TLDR: Joan Van Ark and her on-screen husband became one of television’s most beloved couples across thirteen seasons. What almost no one remembers is that Van Ark actually pushed back against the casting decision that paired them together, and that her own path to acting started with a teenage interview that changed the course of her life.
Joan Martha Van Ark was born June 16, 1943, in New York City to Dorothy Jean and Carroll Van Ark, a public relations consultant and writer. The family later moved to Boulder, Colorado, where Van Ark grew up with three siblings.
A Teenage Interview Sent Her to Yale
At just 15, Van Ark worked as a student reporter and landed an interview with actress Julie Harris, who personally suggested she apply to the Yale School of Drama.
Van Ark took the advice, winning a scholarship and becoming one of the only students, and the only woman, accepted into Yale’s graduate acting program in 1964 without first holding an undergraduate degree.
She built genuinely serious stage credentials from there, training as a life member of The Actors Studio and performing at the Guthrie Theater in Molière’s The Miser opposite Hume Cronyn and Zoe Caldwell.
She made her Broadway debut in 1966 in Barefoot in the Park, and earned a Tony nomination in 1971 for a revival of The School for Wives.
She Married Her High School Sweetheart in Germany
Van Ark met John Marshall, a future KNBC-TV news reporter, in high school in Boulder, and the two married on February 1, 1966, in Trier, Germany. They had one daughter, Vanessa Marshall, born in 1969, who followed her mother into entertainment as a voice-over artist.
Her Signature Role Started as a Single Guest Spot
Van Ark first played Valene Ewing in 1978 in what was meant to be a one-time guest appearance on Dallas, before writers brought her back for a handful of additional episodes and eventually carried the character over into the 1979 spinoff Knots Landing.
She Actually Objected to Her Own TV Husband’s Casting
When creator David Jacobs was casting the recast role of Gary Ewing for the new spinoff, he called Van Ark specifically because she’d just worked with Ted Shackelford on an episode of Wonder Woman.
Van Ark has since revealed she wasn’t actually enthusiastic about the pairing at the time, despite the two going on to become one of television’s most beloved on-screen couples across thirteen seasons together.
Her Real-Life Mentor Later Played Her TV Mother-in-Law
In a genuine full-circle turn, Julie Harris, the same actress whose advice had sent a teenage Van Ark to Yale years earlier, later joined the cast of Knots Landing herself, playing Lilimae Clements, the mother of Van Ark’s own on-screen love interest Gary Ewing.
Her Character Got the Same Bizarre Treatment as Ciji Dunne
Van Ark left the show after its thirteenth season in a storyline where Valene was believed to have died in a car accident, echoing the same willingness to kill off major characters that had already produced the show’s stranger Ciji Dunne storyline years earlier.
The twist arrived in the series finale, which revealed Valene had actually survived all along, and Van Ark herself returned to play the reveal.
Across her thirteen seasons, Van Ark won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Actress twice, in 1986 and 1989, and was nominated a total of six times.
She also directed two episodes of the series herself, and became genuinely close friends off screen with costar Michele Lee, a friendship that mirrored their characters’ own bond on screen.
She Built a Real Directing Career After Leaving
After Knots Landing, Van Ark moved seriously into directing, earning a Humanitas Prize nomination for a 1994 ABC after-school special and an Emmy nomination for a 1997 short documentary.
She also hosted the Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast on CBS, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for that work in 1985.
She kept acting steadily too, with guest spots on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Cybill, and The Nanny, a voice role on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and a run playing Gloria Abbott on The Young and the Restless from 2004 to 2005, before the role was recast.
Joan Van Ark, Frequently Asked Questions
Did Joan Van Ark want Ted Shackelford cast as her TV husband?
Not really. Despite the two becoming one of television’s most beloved on-screen couples, Van Ark has said she wasn’t enthusiastic about the casting pairing when it was first proposed, having just worked with Shackelford on an unrelated show.
How long did Joan Van Ark play Valene on Knots Landing?
She played the role for thirteen of the show’s fourteen seasons, leaving in 1992 in a storyline where her character was believed dead, before returning for the 1993 series finale, which revealed she had survived.
What did Joan Van Ark do after Knots Landing?
She built a genuine directing career, earning a Humanitas Prize nomination and an Emmy nomination, hosted the Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast, and continued acting in shows including The Young and the Restless.
How did Joan Van Ark end up at Yale School of Drama?
At 15, she interviewed actress Julie Harris as a student reporter, and Harris personally suggested she apply. Van Ark won a scholarship and became one of the only students, and the only woman, admitted to Yale’s graduate acting program without an undergraduate degree.
