Joan Collins is to play Wallis Simpson in a new biopic focusing on the US socialite’s final years.
The film, currently titled The Bitter End (and previously known as In Bed with the Duchess), will be directed by Four Weddings and a Funeral’s Mike Newell and depict the last years of Simpson, who died in Paris in 1986, aged 89.
The script is written by Louise Fennell, author of two novels about the downfall of enormously famous celebrities, and the mother of Oscar-winning writer and director Emerald Fennell.
It will be the first high-profile film role for Collins, 91, in some years. The star of 1980s US soap Dynasty began her big-screen career in films such as Howard Hawks’ 1955 mega-flop Land of the Pharaohs as well as in The Opposite Sex (1956) and The Wayward Bus (1957).
Her biggest hits were in late 70s hits The Stud and The Bitch but Collins continued to work through the decades, most notably this century replacing Elizabeth Taylor as Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma’s mother, in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, and opposite Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine in TV film These Old Broads (2001).
Said Collins: “I am thrilled about the challenge of playing this iconic woman in a previously untold story.”
The decision in 1936 by Edward VIII to marry Simpson, who was twice divorced, triggered a constitutional crisis that led to Edward’s abdication and the throne being taken by his younger brother, George VI, the grandfather of current monarch Charles III.
Edward and Wallis spent much of the rest of their lives after the second world war in semi-exile in France, after their 1937 tour of Nazi Germany led many to conclude they were Hitler sympathisers. Edward died in 1972, after which she became increasingly frail.
She developed dementia, broke her hip twice and became a recluse, supported largely by an allowance from Queen Elizabeth II. Her French lawyer, Suzanne Blum, assumed power of attorney, and sold items belonging to the Duchess to her own friends at below market value. Biographers have since accused Blum of exploiting her client.
In 1980, Simpson lost the ability to speak and towards the end of her life was unable leave her bed or receive any visitors. Simpson said of her life after her third marriage: “You have no idea how hard it is to live out a great romance.”
Speaking to the Guardian in 2023, Collins said the script had been written for her. “It’s the true story of the last years of the Duchess of Windsor after the Duke dies. She was abused by this woman who took her over and took away her objects, her money, and left her practically destitute.
“You see her first of all when she’s full of pep and she’s got her young acolytes around her, then bit by bit she is destroyed by circumstances. It’s a very good script and it’s a great part for me. I’ve always been fascinated by Wallis, because I think she was unfairly treated.”
Simpson has previously been played by Lia Williams in The Crown, Joely Richardson in Wallis & Edward, Faye Dunaway in The Woman I Love, and Eve Best in The King’s Speech. Andrea Riseborough took the role in Madonna’s film W.
Collins is a vocal supporter of the British monarchy and was made a dame in 2015.