An Interview with Joan Van Ark

An Interview with Joan Van Ark

Written by Jim Suva

I recently had the pleasure to talk with Joan Van Ark. Many of you will remember her as Valene Ewing from Dallas and Knots Landing.  Joan played Valene for 15 seasons on both TV series.  In fact, she appeared this past season as Valene in the Dallas reboot on TNT. She has recently been granting interviews, promoting the airing of Knots Landing in England. They will be rebroadcasting the entire 14 seasons of the show.

Below is a transcript of our conversation.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in New York City.  New York, New York.  I lived ‘til the age of seven in West Nyack, where our house was. Then, we moved to Boulder Colorado.  So I always say there are two sides to me.  I am a Gemini, so there are twin personalities. Gemini twins. There is a New York side of me and a Boulder, Colorado side of me. I think Valene, whom I played in Knots Landing and Dallas is the Boulder, Colorado in me. Growing up riding horseback and things like that. I am split between the Manhattan side of me and the Boulder, Colorado in me.

How and when did you know you wanted to be in show business?

Actually, I trace it back to an audition I did at age 14 in Boulder, Colorado. A guy, Russell James, the quarterback on the football team (‘cause that was my taste and still is actually), he didn’t ask me to prom. I had spring vacation, when I got back I found out he had asked Dee somebody to the prom. I was so bummed. Then I noticed an audition out at the Nomad Playhouse, which is a community playhouse, with very high quality productions. They were having auditions for Madwoman of Chaillot. My mother drove me out, and I read cold on stage before the producer, director and all of the people there. When I finished my little monologue (it was for Irma the flower girl), you could hear a pin drop. They were so complimentary, and everything was so kind of special.  I said, “Who needs quarterbacks? I am going to be an actress.”  I didn’t get the part of Irma because I was 14, and I’d never done a play. I was the flower girl, and I had only one line, two words, “Violets, sir.”  One line in the whole play, but it got my toe in the water. Then I went on to do Laura in The Glass Menagerie and Nellie Ewell in Summer In Smoke, both Tennessee Williams plays.

What was your first big break?

After attending the Yale Drama School at 18, I auditioned and got into the Guthrie Theater with Sir Tyrone Guthrie and Douglas Campbell. My first big break was Barefoot In the Park. I think I was 19 or 20, and it was directed by Mike Nichols. Myrna Loy played my mother on the national tour with Dick Benjamin as my husband. Mike Nichols and Saint Subber, the producer, heard my audition, and they offered me the part right on the spot. That was my first big job, exposure and everything. I ended up going to London and doing the play there too. So on my bucket list, I want to go back to London to go full circle and do another piece of theater. I am very focused on accomplishing that.

You have guest starred on such shows as Bonanza, M.A.S.H., Kojak, Canon, The Rockford Files, etc. In fact, you guest starred on 3 episodes of Rockford, "Find Me If You Can" as Barbara Kelbaker, "Resurrection In Black And White" as Susan Alexander, and "There's One In Every Port" as Christina Marks. Do you have a favorite episode/character from these three?

I don’t remember specific episodes, but I remember a scene at a hot dog stand out in Malibu. I think one of the regular characters owned a hot dog stand or something. I remember being there with Jim Garner. I also remember a race track or something with a car or race car. ‘Cause Garner loved hot dogging or showing off doing wheelies, reverse turns and doing things while we were in the car between takes. He was driving and I was beside him in the passenger seat. I remember having chit chat’s with him. It was not heavy dialog, in fact there might not have been any dialog at all, but he loved showing off in this car! He had a lot of race track in his DNA!

Was there a different feeling on the set of Rockford, as a guest star compared to the other shows you guest starred on?

He [Jim Garner] was the host of the party. He was omnipresent, very strong, very much the host in a way like it was "his house." Like you are a guest in his house, in the best sense of the word. He was omnipresent in such a good way and such a power in a good way. That’s kind of a wonderful thing because when you’re a guest, and everything is kind of scattered, and you feel like an outsider, he did not let that happen. He is like Mark Harmon, another actor I worked with. The two of them stand out as the ultimate "hosts." They really welcomed you and assumed the responsibility of making you comfortable.  They are stand-outs in all of my work as an actress. He [Jim] was a total gentleman. Making sure the actress is totally comfortable. It doesn’t exist as much on the sets today because everything is at mach speed. It’s a great embrace, kind of like having a gentle hand in the center of your back. Psychologically that supports you while you are guesting on the show. 

I did not know you are also a Director.

I loved it. It started out on Knots Landing and then an ABC Afterschool Special, which won a Humanitas Award nomination for best directing of the year. I am very proud of that. I should return to it. But I am still seeking and continuing the acting, but when l the right thing hits me, I will be returning to directing.

The Rockford Files is my favorite TV show. How did you get the job working on the show?

I was at an opening night of a play at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Hollywood.   Juanita Bartlett was sitting behind me. She tapped me on the shoulder, and we were chatting.  I had never met her. (I was not even aware of who she was!) She sort of hinted like she had a part or something for me to do, or something like that. I thought it never happens that way. But sure enough, the next day, they called William Morris, my agent. Next thing I knew I was doing a Rockford Files! And it led to three episodes. That to me was so gorgeous.  I'm still grateful to her to this day!

I have talked to fans from across the globe and everyone loves James Garner.

And Rockford, too. It suited all his strengths, which are many.  It was so perfect for him.  I am sure there was collaboration with Juanita and with then Stephen Cannell to create the most complete character.  And that’s lightning in a bottle.  That’s why shows like NCIS with Mark Harmon stay number 1 forever.

Do you have a James Garner story?

In one of the episodes they wanted me to wear less eye makeup or something because my signature style is heavy eyes and a light mouth. That’s the Joan Van Ark show and maybe to a fault. I realize that it’s part of my brand in a way. The people from Rockford said to me to take off some of it. They did not want that much. Because Rockford was a very grounded, wholesome show. More the Colorado, less the New York sophisticated Joan Van Ark. Jim said to me, “Take off some of the eye makeup. You work a lot, but think about all the jobs you may have lost because of the eye makeup.” That has stuck with me ever since then. Ironically a year ago, I did a movie in which I didn’t wear a stitch of makeup, and they spray painted me white and put spots on me to play a terminal cancer patient.  It was an independent feature, called Watercolor Postcards.  Bailee Madison, who’s played everyone’s daughter, is 10 or 11 years old. She blew me off the screen. I played her mother, who is Texas trailer trash.  And I thought of Jim Garner then.  His words stayed with me.

Stephen J. Cannell wrote or co-wrote two of the scripts on Rockford that you starred in as well as being the producer. Did you get a chance to talk to him? If so, what was he like?

I did get a chance to talk with him. He was a class act, so confident, so special. He was another rock, kind of an echo of James Garner. They were like two peas in a pod. He was very talented. In fact, Stephen played one the writers in a traditional scene on Castle, a show I just adore. He was one of the poker playing buddies on Castle.

My wife Julie and I love Castle.

Stana Katic played my daughter in a play I did at the La Jolla Playhouse. Des McAnuff directed this show, Private Fittings. Stana is just amazing, and Nathan Fillion blows me away. He is so effortlessly wonderful. He makes choices as an actor and just makes it look so easy. What he does in front of a camera is mind boggling to me. I am a huge fan.

What are your plans in the near future?

I am going up to San Francisco. It's a benefit performance for Alec Baldwin's mother, for the Carol Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund.  I will be doing Love Letters. Oddly enough, I am going to be doing [the play] with Kevin Dobson, who was a costar of mine from Knots Landing.  They asked Kevin because he had done it several times before. So they asked me.  I  just did Dallas a couple months ago, and I was a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. I also got a best guest comedy appearance at the Indie Awards for a webisode called Pretty, which I am proud of.  It's comedy . . . And that’s what I hope will be my next chapter!

***Jun 10, 2013 5:46:38 PM

Source:  http://jimsuva.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/an-interview-with-joan-van-ark.html