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Joan Fallon Biography & Facts

Fallon Carrington is a fictional character from the ABC television series Dynasty and its spin-off The Colbys. Created by Richard and Esther Shapiro, the role of Fallon was originated by Pamela Sue Martin in the show's first episode in 1981, and Martin left at the end of the fourth season in 1984. Fallon was recast with Emma Samms in 1985, and the character was spun off onto a companion series called The Colbys. After the cancellation of the second series, Fallon (portrayed by Samms) returned to Dynasty in 1987, and remained on the series until its finale in 1989. Samms later reprised the role for the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. Elizabeth Gillies plays Fallon in The CW's 2017 reboot series Dynasty. Fallon is the daughter of oil baron Blake Carrington and his first wife, Alexis, portrayed by John Forsythe and Joan Collins in the original series. Initially a self-indulgent troublemaker constantly at odds with her father's second wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), Fallon navigates a series of romantic entanglements that includes marriages to Jeff Colby (John James) and his half-brother and cousin, Miles Colby (Maxwell Caulfield). Original series Characterization Fallon is introduced in 1981 as a fiery heiress as intelligent and business savvy as her millionaire father Blake Carrington, but not taken seriously by him because she is a woman. With a place at the family company Denver-Carrington unavailable to her, Fallon instead indulges herself with multiple lovers and torturing her new stepmother Krystle (Linda Evans). David Hofstede described Martin's Fallon as "a spoiled bitch with an acid tongue whose idea of fun was to sleep with her father's chauffeur". Martin told People in 1982, "Fallon has lovers, but they don't mean anything to her". Actor John James said of the relationship between Fallon and his character, her "loving-but-unloved" husband Jeff Colby, "There's an attraction there in two people who know they're wrong for each other". Alex Mar wrote for Slate: The idea of Fallon as a stifled modern woman had no place in the series once Joan Collins joined the cast. With the introduction of Collins as Blake's exuberantly wicked, two-faced ex-wife Alexis, potentially nuanced female characters were reduced to a Madonna/whore dichotomy: You can either be a Krystle (gentle, soft-spoken, essentially good) or an Alexis (scheming, sexual, essentially evil). Emma Samms said at the time of her hiring, "I'm always going for the sympathetic aspect of a character." She also noted, "I'm not going to sit and watch hours of Pamela Sue so I can reproduce the kind of performance she gave. I want to be accepted as me." According to Samms, before Dynasty's final season, producer David Paulsen asked her what she would like to do with Fallon. She explained in 1989, "I said, 'I'd like to do more humorous stuff and be a bit more realistic character, not always the victim.' And that`s what he did. This year I was allowed to be a more real character." Casting Dynasty debuted in January 1981, with Pamela Sue Martin portraying Fallon. In 2006, she said of Forsythe, "He really was like a father to me. I asked John to walk me down the aisle when I got married in real life, but he said, 'I think maybe you should ask your real dad.' I was just so attached to him." Martin left the series at the end of the fourth season in May 1984. In the storyline, a troubled Fallon leaves Jeff at the altar, and is later presumed dead in an offscreen plane crash. At the time, New York quoted Martin as calling television "limiting". USA Today reported in 2006 that Martin "left Dynasty and acting when she felt her 'glib' character ... had been reduced to 'a victim'." In 2011, she said "I became extremely famous during that time, and it was a little discomforting". Executive producer Aaron Spelling wrote in his 1996 autobiography, "After three seasons, Pamela Sue Martin wanted to leave Dynasty to get married and we didn't stand in her way." The role was later recast with British actress Emma Samms, and Fallon reappears with amnesia at the end of the fifth season in the April 1985 episode "Kidnapped". In his 2004 television history book What Were They Thinking?, David Hofstede recounted that Samms had been suggested to Spelling by his young daughter, Tori, who was a fan of Samms in her role of Holly Scorpio on the daytime soap opera General Hospital. Samms, who had appeared in two episodes of Spelling's drama series Hotel in 1984 and 1985, met with Dynasty co-creator Esther Shapiro for a non-specific role, which led to her casting as Fallon. Samms said, "The audience was so fond of the character that they were willing to accept a new actress playing the role." She added that the cast was welcoming, explaining "It wasn't as if Pamela Sue had been fired. She left of her own volition, so there were no hard feelings." Samms appeared in eight episodes of the sixth season of Dynasty, and the character was spun off onto a separate series called The Colbys. A main character on The Colbys, Fallon continued to guest star on Dynasty, with Samms appearing in one episode at the end of the sixth season and two episodes of the seventh season. After the cancellation of The Colbys, Fallon (played by Samms) returned to Dynasty for its eighth season in the September 1987 season premiere episode "The Siege". Screening old episodes while developing the ninth season, new executive producer Paulsen felt that Samms was beautiful, but came across as "stiff". He considered trying to bring back Martin, but wanted to first meet with Samms. He said in 2008: [Samms] came into my office and I said, "My God, this is a beautiful, charming young woman. Bright, intelligent, funny. But none of that's on the screen." ... I asked her why. She said she didn't have anything to work with. And I thought she was right. I thought "If we can capture who Emma really is, then we have a character people will like." So I made some changes in her wardrobe, brought in a coach to get rid of her accent. And decided to give her a love interest who would kind of bring her character down to earth ... So we created the character of [New York cop] Zorelli who came in to investigate the murder of Roger Grimes ... it brought her to a reality that the audience had not seen ... It wasn't very long before she started getting some terrific fan mail. People were starting to love her. At the end of that 1988–1989 season, Paulsen told a shocked Samms his original plan. He said, "I'm so glad I didn't replace her ... Emma worked out superbly." That season ended up as Dynasty's last. Samms later reprised the role for the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. In the 1989 episode "Blasts from the Past", Cheyenne Fitch portrayed Fallon as a child. Storylines Dynasty (1981–1985) Season 1 As Dynasty begins, spoiled Carrington heiress Fallon is underestimated by—and considered little more than a trophy to—her father, oil baron Blake. Though she is as cunning and intelligent as h.... Discover the Joan Fallon popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Joan Fallon books.