July 23, 2000 02:17pm
Modest Joan turned down 'Graduate' role
Source: Reuters/Variety
(LONDON) -- British actress Joan Collins, who shot to fame in a series of raunchy films in the 1970s, turned down a starring role in a stage version of ``The Graduate'' because she did not want to take her clothes off, the Sunday Express reported.
The newspaper said Collins, 67, was offered the role of middle-aged temptress Mrs Robinson in London's successful West End adaptation of the play, but refused on the grounds she would have to strip.
Collins, whose scantily-clad roles in ``The Stud'' and ``The Bitch'' propelled her to fame and who posed for Playboy at the age of 50, told producers that disrobing on stage was ``unseemly,'' the newspaper said.
The role is currently being played by Hollywood actress Kathleen Turner whose 20-second nude scene has helped ensure sell-out performances.
Turner is due to finish her run at the end of July and will be replaced by model Jerry Hall, former wife of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger.
Hall defended the play's nudity, saying it was an integral part of the character, the newspaper said.
``I'm very fond of Joan and I'm sure she would be wonderful in the part but I don't remember her wearing very much in The Stud and The Bitch,'' Hall told the Sunday Express.
Collins is best known for her role as Alexis Colby in the U.S. soap, Dynasty, but has stuck to stage appearances in recent years.
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