The diva of Dynasty is now a dame. Joan Collins, who played the scheming, shoulder-pad-wearing Alexis Carrington in the hit 1980s TV soap, was made the female equivalent of a knight in the annual New Year's honours list announced by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
The actress was recognised for her services to charity. The 81-year-old is a long-time supporter of non-profit groups that help children.
London-born Collins said it was “humbling to receive this level of recognition from my queen and country, and I am thrilled and truly grateful.”
The actress Kristin Scott Thomas, who is due to play the British monarch in the stage play The Audience this year, was also made a dame. She said she initially didn't believe the news.
"I am thrilled, astonished and worried that I might suddenly wake up," said the star, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997 for The English Patient.
The fashion designer Mary Quant, who made the miniskirt synonymous with 1960s style, was also named a dame, as were the television presenter Esther Rantzen, who founded the ChildLine telephone service for neglected and abused youngsters, and the British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
The veteran actor John Hurt, star of The Naked Civil Servant, The Elephant Man and Alien, was made a knight.
The comic actor James Corden, soon to take over from the Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson as the host of The Late Late Show on American TV, was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE. The same honour went to his former girlfriend, the actress Sheridan Smith.
The actress Emily Watson, who was Oscar-nominated for the films Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie, also received an OBE. The music producer Peter Asher, half of the 1960s pop duo Peter and Gordon, was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE. So were comedian Meera Syal, a star of the groundbreaking sketch comedy show Goodness Gracious Me, and the Scottish writer Ali Smith, whose novel How to Be Both was shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize.
A century after the start of the First World War, the ceramic artist Paul Cummins and the stage designer Tom Piper were recognised for creating a sea of ceramic poppies that filled the moat of the Tower of London in tribute to the war dead. They were made Members of the Order of the British Empire, or MBEs.
Britain’s honours are bestowed by the monarch, but recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.
The honours mostly reward long-serving politicians, diplomats, civil servants and royal courtiers, but the list also includes celebrities and people honoured for their work in communities or specialist fields. This year’s full list included more than 1,100 recipients.
