Joan Van Ark rose to fame playing Valin Ewing in the television series Dallas, but above all in the spin-off Knots Landing. The actress reprised her role in 2012, appearing in one episode, and today she is happily married to her high school sweetheart, with whom she has one daughter.
Van Ark has aged, but the 78-year-old actress is still going strong. Here’s everything you need to know about Joan Van Ark’s life — and why she claims she is to blame for the collapse of Knots Landing.
Joan Van Ark was born on 16 June 1943 in New York City, one of four children of Dorothy Jean Van Ark and Carroll Van Ark. When she was 7, she moved with her family to Boulder, Colorado, and later in her career, the change of scenery helped her greatly.
Joan Van Ark — Early Life and Career
Although her parents — her mother was a writer and her father was a public relations professional — never worked in film, Van Ark knew from an early age that she wanted to be an actress.
She told We Love Soaps that when the quarterback of her school football team did not ask her to the prom, Joan decided she would work in show business.
‘It developed in Boulder. I auditioned for a play at the Community Playhouse. The quarterback of the football team didn’t ask me to the prom, and I said, “To hell with boys” — and went to audition for the play,’ Joan Van Ark recalls.
I didn’t get the part I auditioned for, but I got the part of a flower girl, and I was hooked. At the audition, I delivered a monologue, and you could hear a pin drop. They praised me so much that I said, ‘Who needs boys?’
While performing in Denver, Van Ark met actress Julie Harris, who was interviewing for a local newspaper, and she convinced her to study acting and drama at the Yale School of Drama.
As a result, Van Ark became the youngest student to receive a scholarship to this prestigious school and the second woman to be admitted. The first woman was Julie Harris, who helped Van Ark get into the school.
‘She wrote to the dean and asked him to meet with me. Long story short, my parents drove me to New Haven, Connecticut, to meet with the dean, who awarded me a scholarship,’ she recalls. ‘It was meant to be.’
Valin Ewing in the television series Dallas and Airplane
Van Ark began her professional career at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, where she played the lead role in Molière’s play The Miser. After working for about a year at the Arena Stage in Washington, she joined the national touring company of Barefoot in the Park in 1963, which led to her Broadway debut. In 1971, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play after starring in The School for Wives.
By this point, Joan Van Ark had begun working in front of the camera rather than on stage. She appeared in television series such as The Heat Is On, Spider-Woman, Days of Our Lives, and even in an episode of Bonanza.
Although Joan Van Ark had no shortage of work, by the early 1980s she was still searching for her big break. In 1978, she appeared several times as Valen Ewing in the series Dallas, which led her to the role of a lifetime.
Knots Landing, a spin-off of Dallas, premiered in 1979, and Joan Van Ark reprised her role as Valen Ewing. She appeared in 327 episodes — alongside Michelle Lee as Karen and Ted Shackleford as Gary — and became a mass star.
Although the series was a spin-off of Dallas — about the corrupt but wealthy Ewing clan — it was originally moved to CBS a few years earlier.
However, the network needed a series about a ‘big, rich family,’ and Dallas was chosen. But later, when the studio realised how big Dallas had become, Knots Landing became a huge success and made it into the top 20 in the television ratings in just one season.
How Joan Van Ark almost missed out on her biggest role
Knots Landing became the story of Gary Ewing and his wife Valyn, played by Van Ark, and how they decided to start a new life in Knots Landing.
However, Van Ark almost missed out on the role of Valin Ewing. She explained that she had a ‘three-way collision’ when she was filming Love Boat and doing commercials in New York at the same time.
In the end, it was her husband, John Marshall, whom we will return to in a moment, who convinced her to choose Dallas. And it was an important — and very important — decision.
I got a call offering me a guest role on Dallas, which was creating a lot of buzz, but I said to my husband, “John, why should I even read the script? I can’t be in three places at once,”” she told the Express. He read it and said, ‘No, you have to do it. It looks great.’
“So he talked me into making a schedule where I was in Los Angeles for one day, then flew to Dallas for two days, then two days in New York and back to Texas. But looking at this old photo of the cast of Knots Landing — a spin-off of Dallas — I’m so glad I listened to him,” she added.
Dallas and Knots Landing became 15-year commitments for Van Ark, who began to identify with her role. As mentioned, she and Julie Harris had a history — and in 1980, they met again.
‘I could stay on the show forever and be safe.’
Harris landed the role of Van Arks’ mother on Knots Landing, and for the actress, it was too good to be true.
‘When the producers told me they had finally found someone to play my mother, I held my breath,’ she recalled in a 1984 interview with Florida Today.
I thought, ‘My God, are they going to name Phyllis Diller or Zsa Zsa Gabor, or who?’ Then they said it was Julie Harris, and I was just stunned. I couldn’t believe they chose her to play my mother. They didn’t even know we were friends.”
Joan Van Ark stayed with the series for 13 seasons and 327 episodes. Then, in 1993, just one season after her departure, ‘The Love Boat’ was cancelled. But the reason Joan left wasn’t because she didn’t like it. On the contrary, it was because she wanted to try something new.
‘I could have stayed on the show forever and been safe,’ Van Ark told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.
But three years ago, I was in The Night of the Iguana in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and on my mirror was a quote from Tennessee Williams, taken from an essay he wrote about success. It said, and I’m paraphrasing: ‘Security is a kidney-shaped pool in Los Angeles where you sit and wait for your residual cheques.’ In Knots, I was in a comfortable position, and an artist should not be comfortable.
At the same time, the television series became a huge part of Van Ark’s life. And although she felt comfortable, leaving was a heavy blow, as she thought everything would be easier.
Vinnie blamed herself for the cancellation of Knots Landing.
‘I love the 13 years I spent on that show more than life itself,’ she said. Knots Landing creator David Jacobs had a huge impact on my life and taught me so many things. Ted [Shackleford] is the other half of every breath I took on the show, and personally, he is a big part of my heart. These people are my family: we share marriages, deaths, divorces. Leaving is much harder than I thought it would be.”
The show wouldn’t have worked without the great chemistry between the characters of Velen and Gary. In fact, Joan took the blame for the show’s cancellation.
‘Well, it was my fault. I moved to NBC to star in a pilot that didn’t sell,’ she says. ‘I was so ready to leave after fourteen years of working with one lady, so I auditioned for the pilot, and they took me. It wasn’t as clean as it should have been. When the pilot didn’t sell, they asked me to come back, and I did the four-hour finale of the show.’
Joan Van Ark left the soap opera business but continued to appear in many television series. She had small roles in television series, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and appeared in several television films. In 2004-2005, Joan played Gloria Fisher in 55 episodes of the hit television drama The Young and the Restless.
Joan Van Ark — marriage, husband, children
Hollywood celebrities usually marry other celebrities, and marriages in show business do not always last long.
But this is not the case for Joan Van Ark, who met the love of her life while still at school. She met her husband, John Marshall, when they were studying in Boulder. In 1966, the couple got married at a military base in Germany.
‘Believe me, it was nothing like the marriages [Valine Ewing] went through,’ she said in an interview with UPI.
In 1969, they had a daughter, Vanessa Marshall, who also chose a career in entertainment. She became a well-known voice actress and effectively gave up her acting career on camera. Instead, Vanessa Marshall voiced animated films, television series and several video games.
John Marshall became an Emmy Award-winning news anchor, working for KNBC-TV and NBC. He had a successful career, as did his wife Joan, and while the couple strove for success in their respective fields, Vanessa grew up.
Van Ark found it difficult to be a mother and try to navigate the business world at the same time. She credits her husband, John, with keeping the family together during those stressful years.
‘It is because of him that we have the most wonderful daughter in the world and our marriage remains strong,’ Van Ark said in an interview with The Leader-Post newspaper in 1988. ‘I feel like I’m a devoted person who can’t devote time to one thing or another.’
‘He didn’t want to miss out on watching Vanessa grow up, and he didn’t want to miss out on me,’ she added. ‘He knows that reporters live out of suitcases. John made a career choice that I didn’t agree with, because if it were me, I would have packed my bags and waved goodbye at the airport.’
Joan Van Ark — net worth
In addition to acting, Joan Van Ark is passionate about running. The 78-year-old singer has completed several marathons and explained that she runs instead of going to a psychologist. However, when it comes to her husband, she says she would never go running with him.
Why? Because ‘it’s the fastest way to divorce that I know.’ ‘You’re always criticising the other person’s style,’ says Joan.
Over the past decade, Joan Van Ark has continued to work on stage, appearing in several theatre productions and starring in television series and films such as Watercolour Postcards and The Wedding Psychopath. But she will be best remembered for her brilliant roles in the series Dallas and Knott’s Creek.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Joan Van Ark has a net worth of approximately £10 million.
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