“Knots” aired for 14 seasons (1979-93), becoming network TV's second longest running drama after “Gunsmoke.” The show's popularity peaked in 1983-84 (11th in the Nielsen ratings) and 1984-85 (9th).
“TV Guide did a quote that the three of us can be compared to Earth Wind and Fire,” Joan said of her female co-stars. “Michele was the Earth, I was the Wind and Donna was the Fire. I think that really captured it.”
Valene, a Texas girl turned Californian, married Gary Ewing (Ted Shackleford) three times and in between wed two other men. The triangle among Valene, Gary and Abby formed numerous “Knots” storylines.
"She went through so much and landed on both feet,” Joan told the website www.knotslanding.net., speaking of her character “She was strong in a realistic kind of way. So many people came through her life but she persevered....I don't think Val was weak or needy. Otherwise I couldn't have gotten out of bed to play her."
Classic TV Beauties 1980s Countdown
JOAN VAN ARK as Valene Ewing in "Knots Landing"
Valene was the sweet girl who reluctantly moved to Knots Landing, endured husband Gary (Ted Shackleford) and his dalliances with Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), and prospered as a talented writer by penning a thinly-veiled expose of the Ewings.
A character who originated on “Dallas” as Lucy Ewing's mother, Valene became best friends with Karen Fairgate MacKenzie (Michele Lee) in the long running prime time soap about four couples who resided on a cul-de-sac in a southern California coastal suburb. .
.No. 30
“So I rushed down there, wondering how I could commute from New York to Dallas, which I did do” she told the website www.ultimatedallas.com in a 2006 interview. “And the two part guest shot turned in a fifteen year commitment as the character of Valene Ewing.”
From the book “Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime Time Soap,” Joan recalled the early origins of developing her character.
“I thought the script was wonderful and Valene was a great character. But we created her within those two episodes,” she said. “I remember going to wardrobe and getting a peachy pink waitress uniform, and the shoes. And I was trying to get that Texas sound, her all important accent. And so we created her layer by layer.”
Born in New York City, Joan was named after the saint Joan of Arc because her father knew that she would become famous.
At age 15 Joan interviewed Julie Harris for a school newspaper and the actress later recommended that Joan apply at the Yale School of Drama. Joan become the second youngest student in the school's history, second to Harris, who ironically, played Joan's mother (Lilamae Clements) in “Knots Landing.”
“I want to play trailer trash...I have this need to play a funny, zany character after years of playing Valene,” she said of that character. “I'd like to do ten of these characters if I had the chance. Though I'll probably wind up playing 'Grandmother from Hell.'”
Joan reunited with Donna Mills in 2008 for an episode of “Nip/Tuck.”
Summing up her acting philosophy, Joan said, "I adore an actor's smorgasbord of roles, of the opportunity to create a new person from the inside out, and living with one is a little – is a lot trickier, actually, it's a lot trickier -- and it's not soul food as much as a variety of characters that you really dig down deep and discover and illuminate, bring to life.”
Before “Knots,” Joan signed a contract with Universal Studios and co-starred with Bette Davis in “The Judge and Jake Wyler,” a TV pilot that didn't get picked up. She appeared as a regular in sitcoms “Temperatures Rising” (1972-73) and “We've Got Each Other” (1977-78).
She guest-starred in TV series “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Kojak,” “The Rockford Files,” and “Cannon,” among others, and starred in four episodes of “The Love Boat.”
Joan left “Knots” after the 13th season to star in “Spin Doctors,” an NBC sitcom. The pilot was aired but the show wasn't picked up.
Joan made her last appearance as Valene in 1997 in “Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac.”
In 2001, she took a different type of role as Ima Cummings in the Howard Stern-produced “Baywatch” spoof “Son of a Beach.”
A spin-off from “Dallas,” “Knots Landing” has often been called a precursor to the 21st century prime-time soap “Desperate Housewives.”
“Knots was about the relationships that were built over many years,” Joan said. “It's also [about] strength through adversity but more about community.”
When Joan was offered a two-part guest shot in “Dallas” as Lucy Ewing's mother she was set to fly to New York for two days to do Estee Lauder commercials and she wasn't sure she could do two jobs at the same time.
