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Joan Collins to Play Wallis Simpson in Biopic My Duchess

The long-pursued project reframes Simpson’s final years in Paris through her bond with lawyer Suzanne Blum.

Overview

  • Collins will portray Wallis Simpson in My Duchess, directed by Mike Newell from a script by Louise Fennell.
  • Isabella Rossellini is cast as Suzanne Blum, the French lawyer who advised Simpson late in life.
  • Collins calls the role a passion project she has chased for decades to secure a meaningful part at her age.
  • She links her interest in Simpson to her own typecasting after Dynasty, saying Aaron Spelling’s line “Joan is Alexis” haunted her.
  • After Edward VIII abdicated to marry Simpson, they lived in France for decades, and she died in Paris in 1986.