will root for something—not unlike the family in the movie Giant."
The first season slowly earned an audience for Dynasty, which established a solid if mid-range place in the Nielsen ratings, depicting businessmen as both noble and tenacious, dramatizing the re-emergent threat of Arab seizure of Western produced oil and introducing the first regularly featured gay character in a dramatic series. What seemed destined to become controversial instead became associated with a central cultural aspect of the 1980's: glamour.
"Dynasty was my fantasy," Shapiro explains, "that a girl who worked in an office could aspire to live in a fairy tale but still be grounded in reality. It's about dreams and longing and a love that lasts forever." And, she adds, it was about making money. "We thought American entrepreneurs were smart as hell," Shapiro recalls. "They were the trailblazers who built this country—they made fortunes." In Dynasty, they had last names like Carrington and Colby and first names like Fallon, which Shapiro says she picked up from reading Town and Country magazine. Shapiro recalls that the first season's story arc followed another family, the Blaisdels.
"What we needed was a proper bridge for the audience to get to a rich family," Shapiro says. "You have to cross that moat into the castle, and we wanted a realistic oil family with problems, so the Blaisdels were the key." Bo Hopkins, who played oil company geologist Matthew Blaisdel during the series' first season, remembers the early plot line.
"When we started it out, my character got back from Iran or wherever and my former lover, Krystle, is going to get married to Blake Carrington," Hopkins says, referring to the pilot's three-hour movie. "In the script, Matthew was described as a cross between John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River, which is one of my favorite movies."
The bonds of family, says Hollywood executive Al Corley, who portrayed Blake Carrington's homosexual son, Steven, provided the subtext.
"I love the scene where the wedding planner abuses Linda Evans [as Krystle], and I put him in his place in favor of my stepmother," Corley says when asked to name his favorite first season memories. "I really like the strength and morality of the character at that point—because Steven didn't like people being treated that way. And I like the original scene where he tells his father that he's gay."
Though both Corley and Hopkins left the show early in its nine-year run, they have fond memories of playing their Dynasty characters. Native Midwesterner Corley, who lives in southern California with his wife and kids, talks about Steven as the troubled, sensitive son—a caretaker with great values, not a swishy stereotype. He describes Steven, later played by actor Jack Coleman, as someone who thought about things and worried about things.
Hopkins, a favorite actor of Sam Peckinpah who had his movie debut in the director's The Wild Bunch, admits he was hurt by the way he was let go after the first season—he was brought back in a ridiculous two-part reunion movie in 1987—to make way for the outrageous plots of later seasons.
"I enjoyed the first year, and I tried to do the best job that I could," Hopkins says in his southern drawl. "A lot of people liked me on the show so that made me feel good, and I'm not making excuses. I was serious about what I did, and I'm proud of my work in Dynasty." Hopkins, who recently executive produced and acted in the poker picture Shade that featured Sylvester Stallone, Melanie Griffith and Jamie Foxx, also appeared in American Graffiti and Midnight Express.
"I would liked to have explored the Blaisdels," Esther Shapiro admits, when asked what she would like to have changed about Dynasty's entire run. "I wish we could have kept Al [Corley as Steven] and Pamela Sue [Martin as Fallon]." Corley, who remains close to the Shapiros, has no regrets about leaving the show after the second season. "I just felt there was nowhere to go with the character unless they were willing to explore a gay character," he says. Steven Carrington's character vacillated between men and women and became a sort of forerunner to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell philosophy about gays.
"I couldn't put my heart and soul into it, and, when I said that, it hurt people and seemed like I was ungracious," Corley says. "Look, I know it's hard to keep a show on for nine years. I had to judge my happiness as a person first and my ability to make this character believable and what attracted me was playing a gay character. The only gay television character I knew about at the time was [Billy Crystal's gay character Jodie Campbell on ABC's] Soap, which was a dark comedy." Today, Corley is a principal with Code Entertainment, and he directed his first movie, Bigger Than the Sky, uniting Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) with his mother, Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker), for the first time on screen.
Other Dynasty veterans are spread across America, according to show insiders. John Forsythe, who played Blake Carrington for nine years, lives on a ranch; Linda Evans lives in the Pacific Northwest; and John James, who played Fallon Carrington's husband, Jeff Colby, lives in upstate New York. Some say they still stay in touch with the young actress who played Lindsay Blaisdel, Katy Kurtzman, and the Western actor who portrayed wildcat oilman Walter Lankershim—Dale Robertson—and Pamela Bellwood—who played mentally ill Claudia Blaisdel, a role that initially was to be played by Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey).
And they all—Hopkins, Corley and Shapiro—say they remember the actor originally cast as Blake Carrington. Says Shapiro: "George Peppard (Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Blue Max, The A-Team) wanted to play the role and he was cast. We went to shoot and for some reason he liked taking over."
"We shot almost the whole damn pilot [with George Peppard as Carrington] and all of a sudden George was writing the show," Hopkins recalls, adding that he had met Peppard, who died in 1994, at actor James Franciscus' house. Peppard had played a similar role in Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, a fictionalized take on the life of Howard Hughes. "I remember sitting around that big old house [where Dynasty was filmed near San Francisco] with Al [Corley], Dale [Robertson] and me telling Polish jokes," Hopkins says. "Peppard walked up and said, 'you better watch these jokes, you know, I'm Polish.' And I said, 'that's OK, George, we'll tell 'em real slow.' He laughed."
Views are mixed on how Peppard—known for wild, brash, arrogant characterizations—would have played Carrington differently from Forsythe. Corley thinks the clash with Joan Collins in later seasons would have been explosive. "It probably would have had more influence on the character Alexis," Corley says. "George would have been less reluctant to take away her thunder. He was much more stringent and mischievous, cold and devious, than John Forsythe." Hopkins thinks Dynasty would have gained from Peppard's strong presence: "George Peppard played Blake Carrington like an adversary who could also be a companion."
But if Peppard stayed, the Shapiros would exit, so the actor was fired, and Dynasty was on its way to dominate the ABC prime time schedule in the 1980's. The real trouble—Alexis, Blake Carrington's ex-wife—would make her entrance toward the end of the last episode of the first season. Shapiro says she wasn't always called Alexis.
"We were going to introduce her—as Madeline—at the end of the first season," Shapiro remembers. "I'd always liked Joan Collins in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! But ABC kept saying, 'you can't cast Joan Collins because she's geriatric, she's menopausal.'" When asked if she would like to see Dynasty made into a movie—Dallas is on its way to the big screen—Shapiro lights up.
"I think there's room for a good movie and it would be fun to cast," she says, pausing. "Angelina Jolie could play Alexis."
RELATED ARTICLE:
• DVD Review: 'Dynasty' Sparkles in Season One DVD
RELATED LINKS:
• Fox Home Video 'Dynasty' DVD Web site
• Al Corley's NeverlandFilms Web site
• Bo Hopkins Official Web site
• Buy 'Dynasty' on DVD from Amazon.com
Seeking to compete with CBS' popular soap, Dallas, ABC turned to Richard and Esther Shapiro, who had worked on sweeping ABC miniseries such as the World War 2 epic The Winds of War and Pearl (about the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor), to create a larger than life show.
The Shapiros envisioned a drama about the lifeblood of American capitalism: oil.
In fact, they originally called the series Oil, though test audiences later convinced them that Dynasty sounded more attractive. Whatever the title, Esther Shapiro was especially interested in creating homage to the smart movies of the '30s and '40s.
"We didn't care if the show looked a little brighter," Shapiro recalls. "If you look at the old movies, most of them were shot on soundstages, which is why you can actually hear the dialog. Not anymore—today everything is so grim. For Dynasty, we used strong women [archetypes] like Rosalind Russell, Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck. We used smart dialog like The Philadelphia Story."
The soap opera's basic thread was oil businessman Blake Carrington and his marriage to Krystle, his secretary—itself something of a taboo, though it also reflected America's new president, Ronald Reagan, a Californian who was about to be inaugurated as the nation's first divorced president. It was part of the Shapiros' attempt to restore a sense of grandeur to television, but it would be built on the love between a man and his wife—and that was how Esther Shapiro aimed to beat Dallas.
"To find the real conflict and drama, you have to find it among people who love each other," she insists. "It's real easy to depict people who hate each other. If you can find conflict in love, the audience will root for something—not unlike the family in the movie Giant."
The first season slowly earned an audience for Dynasty, which established a solid if mid-range place in the Nielsen ratings, depicting businessmen as both noble and tenacious, dramatizing the re-emergent threat of Arab seizure of Western produced oil and introducing the first regularly featured gay character in a dramatic series. What seemed destined to become controversial instead became associated with a central cultural aspect of the 1980's: glamour.
"Dynasty was my fantasy," Shapiro explains, "that a girl who worked in an office could aspire to live in a fairy tale but still be grounded in reality. It's about dreams and longing and a love that lasts forever." And, she adds, it was about making money. "We thought American entrepreneurs were smart as hell," Shapiro recalls. "They were the trailblazers who built this country—they made fortunes." In Dynasty, they had last names like Carrington and Colby and first names like Fallon, which Shapiro says she picked up from reading Town and Country magazine. Shapiro recalls that the first season's story arc followed another family, the Blaisdels.
"What we needed was a proper bridge for the audience to get to a rich family," Shapiro says. "You have to cross that moat into the castle, and we wanted a realistic oil family with problems, so the Blaisdels were the key." Bo Hopkins, who played oil company geologist Matthew Blaisdel during the series' first season, remembers the early plot line.
"When we started it out, my character got back from Iran or wherever and my former lover, Krystle, is going to get married to Blake Carrington," Hopkins says, referring to the pilot's three-hour movie. "In the script, Matthew was described as a cross between John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in Red River, which is one of my favorite movies."
The bonds of family, says Hollywood executive Al Corley, who portrayed Blake Carrington's homosexual son, Steven, provided the subtext.
"I love the scene where the wedding planner abuses Linda Evans [as Krystle], and I put him in his place in favor of my stepmother," Corley says when asked to name his favorite first season memories. "I really like the strength and morality of the character at that point—because Steven didn't like people being treated that way. And I like the original scene where he tells his father that he's gay."
Though both Corley and Hopkins left the show early in its nine-year run, they have fond memories of playing their Dynasty characters. Native Midwesterner Corley, who lives in southern California with his wife and kids, talks about Steven as the troubled, sensitive son—a caretaker with great values, not a swishy stereotype. He describes Steven, later played by actor Jack Coleman, as someone who thought about things and worried about things.
Hopkins, a favorite actor of Sam Peckinpah who had his movie debut in the director's The Wild Bunch, admits he was hurt by the way he was let go after the first season—he was brought back in a ridiculous two-part reunion movie in 1987—to make way for the outrageous plots of later seasons.
"I enjoyed the first year, and I tried to do the best job that I could," Hopkins says in his southern drawl. "A lot of people liked me on the show so that made me feel good, and I'm not making excuses. I was serious about what I did, and I'm proud of my work in Dynasty." Hopkins, who recently executive produced and acted in the poker picture Shade that featured Sylvester Stallone, Melanie Griffith and Jamie Foxx, also appeared in American Graffiti and Midnight Express.
"I would liked to have explored the Blaisdels," Esther Shapiro admits, when asked what she would like to have changed about Dynasty's entire run. "I wish we could have kept Al [Corley as Steven] and Pamela Sue [Martin as Fallon]." Corley, who remains close to the Shapiros, has no regrets about leaving the show after the second season. "I just felt there was nowhere to go with the character unless they were willing to explore a gay character," he says. Steven Carrington's character vacillated between men and women and became a sort of forerunner to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell philosophy about gays.
"I couldn't put my heart and soul into it, and, when I said that, it hurt people and seemed like I was ungracious," Corley says. "Look, I know it's hard to keep a show on for nine years. I had to judge my happiness as a person first and my ability to make this character believable and what attracted me was playing a gay character. The only gay television character I knew about at the time was [Billy Crystal's gay character Jodie Campbell on ABC's] Soap, which was a dark comedy." Today, Corley is a principal with Code Entertainment, and he directed his first movie, Bigger Than the Sky, uniting Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings) with his mother, Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker), for the first time on screen.
Other Dynasty veterans are spread across America, according to show insiders. John Forsythe, who played Blake Carrington for nine years, lives on a ranch; Linda Evans lives in the Pacific Northwest; and John James, who played Fallon Carrington's husband, Jeff Colby, lives in upstate New York. Some say they still stay in touch with the young actress who played Lindsay Blaisdel, Katy Kurtzman, and the Western actor who portrayed wildcat oilman Walter Lankershim—Dale Robertson—and Pamela Bellwood—who played mentally ill Claudia Blaisdel, a role that initially was to be played by Tyne Daly (Cagney and Lacey).
And they all—Hopkins, Corley and Shapiro—say they remember the actor originally cast as Blake Carrington. Says Shapiro: "George Peppard (Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Blue Max, The A-Team) wanted to play the role and he was cast. We went to shoot and for some reason he liked taking over."
"We shot almost the whole damn pilot [with George Peppard as Carrington] and all of a sudden George was writing the show," Hopkins recalls, adding that he had met Peppard, who died in 1994, at actor James Franciscus' house. Peppard had played a similar role in Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers, a fictionalized take on the life of Howard Hughes. "I remember sitting around that big old house [where Dynasty was filmed near San Francisco] with Al [Corley], Dale [Robertson] and me telling Polish jokes," Hopkins says. "Peppard walked up and said, 'you better watch these jokes, you know, I'm Polish.' And I said, 'that's OK, George, we'll tell 'em real slow.' He laughed."
Views are mixed on how Peppard—known for wild, brash, arrogant characterizations—would have played Carrington differently from Forsythe. Corley thinks the clash with Joan Collins in later seasons would have been explosive. "It probably would have had more influence on the character Alexis," Corley says. "George would have been less reluctant to take away her thunder. He was much more stringent and mischievous, cold and devious, than John Forsythe." Hopkins thinks Dynasty would have gained from Peppard's strong presence: "George Peppard played Blake Carrington like an adversary who could also be a companion."
But if Peppard stayed, the Shapiros would exit, so the actor was fired, and Dynasty was on its way to dominate the ABC prime time schedule in the 1980's. The real trouble—Alexis, Blake Carrington's ex-wife—would make her entrance toward the end of the last episode of the first season. Shapiro says she wasn't always called Alexis.
"We were going to introduce her—as Madeline—at the end of the first season," Shapiro remembers. "I'd always liked Joan Collins in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! But ABC kept saying, 'you can't cast Joan Collins because she's geriatric, she's menopausal.'" When asked if she would like to see Dynasty made into a movie—Dallas is on its way to the big screen—Shapiro lights up.
"I think there's room for a good movie and it would be fun to cast," she says, pausing. "Angelina Jolie could play Alexis."
RELATED ARTICLE:
• DVD Review: 'Dynasty' Sparkles in Season One DVD
RELATED LINKS:
• Fox Home Video 'Dynasty' DVD Web site
• Al Corley's NeverlandFilms Web site
• Bo Hopkins Official Web site
• Buy 'Dynasty' on DVD from Amazon.com
