“And, Almost Starring….”

[Carrie Fairchild]

Random rabbit hole for a Sunday morning. I came across an abridged version of Aaron Spelling’s book on Spotify, which prompted me to look up the thread on it here. The above bit of info is mentioned in the thread (with the actual quote above being snipped from the book).

Joan as Hillary would’ve been a nice nod to her old relationship with Heather on Dynasty. It would also be a throwback to her turn as modelling boss Racine, on the Paper Dolls TV movie. Spelling seems to embellish some of the facts in the book, so while Joan being unavailable rings true (she would’ve been filming three movies around this time), I think Linda Gray had to fight to be considered for the role after reading about it in the tabloids (during which time, names including Linda Evans, Raquel Welch, Farrah Fawcett and Faye Dunaway were being thrown around as potential Hillarys).

 

[ClassyCo]

View attachment 59540
Random rabbit hole for a Sunday morning. I came across an abridged version of Aaron Spelling’s book on Spotify, which prompted me to look up the thread on it here. The above bit of info is mentioned in the thread (with the actual quote above being snipped from the book).

Joan as Hillary would’ve been a nice nod to her old relationship with Heather on Dynasty. It would also be a throwback to her turn as modelling boss Racine, on the Paper Dolls TV movie. Spelling seems to embellish some of the facts in the book, so while Joan being unavailable rings true (she would’ve been filming three movies around this time), I think Linda Gray had to fight to be considered for the role after reading about it in the tabloids (during which time, names including Linda Evans, Raquel Welch, Farrah Fawcett and Faye Dunaway were being thrown around as potential Hillarys).

I've only seen clips of MODELS INC, but personally I would've preferred Farrah Fawcett in the role.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Olivia deHavilland was frequently mentioned as the first choice to play Ruth Galveston on Knots Landing but I'm not sure how hard they lobbied her to come out of retirement in France to play the part. Sometimes they play up negotiations with someone else just to get the desired actor to sign for a lower rate.

Delta Burke was offered the role of Katherine Wentworth on Dallas and likely would have killed it in the part, but she could not get out of her contract with a sitcom called Filthy Rich.

 

[ClassyCo]

Olivia deHavilland was frequently mentioned as the first choice to play Ruth Galveston on Knots Landing but I'm not sure how hard they lobbied her to come out of retirement in France to play the part. Sometimes they play up negotiations with someone else just to get the desired actor to sign for a lower rate.

Olivia would've been an interesting choice, but I really like Ava Gardner in the role.

Delta Burke was offered the role of Katherine Wentworth on Dallas and likely would have killed it in the part, but she could not get out of her contract with a sitcom called Filthy Rich.

I would've loved to have seen Delta Burke on one of the soaps. I'm unsure if I would've liked her as Katherine, but I'm sure she done great in the part.

 

[Toni]

I´m sorry to say this, but having Olivia as Ruth not only would´ve deprived us of multiple fan orgasms, but probably would have given us a guest star like Ruth Roman as Sylvia. Soap Gods, if Ava even had sexual chemistry with Ted in their scenes!! Not to speak of those sparring battles with Laura.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I've only seen clips of MODELS INC, but personally I would've preferred Farrah Fawcett in the role.

I love Linda but I would’ve also really liked to see Farrah in the role, as a Jerry Hall-esque ex-supermodel with a colourful past. Interestingly(to me), I don’t think any of the original trio of Angels ever worked on another Spelling show after they left Charlie’s.

Delta Burke was offered the role of Katherine Wentworth on Dallas and likely would have killed it in the part, but she could not get out of her contract with a sitcom called Filthy Rich.

How ironic! She was unable to take a role on Dallas because she was contracted to a show that parodied Dallas. All joking aside, I think she would’ve been great in it. She certainly had the “Dallas look”.

 

[ClassyCo]

I love Linda but I would’ve also really liked to see Farrah in the role, as a Jerry Hall-esque ex-supermodel with a colourful past. Interestingly(to me), I don’t think any of the original trio of Angels ever worked on another Spelling show after they left Charlie’s.

It would've been interested to see Farrah's take on something as campy as MODELS INC.

And, now that I think of it, you're right. None of the Angels ever worked with Aaron Spelling again, even though just about any of them could've been woven into DYNASTY somehow.

How ironic! She was unable to take a role on Dallas because she was contracted to a show that parodied Dallas. All joking aside, I think she would’ve been great in it. She certainly had the “Dallas look”.

Delta was beautiful in her prime, and could've worked on any of the shows, whether it be DALLAS or KNOTS LANDING or FALCON CREST or DYNASTY.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

And, now that I think of it, you're right. None of the Angels ever worked with Aaron Spelling again, even though just about any of them could've been woven into DYNASTY somehow.

Apparently, they wanted Jaclyn Smith for the Gwen role in Titans, but I don’t know if that was actually true or just online speculation.

 

[Monzo]

Joan as Hillary would’ve been a nice nod to her old relationship with Heather on Dynasty. It would also be a throwback to her turn as modelling boss Racine, on the Paper Dolls TV movie. Spelling seems to embellish some of the facts in the book, so while Joan being unavailable rings true (she would’ve been filming three movies around this time), I think Linda Gray had to fight to be considered for the role after reading about it in the tabloids (during which time, names including Linda Evans, Raquel Welch, Farrah Fawcett and Faye Dunaway were being thrown around as potential Hillarys).

I think Linda Gray was a better choice than Joan Collins. To me, she was able to convey a sense of concern for her models—something I can't imagine Joan Collins doing. I would have preferred to see Farrah Fawcett on Melrose Place as an older love interest for Jake or Billy, rather than as a modeling agency boss.

Olivia deHavilland was frequently mentioned as the first choice to play Ruth Galveston on Knots Landing but I'm not sure how hard they lobbied her to come out of retirement in France to play the part. Sometimes they play up negotiations with someone else just to get the desired actor to sign for a lower rate.

During the 1980s I only saw Olivia de Havilland in North & South, and her look at the time would have suited Knots Landing better than Ava Gardner’s did—Gardner, to me, seemed more suited to Falcon Crest or The Colbys—but I wonder if Olivia de Havilland would have been given the same personality for the character of Ruth that we saw with Ava Gardner?

I read in a German magazine from 1983 that Omar Sharif was supposed to join Dallas as an oil sheikh, but would he have fit in on Dallas? Perhaps he would have been a better fit for Dynasty as Rashid Ahmed (or as his brother Farouk).

 

[ClassyCo]

I would have preferred to see Farrah Fawcett on Melrose Place as an older love interest for Jake or Billy, rather than as a modeling agency boss.

This would've been good to see. I wish Farrah had turned up on one of the soaps.

During the 1980s I only saw Olivia de Havilland in North & South, and her look at the time would have suited Knots Landing better than Ava Gardner’s did—Gardner, to me, seemed more suited to Falcon Crest or The Colbys—but I wonder if Olivia de Havilland would have been given the same personality for the character of Ruth that we saw with Ava Gardner?

I honestly like Ava Gardner on KNOTS LANDING, but Olivia would've been a nice alternative. But now I'm imagining Ava in a sparring match with Jane Wyman or Stephanie Beacham.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I would have preferred to see Farrah Fawcett on Melrose Place as an older love interest for Jake or Billy, rather than as a modeling agency boss.

This would've been good to see. I wish Farrah had turned up on one of the soaps.

Post-Charlie’s, bar one short-lived sitcom that she did with Ryan O’Neal in the early 90’s, her bread and butter were guest spots and TV movies, so a short stint on one of the soaps was probably the best we could’ve hoped for.

 

[ClassyCo]

Post-Charlie’s, bar one short-lived sitcom that she did with Ryan O’Neal in the early 90’s, her bread and butter were guest spots and TV movies, so a short stint on one of the soaps was probably the best we could’ve hoped for.

GOOD SPORTS was Farrah's only regular series role post-ANGELS. She made a host of TV appearances, and even did some big screen work.