Series Description

The Colbys was a 60 minute prime-time soap opera drama series that aired on ABC for 49 episodes from 1985-1987, It was a "spin-off" of the series, "Dynasty (1981)" and featured Charleton Heston starred on the series as Jason Colby, the life-long enemy and fellow billionaire of Blake Harrington (played by John Forsythe on "Dynasty"). Both storylines were pretty similar ... rich family fights against each other except when they have a common enemy (usually someone trying to steal their fortune). Some members want to sleep with other members wives or husbands. Well, you get the picture!

The Colbys Cast

Charlton Heston .... Jason Colby
John James .... Jeff Colby
Barbara Stanwyck .... Constance Colby (1985-1986)
Stephanie Beacham .... Sable Scott Colby
Katherine Ross .... Francesca "Frankie" Scott Colby Hamilton Langdon
Ricardo Montalban .... Zachary Powers
Emma Samms .... Fallon Carrington Colby
Tracy Scoggins .... Monica Colby
Claire Yarlett .... Bliss Colby
Maxwell Caulfield .... Miles Colby
David Hedison .... Lord Roger Langdon
Ivan Bonar .... Henderson Palmer
Kim Morgan Greene .... Channing Carter Colby (1986-1987)
Joseph Campanella .... Hutch Corrigan (1985-1986)
Ken Howard .... Garrett Boydston (1985-1986)
Adrian Paul .... Kolya "Nikolai" Rostov (1986-1987)

The Colbys Trivia

The Colbys cost one million dollars per episode to produce, mostly due to actors' salaries. That made it extremely expensive by mid-1980s standard and was a major reason why the show was canceled.

As if the salaries weren't already high enough, the producers originally tried to cast Katharine Hepburn as Constance Colby, Faye Dunaway as "Frankie" and Burt Lancaster as Jason Colby. Gregory Peck and Elizabeth Taylor were also approached.

Her role as Constance Colby on The Colbys was the last acting job for legendary actress Barbara Stanwyck ("The Big Valley"). She passed away just 3 1/2 years after her last episode aired from heart and lung failure. Her fantastic career nearly lasted 60 years!

The exterior shots of the Colby Enterprises building were actually of the First Interstate Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California. Zachary Power's headquarters building was actually the Bank of America building. Those buildings are very close to each other and the two companies were business adversaries in real life just like the companies in those buildings were on the Colbys!