So what should we make of the elders of cinema plying their trade on the small screen? In years gone by, the stars of Old Hollywood would have balked at moving into TV. To do so would have been a sure sign their career was on the rocks, though Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Collins both shrugged off the snobs in the 1980s when they joined the casts of The Thorn Birds and Dynasty respectively. Collins became a bigger star as Dynasty’s uber-bitch Alexis Carrington than she’d ever been as a twentysomething under contract at 20th Century Fox starring in films such as Land of the Pharaohs and The Opposite Sex. Conversely, Charlton Heston’s toe-curling turn on Dynasty spin-off The Colbys had the opposite effect, all but killing off his career. After that, the actor stuck to comedy cameos and NRA rallies.