Ultimate Dynasty  - Apr 08, 2009 

Gordon Thomson Interview

Actor Gordon Thompson (Adam Carrington) recently took time to answer questions from www.UltimateDynasty.net fans!

"Sensational" is the word Gordon Thomson uses to describe his years on Dynasty, as well as the plum role he had on the show. "I was plucked out of nowhere by Aaron Spelling," he tells www.UltimateDynasty.net, "and given this sensational part."

And thanks to his portrayal of Adam Carrington, he went from "nowhere" onto television screens across the globe. Thomson played the conflicted - and frequently diabolical - Adam Carrington, the eldest child of Blake Carrington and Alexis Colby, for eight seasons (1982-9).

Dynasty was wildly popular in seemingly every corner of the world. Thomson remembers a 1984 trip to an open-air fan event in Oslo, Norway. "Fifteen thousand people waited in the rain until 11 o’clock at night for me to arrive," he recalls, "and I felt like Mick Jagger when I walked onto that stage. They just began to scream, and they wouldn’t stop!"

He has many fond memories, not the least of which are of his fellow Dynasty cast members. Thomson enjoyed working with Leann Hunley (Dana Waring), "the most beautiful woman I’ve ever worked with, I think," he says, "and she looks the same today...inside as well as out, like Linda [Evans]...the same really glorious glow."

He also distinctly remembers an early conversation with Joan Collins. It was at his screen test with her, the two cast as mother and son. "It’s ridiculous, Darling," he says Collins told him, "you’re much too old!" Thomson was 37, set to portray Alexis’s 24 year-old son.

"Suddenly," Thomson continues, "Alexis had four kids who could vote! Which is a big shock to [Joan], because she thinks that she’s 35! To this day!"

And, to this day, Dynasty continues to enthrall fans, even though its last episode aired May 11, 1989 - nearly twenty years ago.

Thomson, who lives in Los Angeles, recently celebrated his 64th birthday (he is, as he pointed out, about the same age as John Forsythe was at Dynasty’s start). He keeps busy with roles such as one he just shot for several episodes of the American soap opera Days of Our Lives (he says the story arc is likely to air in mid-May).

"I love working," Thomson says, explaining that he has no plans to ever retire. "I would like to work until I drop."


Question: How did you adjust to the fame that Dynasty brought you? And how did you adjust once the show went off the air?
Thomson: I had 17 years of paying my dues, and slogging through, and doing weekly rep [repertory theater]...musicals and commercials...and all the crap an actor does to keep the wolves from the door.

So, when I got to Hollywood, I knew what I didn’t need in my life. I mean, if you’re very young, and you’re faced with that kind of exposure - anything you want, you can have: drugs, sex, money, houses, cars, anything you want...somebody will provide it for you...I was very lucky that I was far past that age! I had paid my dues, and I was an adult.

I began to play a 24 year old when I was 37!...I was ready for everything. I really enjoyed making a good living!...after not having made a good living for [the previous] 17 years. That was very, very nice.

And then, when it stopped, it was time. It was time it was over. [Dynasty] ran the gamut, literally, of the eighties...and it personified the eighties, good and bad...


Question: What is Joan Collins really like?
Thomson: She’s a narcissist! [Laughs] She’s a wonderful hostess, she’s true-blue to her friends, and she is her own product. I saw her at Jack Coleman’s [Steven Carrington] birthday party a year ago - Jack’s 50th - and she looked absolutely wonderful. Bless her!

The only problem [between Joan and me] was how old I was [to play her son]. At one point - it was Pamela Sue Martin’s [Fallon Carrington] wedding - I had been told, after my initial meetings with the producers, and the casting director, and my agent - when they had said, "Gordon, how old are you?" - and I said, "37" - and four jaws hit the table! My agent came out afterward and said, "Gordon, this is from [producer] Elaine Rich and [series co-creator] Esther Shapiro. From now on, you are 28 years old. If anybody asks, you are 28."

At Pamela Sue’s wedding, about a year later, [Joan and I] found ourselves sitting next to each other, and she said, "Gordon, Darling, how old are you?"

And I said, "I’m 32, Joan."

"You’re a f***ing liar, Darling," she said. End of conversation!

And that was the only bone of contention [between us]. I was frequently a guest in her house, she is a wonderful hostess, and she keeps her friends. She has friends of very long-standing. Which is a very good sign in this business - it’s rare.


Question: What was it like to work with John Forsythe and Linda Evans?
Thomson: John is a renaissance man. At the time, he was very happily married [to Julie Warren], and since Julie died several years ago, he’s since remarried [to Nicole Carter] - very happily...

His range of interests is enormous. Really. I mean, the Queen Anne furniture...he used to raise horses...a basketball fan, a baseball fan, an intellectual...all over the map. And John really showed me...by example...how to lead a company on a set.

If the head figure on a set - which was John in this case - behaves himself - and he did, impeccably, and John did, from start to finish, the entire time I was with the show...almost nobody dared put a foot wrong. Because John - who had the majority of the load to carry - he wasn’t the big attraction like Joan or Linda, of course - but he was certainly the spine of the show, and also one of Aaron [Spelling]’s very best friends - he set the tone, with huge dignity, and huge amounts of humor.

He was very, very funny. And not much of it’s printable. Because, in those days, I mean, in an adult business, it got kind of blue. Things have changed since - people go through consciousness-raising sessions, and it’s all much tidier and neater and cleaner!

But in those days, 25 years ago, it was raunchier, and it was a lot more fun. And John was right up there with them - foul-mouthed, and professional to his fingertips. Always prepared. Funny, I repeat. And just the nicest man around.

And Linda, I have to say - my first scene, I came down to the set for my final touch-up...and I was getting touched-up, and I looked up. This stunning woman leaned over...and said, "Hi Gordon, I’m Linda, and welcome to the show."

I thought, "I know who you are! But how kind of you to do this!" As opposed to [Joan saying], "It’s ridiculous, Darling, you’re much too old!" Which you don’t say to somebody before a screen test that literally changed my life!

Linda’s like the sun coming up. Always has been. I saw her at an autograph show about three months ago, [and she] hasn’t changed.


Question: Are you aware of all the fans still out there, 20 years after Dynasty went off the air, and that we’re still talking about the show on the internet?
Thomson: Yes I am, actually. I was at Trader Joe’s [a supermarket] two or three years ago, unshaven, God knows...and from about 40 yards [away], I hear from somebody, who is clearly under 30, [yelling], "Oh God, it’s Adam Carrington!" [laughs]...

Every single one of us [Dynasty cast members] is going to rate a bold-faced headline obituary in the New York Times - when any one of us goes - because of Dynasty, we’re going to be in the New York Times!


Question: What was a typical day on-set like? Meaning, how many hours did you work each day, what time did you have to get to work, etc.?
Thomson: Well, I was lucky - I was warned that I was going to work very, very hard by Elaine Rich, who was the producer of the show. And I had done daytime, at that point - and daytime is absolutely the crucible of hard work in this business. If you are playing a major part in a soap opera - I did Mason [Capwell] on Santa Barbara for two and a half years, and I was averaging 35 pages a day, five days a week, with two weeks off a year. That is a workload!

Now, in Dynasty, nobody worked every day of the week. Linda came closest. I worked two or three days a week, because I was very easy to work with. I’m very easy to work with - I got the crew off to a good start - so when I worked, it was usually...I was first thing up in the morning.

So I’d be up at 4:30, to be on the set in makeup by 6:30, rehearsal at 7, to be working at 7:30. But I’d be through by 9 [in the morning].

I worked maybe two or three days a week. My workload was not heavy, and it was the best part for a man on the show - and I include Blake in that. Adam was far and away the best part for a guy, because all I had to do was call on my ‘darker’ side! [laughs]

And that made life very lucky for me, because when I did personal appearances, people were expecting this monster to arrive, and all I had to do was smile and they went, "Oh my gosh!"

Whereas, John James [Jeff Colby], they expected to be a prince, and if J.J. frowned, they thought, "What’s his problem? He’s a prince!"


Question: Did Adam love Kirby Aynders, or did he want to be with her just as a way of getting back at Jeff?
Thomson: I think a bit of both. He never loved anybody, except maybe Dana. I think he probably loved Dana.

Kirby was this incredibly luscious servant’s daughter, whom he felt he could take advantage of. And I remember reading the lines of the script, and I thought, "I can’t say this!" And they [the writers/producers] insisted. They didn’t insist often - they were pretty good about re-writes. But I think I had to say to [Kirby], "I will still respect you in the morning" after I raped her. It was some God-awful, horrible line! Not even Adam could say it, but yes, I had to say it.


Question: What was it like for you to do the rape scene with Kathleen Beller (Kirby Aynders)?
Thomson: She was wonderful...she was very brave...she said, "Pull my hair" - because I was treating her with kid gloves, because I am not a violent individual, and I think rape is the ugliest crime in the books - because the victim survives.

Murder, be it ever so hideous, it ends with a life ending. But with a rape...the victim has survived, and the victim has to live with this horrendous experience for the rest of her life.

Kathleen, as I said, was very brave...when she got home, her scalp was sore...she was black and blue...

It was the hardest scene I’ve ever had to play. It was utterly foreign to me - utterly - as I think it would be to most men...it’s the ugliest thing in the world.


Question: What was your favorite Adam storyline, and your least favorite?
Thomson: I think my favorite was the first one, actually. They did my introduction in the most wonderful way. Lurene Tuttle [Kate Torrance] was the actress who played my grandmother. Lurene was part of Orson Welles’s Fireside Theatre - that’s how far back she goes. She became, in her later years, a coach - she coached Helen Hunt...

I think that was the last time a character was introduced on to the show, in the early days, where they really took a lot of care to do it well.

And when that rattle [the silver rattle with "AAC" engraved on it] appeared, and [Kate Torrance] made me look into the mirror and say my name ["Adam Carrington"], I got shivers. Brilliant.

And [Adam’s] pursuit of his birthright - and the final acceptance - I’m not sure how many times he was accepted and then rejected, but finally he was accepted - this was before DNA was popular, I guess - that was my favorite storyline.

My least favorite was the one involving the rape [of Kirby]. And, when I went onto The Colbys, Jeff and Adam had an enormous fistfight in the library because Fallon had told Jeff, her husband, that her brother Adam had raped her. And it was a dream, and it was this sort of suppressed sexual dream she’d had, and [Jeff] believed her, and we had this fight...anything involving rape is deeply unpleasant and no thank you!...


Question: Who do you keep in touch with from the cast?
Thomson: We don’t, actually. I think that Linda communicates with John. He went through a period...it was evident when the reunion happened about three years ago that John was not well. And I was very happy to hear from Linda that he is his old self again...

I don’t think anyone keeps in particular touch, but we’re always glad to see each other when we do get together.

We shot the last episode in May ’89, so it’s almost exactly twenty years ago!

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)

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