As for Oxenberg's salary, she already had a raise since all the actors/actress negociated an automatic raise for each new season. But Oxenberg wanted the same salary than Heather Lokclear and Aaron Spelling thought she did not deserved it. For me, he was quite right here What was not right was the recast.
They could have put Amanda in the hospital instead of Jackie (the recast would have been okay for a couple of scenes) and change the plots for Michael. Leslie could have come earlier to replace Amanda.
It's interesting that Oxenberg wanted a salary on par with Locklear. I think that is the first I've heard of that. Upon examination of the situation with both actresses at the end of Season 6, it could be argued that Locklear was in a more powerful position in terms of where she fit into the entire production. Heather definitely had seniority over Catherine, having been on Dynasty in some capacity for four years, as opposed to Catherine's two year stint. Heather also had the advantage of starring on one of Spelling's other modestly hit shows, T.J Hooker, the same time she was occasionally appearing on Dynasty during Seasons 3-5. Not to mention having guested on Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and other Spelling shows (like all Spelling "contract players" had to do). If Heather was a "troublemaker" behind the scenes, Spelling would not of put her full time on Dynasty in Season 6 once T.J. Hooker wound down. It could be argued that she rightfully earned her salary on the show, whatever that salary might of been. It doesn't surprise anyone really that when Heather appeared on Melrose Place in the 1990's in what was at first supposed to be a limited role, and helped save the show with her portrayal of Amanda Woodward, Spelling would then refer to her as his lucky charm, or something like that.
Catherine, on the other hand, didn't quite have the same cache Heather had built up by the summer of 1986. True, it can be argued that the addition of the Amanda character in Season 5 helped propel the show to #1 in the ratings for that 1984-1985 television season. It might be a matter of being in the right place at the right time, in terms of the introduction of the Amanda character, and the casting of Catherine in the role. At the beginning of Season 5, the show had lost Pamela Sue Martin, and with her went Fallon (at least temporarily), which meant there was not a younger female perspective on the show. Heather was still only appearing sporadically, due to her commitments on T.J. Hooker, and Kathleen Beller's Kirby was gone as well. Though Claudia was married to Steven, she still skewed "older" due to her past history with Matthew and Krystle. The time was ripe to introduce a new younger female character, a long-lost Carrington daughter, who could be a source of renewed tension between Blake and Alexis. In a way it was inspired to make the new daughter British, giving her an identity separate from the very American Fallon. I also give the show credit for not (for once) doing the obvious and having Amanda and Jeff interact and him falling for her, as a replacement for Fallon. Having Amanda fall in love with Dex, her mother's hot husband, ensured that the Amanda character had strong ties to one of the main characters of the show. As well, it cannot be disputed that, whatever skills Catherine lacked as an actress, she more than made up for in attitude, countenance, and style. She was a younger Joan Collins in many ways, the way she wore the outfits, the way she pouted, her haughty stares, she fit in with the tone and style of Season 5. Simply put, Catherine's Amanda worked. And when it was decided to have the royal wedding cliffhanger, it was again a question of the right time, right show, and the right actress to do it. In the mid-80s North America was fascinated with Britain's Royal Family, specifically Princess Diana. This was well before the public knew what was going on behind the scenes in the palace. The fact that Catherine's own mother is deposed Royalty, and is related to the British Royal Family to boot, not to mention that Catherine's only other big role was playing Princess Diana in a TV movie of the week before she started on Dynasty, it fed into the zeitgeist of that time. It is not surprising that Catherine might have had an inflated sense of self in terms of her contribution and worth to the show.
If you look at both actresses during Season 6, both were heavily involved in the two storylines credited with damaging Dynasty: Heather and the Rita/Krystle storyline, and Catherine with the Moldavian aftermath. One thing with Heather's situation, even though the storyline was convoluted and just too much for Dynasty, she was front and centre with Linda Evans, so she got screen time, and she did act the Hell out of it, from Sammy Jo's initial scheming to her eventual redemption. Sammy Jo grew as a character and Heather did a great job with what she was given. Amanda in the first half of Season 6, on the other hand, didn't fare as well as a character. The character went from having a prominent part in the previous season interacting with Alexis and Dex, to being relegated to a few scenes interacting mainly with dull Prince Michael, and those scenes were mainly her being jealous of Michael and his interaction with the Duchess of Brana, or being treated like garbage by Michael, or questioning her marriage to Michael. Weeks on end of this. The character of Amanda went from being the motivating force in her storyline, to being a bit-player. Now, it can be said that once the season was retooled and the Moldavians were sent packing, the Amanda character did spring back somewhat: bedding Dex, being disowned by Alexis, attempting suicide, sniping with Sammy Jo, and having interaction/an attraction (I guess attraction, their relationship was all over the place) with new stud Clay. The problem seemed though, that after months of misuse, besides the resolution of the Alexis/Dex/Amanda triangle, what the writers came up with for the character just didn't seem to gell as well as it should. A part of that might of been the fact that after the Moldavian fiasco, they tried to make Amanda more "North American' in tone and style, and stripped away what Catherine could do well, working with her natural British/European style and countenance. International was out, All-American was in. By the end of the season, Heather's character was in a much healthier state than Catherine's was.
Once Season 6 ended, and Catherine's firing from the show was announced in July of 1986, the press reports hint at some tension between her and Spelling. The July 19, 1986 Lakeland Ledger story (
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pbBOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cPsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7047,1069781 ) states that Catherine heard rumours she was going to be fired from the show while vacationing in Europe that summer prior to work resuming on Dynasty and phoned Spelling to make sure this wasn't true. At that point it wasn't. But still, it hints that there must of been some concern, for some reason, for Catherine to get assurance her job was secure. According to Spelling, everything was fine until Catherine started her power-play for more money weeks later. Now, because the above link tells Spelling's side of the story, it doesn't portray Catherine in a favourable light, stating that she was refusing to report to work when production on Season 7 started, and that when contacted by Spelling, her new agent made demands for more money and creative control of her character. Both these points were major no-no's in Spelling's eyes. Even the announcement of her departure caused tension. According to the E! True Hollywood Story: Dynasty TV show, Catherine states that she and the show agreed to an amicable parting of the ways, whereas Spelling issued a statement saying she was flat-out fired! Of course, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Still, whether it was due to greedy new management giving her bad advice, or by her own free will, she did roll the dice for more from the Dynasty pie that summer, and she lost big-time.
It would be interesting to know if any sort of negotiation process was initiated with Catherine, once she started playing games and not reporting to work, and her true demands were made by her new agent. Or, was it a flat-out "You're FIRED!" from the get-go. If it was the later, which seems likely, knowing what we know about Spelling, it doesn't really suggest that the relationship between Spelling and Oxenberg was the strongest. Yet again, maybe he thought it was, and that sense of betrayal (which the article states Spelling feeling) by Catherine enraged him enough to fire her right away.
In the end, as history shows, Catherine was fired, and the ensuing panic resulted in the hasty hiring of Karen Cellini in a role that was so wrong for her. So wrong in fact, it resulted in Karen being blamed for the recasting failure, and her being fired only months later. It's plain to see that, if Catherine Oxenberg did consider herself worth the same salary as Heather Locklear, Aaron Spelling ultimately did not. For her part, Heather Locklear stayed the course and survived both "Amanda" actresses to become a major part of Dynasty right to the last show, three seasons later. And worth every penny she got.........
), although wait, at the bottom, is that Troy Beyer? Hard to tell, the picture's so grainy... But anyway, back to Catherine, the fact that she's wearing a suit instead of an evening gown reminds me of how PSM wore one during that one Season 4 promo... yet *another* detail that made Catherine playing Pamela's sister so perfect.
