Charlene Tilton

Tilton had early roles on television series such as Happy Days and Eight Is Enough. She made her first film appearance alongside Jodie Foster in Freaky Friday (1976). In 1978, Tilton made a cameo appearance in the John Milius film Big Wednesday. The same year, she made her big break by landing the role of Lucy Ewing, the sly, vixenish, frequently frustrated granddaughter of John "Jock" Ewing Sr. and the former Eleanor "Ellie" Southworth (and out-of-wedlock daughter of Gary and Valene Ewing on Knots Landing) on the television series Dallas, alongside actors Jim Davis, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Larry Hagman, from 1978 to 1985 and from 1988 to 1990. She also appeared on one episode of the series' spin-off Knots Landing in 1980. At the height of her Dallas fame, she received a $50,000 salary per episode, appeared on 500 magazine covers, and drew 65 million viewers for her 1981 TV wedding.{{cite web|url=https://people.com/archive/charlene-tilton-vol-42-no-22/|title=Charlene Tilton |website=People|date=November 28, 1994 |access-date=November 11, 2019}}

Tilton is also a singer, lending her vocal ability to a 1978 episode of Dallas titled "Runaway", in which Greg Evigan guest-starred. In 1984, she released the dance-pop single "C'est la Vie", which became a hit in several European countries, though not in the United States. She appeared on Circus of the Stars in 1979 and 1991, on one occasion acting as a knife thrower's target girl while dressed in a gold bikini. Tilton also appeared on game shows, such as Family Feud, Battle of the Network Stars, Hollywood Squares, Pyramid, 1 vs. 100, and Catch 21 including being a panelist on the 1979–1982 syndicated version of Match Game. She also hosted the unsold pilot for a potential revival of the show in syndication as MG2 in 1996. After her breakthrough with Dallas, Tilton went to star in the television films Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker and The Fall of the House of Usher both released in 1979. During the 1980s, she guest-starred on Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Hotel, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.

Tilton was the guest host on an episode of Saturday Night Live on February 21, 1981, which featured a parody of the famed "Who shot J.R.?" episode of Dallas. In the episode, cast member Charles Rocket was shot in the chest by a sniper while doing a sketch about a sexy couple (with Gail Matthius as his partner) bathing a dog and spouting innuendo. At the end of the show, during the "goodbyes", Tilton asked Rocket how he felt about being shot. In character, Rocket improvised, "Oh, man, it's the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who the fuck did it."{{cite book|author1=Shales, Tom |author2=Miller, James Andrew |title=Live from New York: an Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live|publisher=Little, Brown and Company | year=2002 |page= 215|isbn=978-0-316-78146-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ySMXLky50NkC&q=rocket+who+shot&pg=PT231}} The improvisation by Rocket, which violated FCC broadcast standards, led to his dismissal from the show's cast.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

After Dallas, Tilton appeared in the 1990 western film Border Shootout starring Glenn Ford, and the following year had supporting role in the comedy film Problem Child 2. She appeared in a number of commercials for the Abdominizer line of direct-market workout equipment in the 1990s. In 1993, she appeared as herself in an episode of Married... with Children titled "Tis Time to Smell the Roses", which sent up her involvement with the Abdominizer. In addition, she has appeared in several send-up comedies, such as The Silence of the Hams (1994), Superhero Movie (2008), and Paranormal Calamity (2010). In 2005, she appeared in the British reality television show The Farm.

In 2001, Tilton was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for her role as Lucy Ewing on the original Dallas television series.{{cite web|url=http://www.youngartistawards.org/noms22A.htm|title=22nd Annual Young Artist Awards|access-date=March 31, 2011|work=YoungArtistAwards.org}} In January 2012, Tilton was a contestant on the British ice-skating show Dancing on Ice in its seventh season, in which she was paired with American figure skater Matthew Gonzalez. Tilton was voted out of the competition, though, in week five of a 12-week run.{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/charlene-tilton-on-dancing-on-ice-and-going-157439 |title=Charlene Tilton on Dancing on Ice and going back to Dallas – Mirror Online |publisher=Mirror.co.uk |date=January 7, 2012 |access-date=October 20, 2013}}

In 2012, Tilton joined the cast of TNT's Dallas revival series, and reprised her role as Lucy Ewing in a number of episodes.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/News/Kecks-Exclusives-Dallas-1039595.aspx?rss=breakingnews&partnerid=imdb&profileid=01 |title=Keck's Exclusives: TNT's Dallas to Serve Up More Lucy and Ray – Today's News: Our Take |website=TV Guide|date=November 10, 2011 |access-date=October 20, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/06/dallas-after-charlene-tiltons-cameo-who-else-should-return.html |title='Dallas': After Charlene Tilton's cameo, who else should return? – Zap2it |publisher=Zap2it |date=June 15, 2012 |access-date=October 20, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719000442/http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/06/dallas-after-charlene-tiltons-cameo-who-else-should-return.html |archive-date=July 19, 2012 }} She later appeared in the ABC comedy series The Middle in 2015, and the thriller film Vengeance: A Love Story. Tilton also appeared in a number of Lifetime and Hallmark Channel films in later years.{{cite web | url=https://weareentertainmentnews.com/2020/12/11/tv-legend-charlene-tilton-on-the-iconic-dallas-and-lucy-ewing-her-new-lifetime-movie-a-welcome-home-christmas-more/ | title=TV Legend Charlene Tilton on the Iconic 'Dallas' and Lucy Ewing, Her New Lifetime Movie 'A Welcome Home Christmas' & More! | date=December 11, 2020 }}

Tilton was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Katherine Thacker, a secretary.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Tilton was married to country singer Johnny Lee from 1982 to 1984. Their daughter, Cherish Lee, was born in 1982. In 2001, Tilton began dating cinematographer Cheddy Hart. The couple enjoyed boating and lived together in a modest home in Oxnard, California. In December 2009, Hart suddenly died of heart failure at age 54.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Tilton is a strong advocate for autism awareness in the media. She is currently the ambassador for Actors for Autism, an organization that leads improv and acting workshops for children and adults with autism. She approached AFA in 2010 with the desire to volunteer and has been affiliated with them ever since.{{cite web|title=What Happened to Dallas' "Scheming Sexpot"? The Oprah Winfrey Show| website=YouTube | date=May 18, 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVwh4F4QUA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/eUVwh4F4QUA |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

While in high school, the young unknown actress met Larry Hagman, whom she regarded as a surrogate father. Then, a few years later, at age 17, she auditioned and won the role of Hagman's confused niece, Lucy Ewing, on Dallas. The two had a remarkable on- and off-screen chemistry, for the show's first eight seasons, and they also danced together, off camera. She left the show at the end of the eighth season, her contract having expired; Larry Hagman was very disappointed over her departure. She said of Hagman in 1988, "He called me and said, 'You're certainly a good actress, we never realized.' I think Larry went to bat for me to come back on the show."{{cite web|url=http://people.com/archive/once-dallas-wild-child-charlene-tilton-returns-to-the-ranch-in-a-new-guise-as-a-grown-up-vol-29-no-18|title=Once Dallas' Wild Child, Charlene Tilton Returns to the Ranch in a New Guise—as a Grown Up!|website=People|date=May 9, 1988 |access-date=October 23, 2017}} That same year, she came back to the show, and stayed on for two more seasons, until her departure in 1990, a year before the series finale. After Dallas, Tilton remained on good terms with Hagman, and cared deeply about her TV uncle's failing health. In 1995, Hagman was diagnosed with liver cancer and needed a liver transplant; he later received a transplant and survived the bout with cancer. She did not appear in any of the Dallas TV reunion movies, but in 2004, appeared in Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork.

In September 2001, she was the only Dallas cast member to attend Larry Hagman's 70th birthday. Eleven years later, she was reunited with Hagman for the last time to star in the second incarnation of Dallas. When Hagman died on November 23, 2012, due to complications from myelodysplastic syndrome, she was devastated, and attended his funeral. Upon his death, Tilton released a statement: "At seventeen years old, my life took a turn that one could only dream of. I was cast as Lucy Ewing in the iconic show Dallas. Dallas was so much more than a television phenomenon to me. It was my family. I grew up with a mentally ill single mother raising me and no father figure in my life. I lived on my own in an apartment from the age of 15. I remember the day I met the force of nature that is Larry Hagman like it was yesterday. My Uncle Larry became the father figure that I so needed and longed for. He taught me how to be professional, work hard, but have fun at the same time, and how to respect the opportunities I was blessed to have been given. He was very protective because I was so young, but also expected the best from me on the set of Dallas. He was one of the best actors the world has ever known. To me, he will always be my Uncle Larry. I am so so very sad, but cherish the lifetime of memories I have with him."{{cite web|url=https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/dallas-larry-hagman-remembered-by-family-castmates-25757|title=Dallas: Larry Hagman Remembered by Castmates|publisher=TVSeriesFinale.com|date=November 25, 2012 |access-date=October 23, 2017}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0005492}}
• {{Tcmdb name}}
• [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/charlene_tilton Charlene Tilton] on Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster Inc
• [https://musicbrainz.org/artist/8e8efec3-7307-486b-89cc-cad86179bb41 Charlene Tilton], su MusicBrainz, MetaBrainz Foundation
• [https://www.discogs.com/it/artist/1406786 Charlene Tilton], su Discogs, Zink Media

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Category:1958 births

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from San Diego

Category:American film actresses

Category:American soap opera actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American women singers

Category:Living people

Category:Singers from San Diego