A number of veteran Hollywood stars from the 1980s appeared at the Southfork Experience in Texas last week.
Charlene Tilton, Linda Gray and Audrey Landers were all there talking about their time on the wildly popular TV series Dallas.
And so was 81-year-old blonde pinup Joan Van Ark who came to fame in 1978 on the show that starred Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy,
Van Ark landed her most famous role of Valene Ewing on that series.
The character first appeared on Dallas, then was a leading character for 13 seasons on its spin-off Knots Landing, which aired from 1979 until 1992.
Joan Van Ark was seen this week at the Southfork Experience in Texas; pictured here in 1979
The Yale graduate came to fame in 1978 on Dallas; seen with Patrick Duffy
Her name has become synonymous with Knot’s Landing.
She left the show in 1992, although she did return for the series’ final two episodes in 1993 as well as the 1997 miniseries Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac.
Joan reprised her role of Valene in an episode of the new Dallas series in 2013.
From 2004 to 2005, she starred in the soap opera The Young and the Restless.
The star was born in New York City then moved to Boulder, Colorado.
Van Ark began her professional career in theater after graduating from Yale.
She was in Molière’s The Miser, Death of a Salesman and Barefoot in the Park.
The blonde then moved to Los Angeles where she co-starred with Bette Davis in The Judge and Jake Wyler, a 1972 two-hour TV movie.
Van Ark played the role of Erika in M*A*S*H in 1973 as well.
Van Ark also popped up on Bonanza, Night Gallery, The Six Million Dollar Man, Petrocelli, The Love Boat, Quincy, Kojak, Barnaby Jones and Rhoda.
She also appeared in three separate episodes of Medical Center, Cannon and The Rockford Files.
Here she is seen as a young woman as she got her start in theater
She is best known for her role as Valene Ewing, which began on Dallas in 1978 and then continued in the Knots Landing spinoff of the series in 1979
The cast of Knots landing is pictured: Joan, Ted Shackelford, Donna Mills, Nicolette Sheridan, Kevin Dobson, William Devane, and Michele Lee
The star with Doug Sheehan on Knot’s Landing
Van Ark was also a regular cast member of the sitcoms Temperatures Rising (1972–73) and We’ve Got Each Other (1977–78).
She also did an episode of The Love Boat in 1978.
Next was Knots Landing, in which she co-starred for thirteen of the show’s fourteen seasons.
She left in 1992, although she did return for its final two episodes in May 1993.
Her character was married three times to husband Gary Ewing, played in the series by Ted Shackelford; and during the show’s run, also had two other marriages: to Ben Gibson (Doug Sheehan) and Danny Waleska (Sam Behrens).
Joan is pictured with her husband of 56 years, award-winning TV reporter John Marshall
In 1997, Van Ark reprised her role of Valene Ewing in the CBS mini-series Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac.
In 2005, she appeared in the non-fiction reunion Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again, in which she looked back with the other cast members about the show.
She worked with Christopher Meloni in Spin Doctors then did Boys Will Be Boys: The Ali Cooper Story (1994).
She originated the role of Gloria Fisher Abbott on The Young and the Restless from 2004 to 2005.
(L-R) Audrey Landers, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Van Ark, Charlene Hilton and Steve Kanaly of Dallas in 2023
A fan named Alicia S Anderson took this photo from Southfork Experience this month: Joan is on the right in beige
Here was the Instagram post for her appearance
In 1978, she also appeared in an episode of Wonder Woman with Shackelford, who would later become her onscreen husband Gary Ewing on both Dallas and Knots Landing.
After Knot’s she did The Nanny and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
In 2001, she was on the Howard Stern-produced show Son of the Beach.
In 2008, she was reunited with her Knots Landing co-star Donna Mills in an episode of Nip/Tuck.
In 2013, she guest-starred in an episode of the new Dallas series, in which she reprised the role of Valene Ewing.
In 1966, Van Ark married news reporter John Marshall who was her high school sweetheart.
The couple’s only child is singer Vanessa Marshall.