English actress Joan Collins was BOTD in 1933. Born in a London to a working-class family, she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and was signed to the Rank Organisation and later to 20th Century Fox. Consigned to supporting roles, she played opposite Bette Davis in The Virgin Queen, and took the lead in the Biblical epic Esther and the King, before being released from her contract. By the 1970s, she was wrestling giant papier-mâché insects in B-grade horror Empire of the Ants and appearing in TV advertisements for Chinzano. She returned to England in 1979 to star in The Stud and The Bitch, based on her sister Jackie’s bestselling erotic novels. At 48, she finally became an international star in TV series Dynasty, playing ruthless mega-bitch Alexis Carrington Colby. The series became a cultural touchstone for 1980s capitalistic excess, winning Collins a Golden Globe, while its glossy fashions and camp storylines (including several hilariously-staged fight scenes between Collins and her co-star Linda Evans) attracted a devoted gay following. Divorced four times, Collins has three children from previous relationships and is currently married to Percy Gibson, who is 31 years her junior. She was made a Dame in 2015 for her services to charity, and has sold 50 million copies of her novels, memoirs and lifestyle books. She is due to appear in The Bitter End, a biopic about the last days of Wallis Simpson. Despite being a Tory, a Brexiteer, a fan of Margaret Thatcher and an unrepentant snob, Collins remains beloved by gay men of a certain age and an enduring gay/camp icon.