15 Things Fans Were Never Supposed to Know About ‘Dynasty’

ABC’s prime time power soap Dynasty was created to compete with CBS’s juggernaut Dallas, and while the show had their similarities, Dynasty really stepped things up in the drama department. By 1985 it became the number one show in the country, during an era when extreme wealth, greed and power were cultural cornerstones. Who can forget the show’s impact on the world of fashion (#shoulderpads)? Here are some things you never knew about this iconic ’80s show, both on and off-screen.

1. The original show title was just Oil

While Dynasty centered around the oil industry just like Dallas, they decided to focus more on the family structure than the actual business deals. “We thought people had seen enough stories where families fell apart. We wanted a strong, 19th-century sort of family where people were in conflict but loved each other in spite of everything. We found that the audience wasn’t very interested in the oil workers’ stories. But people were just fascinated by what was going on inside that castle.”

2. The show featured one of the first prime time gay characters

The show was progressive in the sense that it featured the gay character of Steven Carrington, who was first played first by Al Corley and then by Jack Coleman. Jack has said: “My feeling was that I was in a kind of a situation where I was expected to be a spokesman, and I was never comfortable being a spokesman. It’s just the kind of position you wind up in when a character is long-running. You not only have to defend the character but the situation to the entire country. Ultimately I saw Steven as a man who was unsure of his sexuality and from time to time was attracted to women. He was caught between worlds.”

3. The costume designer Norman Miller came up with the shoulder pad idea

Norman Miller was highly inspired by Joan Crawford’s 1940s attire, and worked with a weekly wardrobe budget of $35,000 (a fortune in its day). “Everything was coordinated: Each dress had its own particular hat, purse, gloves, shoes, and it never varied,” said Esther Shapiro. “Joan Crawford didn’t mix and match. We decided to take it one step further: Alexis would never wear the same thing twice. In fact, no one on Dynasty would.”

4. Rock Hudson had a controversial appearance

When Rock Hudson had guest appearances on the show he had not yet revealed his AIDS diagnosis. At that point in time, the virus was still a bit of a mystery and some people thought it could be transmitted through saliva. Linda Evans and Hudson were supposed to share a long, passionate kiss in the show, but he did not disclose his illness to her prior to shooting. The actress was confused that, “Instead of passionately kissing me, Rock just barely brushed his lips over mine and then backed away.” Later she wrote, “In retrospect, it was incredibly touching how hard he tried to protect me.” Hudson died in 1985 and was the first high-profile celebrity to succumb from an AIDS-related illness.

5. The show had the only African-American with a recurring role on a nighttime serial

In season four, Diahann Carroll joined the cast as Dominique Deveraux, and she hoped that it would help break through some of the color lines. She said: “They’ve done everything. They’ve done incest, homosexuality, murder. I think they’re slowly inching their way toward interracial. I want to be wealthy and ruthless. I want to be the first black b*tch on television.” You could say she was the prototype for Empire’s Cookie.

6. Dynasty merchandise made a lot of money

Dynasty merchandise was sold to capitalize on the show’s popularity, and sell it did. The available merchandise included pantyhose, “Forever Krystle” perfume (for $150), $500 tuxedos, $800 ball gowns, $10,000 handmade Alexis and Krystle dolls, and a $200,000 chinchilla coat. Overall the merchandise raked in over an impressive $400 million.

7. There were some pretty accurate dates

In season nine, episode eight, Blake and Krystle renew their wedding vows. The day that this episode aired was actually eight years to the day of the pilot episode when the two wed for the first time.

8. The cast didn’t know how the 5th season finale would end

The season finale of the show’s season five centered around a massacre that took place at a wedding in Moldavia (don’t try to look it up on a map, it’s fictional). Sixty million people tuned in to see it all unfold, and then they had to wait until the season premiere of the sixth season to see which characters survived and which did not. It was Dynasty’s version of “who shot J.R.?” However the cast did not know either. Said Joan Collins: “We had no idea who was going to live or die. None of us knew. Because we knew if you were really bloodied up, that was it. Might as well call your agent and say, ‘I need a job’ … It was very funny, actually.” (Spoiler alert: only two minor characters actually bit the dust).

9. The show only won a single Emmy

Dynasty was actually nominated for 24 different Emmy awards over the years, but the show only ever walked away a winner once. And the winning Emmy? That was for costume design.

10. The iconic lily pad scene was hard to shoot

There was an iconic scene in the show where Krystle and Alexis get into a catfight in the deep lily pond…but in real life it was very shallow and hard to work in. Said Linda Evans: “It looked like we were in six feet of water but in reality we were in only two and a half feet, and fighting on our knees! It felt absurd and we struggled all day to make it look authentic. When at the end of the day the director yelled ‘cut and print,’ we stood up looking like a couple of drowned rats. The crew spontaneously broke out in applause and laughter … Joan loved the verbal fights—I hated them. I loved the physical confrontations—she loathed them. We did them all—for nine years!”

11. The character Alexis was a lot like Dallas‘ J.R. Ewing

“A lot of what [Alexis] was like was from [Dallas’] J.R. And when I first came into the show, they compared me to J.R. I think it was the first time that audiences saw on television a woman who could be evil and manipulating and downright nasty, and have a lot of charm and sexuality.”

12. Angie Dickinson was first offered the role of Krystle

Angie Dickinson was first offered the role of Krystle when the show was still called Oil. She turned the part down and then later asked producer Aaron Spelling what had happened to the show without realizing that it was currently airing as Dynasty.

13. The spin-off didn’t do as well

Dynasty had a spin-off called The Colby’s which lasted from 1985 to 1987, but despite having an incredibly high budget for the time and big stars attached, it never got going in the ratings. The Colby’s were an even more opulent family related to the Carringtons by marriage.

14. You can actually visit the mansion

The Dynasty mansion was partly filmed at the Filoli Estate in Woodside California. The house is truly an opulent mansion, spanning 36,000 square feet and containing 43 rooms, 17 bathrooms and 17 fireplaces. On the surrounding land they grow tulips and daffodils and open it up for the Filoli Flower Show once a year.

15. There was almost a Dynasty movie

The Dynasty movie never happened but there was one in the works back in 2011. The film was going to be a prequel set in the 1960s. Creator Esther Shapiro said: “We’re taking Blake Carrington back to his young manhood and when he met Alexis, and setting the movie in the Mad Men-era of the 1960s. It will give us the opportunity to start fresh, without the constraints that television placed on our characters in the series.” Added Richard Shapiro: “Our intention is, if this works, to and make this a franchise because people want to see the others.” Who knows, with all the nostalgic TV reboots out there, maybe this Dynasty movie will actually hit the big screen some day.