But wouldn't Ursula as Lady Ashley be like Bo as Rita Lesley?? Ha!
I like the idea of Audrey Hepburn as Ashley, too, and she was apparently a big fan of the show, amazingly. But I can't see her doing it.
I'd prefer Elizabeth Taylor to have appeared in the role rather than her HOTEL role that same year. But I suspect Taylor knew DYNASTY's scripts were a problem; plus, she told the rumormongers to stop gossiping that he was joining the cast of DYNASTY when she wasn't -- something I suspect Esther was behind, but who knows...?
BTW: I always want to change Ashley Mitchell's last name (her moniker is far too cutely GWTW-esque) for something like, say,
Lady Ashley Fonteyn (too THE STUD-ish?) or perhaps
Lady Ashley Foch.
Yes? No?
I have just realized that Andress was 46 in the "Love Boat" episode !
http://blandwagon.blogspot.fr/2015/03/aging.html
Frankly, she looked much older, like 60 !
Hepburn would have been great but the producers could not paid her. Linda Evans has a clause in the contract that prevent the producers to pay any actress more than her.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...pIsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kvsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6962,2117785
Even Joan Collins was paid less that her (except in season 9).
Yes and no. Linda and John both had clauses, common for original cast members, that no "regular" cast member could be paid more than they.
The exception however is when the actor gets a "Special Guest Star" billing, and then they can get whatever they can wrestle out of the producers' fists. Had Sophia Loren taken the role of Alexis, as she almost did, it would have been as a "Special Guest Star" for six episodes -- the original intention for the character's longevity. But when they realized they'd need Alexis for all 22 episodes, the new show didn't have enough money to pay her that huge salary for an entire year.
And, yes, Joan didn't become TV's highest paid actress until Linda left.
But that's why Heather Locklear received a "Special Guest Star" billing for 7 years: as a late-comer to MELROSE PLACE, that was the only way they could get around the original cast's contracts.