Joan Van Ark became well-known for her role as Valene Ewing on the show Dallas, but she is best remembered for the spinoff series Knots Landing. She returned to play her character again in 2012 for a special episode. Now, she is happily married to her high school boyfriend, and they have one daughter together.
Even though Van Ark is 78 years old, she is still active and doing well. Here’s everything you need to know about her life, including her belief that the decline of Knots Landing was her responsibility.
Joan Van Ark was born on June 16, 1943, in New York City, New York, as one of four children of Dorothy Jean Van Ark and Carroll Van Ark. She and her family moved to Boulder, Colorado when she was 7 years old, and later in her career, the change of setting helped her plenty.
Joan Van Ark – early life & career
Even though her parents – with her mother working as a writer and her father in public relations – never worked in the film business, Van Ark knew from the start that she wanted to become an actress.
When the quarterback of her high school football team didn’t ask her to prom, Joan shared with We Love Soaps that she made up her mind to pursue a career in show business.
“That developed more in Boulder. I auditioned for a play at the Community Playhouse. The quarterback on the football team didn’t ask me to the prom, so I said, ‘Screw boys,’ and went and auditioned for a play,” Joan Van Ark recalled.
“I didn’t get the part I auditioned for but got the flower girl and the bug bit. I did a monologue as my audition, and you could hear a pin drop. They complimented me so much I said, ‘Who needs guys?’
While performing in Denver, Van Ark met actress Julie Harris while interviewing her for a local newspaper, and the actress persuaded her to study acting and drama at the Yale Drama School.
Van Ark made history by becoming the youngest student to earn a scholarship to the prestigious school, and she was also the second woman to join. The first woman to enroll was Julie Harris, who played a big role in helping Van Ark get in.
“She contacted the dean and requested a meeting for me. To make a long story short, my parents took me to New Haven, Connecticut, where I met the dean, and he awarded me a scholarship,” she remembered. “It was meant to be.”
Valene Ewing on ‘Dallas’ and ‘Knots Landing’
Joan Van Ark started her acting career at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where she played a role in Moliere’s play, The Miser. After spending about a year at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., she joined the national touring company of Barefoot in the Park in 1963, which helped her make her Broadway debut. In 1971, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in The School for Wives.
After that, Joan shifted her focus to television. She appeared in shows like Temperature’s Rising, Spider-Woman, and Days of Our Lives, and even had a guest spot on Bonanza.
Although Joan had plenty of acting jobs, she was still searching for that big break as the 1980s were coming. In 1978, she started playing Valene Ewing on the hit show Dallas, which turned out to be a major role for her.
Knots Landing, which is a spinoff of Dallas, first aired in 1979. Joan Van Ark returned to play her character, Valene Ewing. She appeared in 327 episodes, working alongside Michele Lee, who played Karen, and Ted Shackelford, who portrayed Gary. This role made her a huge star.
Even though Knots Landing was a spinoff of Dallas, which focused on the wealthy and corrupt Ewing family, it was actually pitched to CBS years earlier.
At that time, the network was looking for a show about a “big rich family,” and they chose Dallas instead. However, Knots Landing eventually became very popular as CBS recognized how successful Dallas had become. After just one season, Knots Landing climbed into the top 20 TV ratings.
How Joan Van Ark almost missed out on her biggest role
Knots Landing focused on the lives of Gary Ewing and his wife Valene, who was played by Van Ark, as they made the choice to begin a fresh start in Knots Landing.
Interestingly, Van Ark almost lost the chance to play Valene Ewing. She mentioned that she had a “three-way clash” because she was also working on The Love Boat and filming a commercial in New York at the same time.
Ultimately, it was her husband, John Marshall, who encouraged her to go with Dallas. This turned out to be a really big and important choice.
“I got the call asking me to do a guest appearance in this show called Dallas, which was attracting a lot of buzz, but I said to my husband, ‘John, why should I even read this script? I can’t be in three places at once,’” she told Express. “Then he read it and said, ‘No, you’ve got to do it. It looks wonderful.’”
He convinced me to follow a schedule where I would be in LA for one day, then fly to Dallas for two days, spend two days in New York, and finally return to Texas. But when I see this old cast photo from Knots Landing, which is a spinoff of Dallas, I’m really happy I went along with his plan, she said.
Dallas and Knots Landing became a 15-year commitment for Van Ark, who became identified by her role. As earlier mentioned, she and Julie Harris had quite a history – and in 1980, they met again.
“I could stay forever on the show and be safe”
Joan Van Ark got the role of a character whose mother was played by Julie Harris in the show Knots Landing, and it felt like a dream come true for her.
In a 1984 interview with Florida Today, she shared, “When the producers told me they finally found someone to play my mother, I was so nervous.” She thought, “Oh my gosh, are they going to say Phyllis Diller or Zsa Zsa Gabor, or someone else?” But when they revealed it was Julie Harris, she was over the moon. “I couldn’t believe they chose her to be my mom. They didn’t even know we were friends!”
Joan was part of the show for 13 seasons and appeared in 327 episodes. However, in 1993, just one season after she left, Knots Landing was canceled. The reason Joan decided to leave wasn’t because she didn’t enjoy it; she just wanted to explore new opportunities.
“I could stay forever on the show and be safe,” Van Ark told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.
Three years back, I performed in Night of the Iguana in Williamstown, Massachusetts. I had a quote from Tennessee Williams stuck on my mirror, which was from an essay he wrote about success. It went something like this: “Security looks like a kidney-shaped pool in Los Angeles, where you just sit around waiting for your residual checks.” I was feeling pretty cozy while working on Knots, but I believe that artists shouldn’t get too comfortable.
At the same time, the television series became a huge part of Van Ark’s life. So even though she felt comfortable leaving, it was a tough blow since she thought it would be easier.
Blamed herself for ‘Knots Landing’ cancelation
I have cherished every moment of the 13 years I spent on that show, she expressed. David Jacobs, the creator of Knots Landing, has had a huge impact on my life and has taught me a lot about various things. Ted Shackelford is like the other half of my existence on the show, and he means a lot to me personally. The cast feels like family to me—we’ve gone through marriages, losses, and divorces together. Leaving is way harder than I ever imagined.
The show didn’t quite work without the great chemistry between characters Valen and Gary. In fact, Joan took the blame for the show being shut down.
“Well, it was my fault. I jumped over to NBC to do a pilot which did not sell,” she said. “I was so ready to go, after fourteen years with the one lady, so I auditioned for the pilot, and they cast me. It wasn’t as cleanly negotiated as it should have been. When the pilot didn’t sell, they asked me back, and I did do the four-hour finale of the show.”
Joan Van Ark moved on from soap operas but kept acting in various TV shows. She had small roles in series like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and also acted in several TV movies. From 2004 to 2005, Joan played the character Gloria Fisher in 55 episodes of the popular drama The Young and The Restless.
Joan Van Ark – marriage, husband, children
It’s common for celebrities in Hollywood to marry other celebrities, and show-biz marriages don’t always last very long.
But that wasn’t the case for Joan Van Ark, who met the love of her life back in high school. She met her husband, John Marshall, while the two were students in Boulder. In 1966, the couple married on a military base in Germany.
“Believe me, it was nothing like the marriages [Valene Ewing] has gone through,” she told UPI.
In 1969, they had a daughter named Vanessa Marshall, who decided to follow in the family’s footsteps and pursue a career in entertainment. She became a famous voice-over artist and chose to leave her on-camera acting behind. Instead, Vanessa has provided her voice for animated movies, TV shows, and many video games.
John Marshall became a successful Emmy-winning news reporter, working at KNBC-TV and NBC. He has had a thriving career, just like his wife Joan. While they were both busy building their careers, Vanessa was growing up.
For Van Ark, becoming a mother while trying to navigate through the business was tough. And she gives credit to her husband, John, for keeping the family together during those stressful years.
Van Ark shared with The Leader-Post in 1988 that her husband is the reason they have such an amazing daughter and why their marriage has remained strong. She said, “I’m the one who is dedicated and can’t just give up my time for other things.”
She continued, “He really wanted to be there to see Venessa grow up, and he wanted to be with me too. He understands that correspondents are always traveling. John made some career choices that I didn’t agree with because if it were me, I would have just packed my bags and waved goodbye at the airport.”
Joan Van Ark – net worth
Joan Van Ark, who is 78 years old, really loves running in addition to her acting career. She has finished a bunch of marathons and mentioned that running helps her more than seeing a psychologist. But when it comes to her husband, she said she would never go for a run with him.
Why? Because “it’s the quickest way to a divorce that I know of. You’re always criticizing the other’s style,” Joan said.
Over the past ten years, Joan Van Ark has kept busy performing in various theater productions and appearing in TV shows and films like Watercolor Postcards and Psycho Wedding Crasher. However, she will always be best known for her amazing roles in Dallas and Knots Landing.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Joan Van Ark has a net worth of around $10 million.
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