Joan Collins was originally picked to play Beverly Leslie in Will & Grace.
Leslie Jordan, who took on the iconic role of Beverley, has admitted that he wasn’t actually the first choice to take on the role. The legendary Joan Collins was in fact the woman that the part was written for. When Collins wasn’t available, he stepped up for the role as Karen Walker’s arch nemesis.
“The part of Beverley Leslie was originally written for Joan Collins,” he revealed to Instinct Magazine. “That is a true story. The point was for her to steal Rosario the maid away from Megan Mullally’s character and then they would have a big Dynasty cat fight.
“But then Ms. Collins couldn’t do it, so they just changed the character, and I went out and auditioned. People think it was written for me because ‘Leslie Jordan’ and ‘Beverley Leslie’, but nope, Ms. Joan Collins was Beverley Leslie.”
Eventually Joan Collins did make an appearance on the show in 2000. She had a guest role as Helena Barnes in “My Best Friend’s Tush.” It’s not quite Beverley Leslie, but at least the producers managed to get her on the show.
