Ted Shackelford Yet another fairly unknown actor who was propelled into the spotlight by Aaron Spelling when he was cast in the roll of Gary Ewing, the brother of Larry Hagman’s character J.R. Ewing in ‘Dallas’. Ted Shackelford was born on June 23rd 1946 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of Paul Olden, a physician, and Mary Jane Kennedy. In 1976 Ted married his first wife Janis Leverenz in 1976 but the marriage ended in divorce and Ted went on to marry his second wife, Annette Wolfe, a writer and director, in October 1991. Best known for his full fourteen years in Knots Landing, Ted’s character originated in ‘Dallas’ as the ‘black sheep’ of the Ewing family and as brother of J.R. Ewing and the son of Miss Ellie played by Barbara Bel Geddes. The role of Gary was originally played by David Ackroyd but when he could no longer fill the role, it was offered to Ted. Gary and his screen wife Valene, played by Joan Van Ark, were the parents of the wayward Lucy Ewing a role filled by the young Charlene Tilton. When the spin off series from ‘Dallas’, ‘Knots Landing’, was being created Ted made the transition in 1979, from Texas to California with his screen wife, Joan Van Ark. Gary remained in the series for the whole fourteen years until 1993.
As the weeks progressed, Knots Landing became an American favourite, and wasn't based solely on the Ewing family, but a whole Cul-De-Sac, known as Seaview Circle where Donna Mills played the role of Abbey Fairgate and Nicolette Sheridan played the role of Paige Matheson and it was here that they lived their eventful and sometimes traumatic lives. Before his role as Gary Ewing on Knots Landing, Shackelford played the role of Ray Gordon on ‘Another World’, an Emmy-winning American soap opera which ran from 1964 to 1999 and starred several other up and coming Hollywood stars such as Morgan Freeman, Kyra Sedgewick and Brad Pitt. Shackelford has also played roles in ‘Wonder Woman’ which starred Lynda Carter and Debra Winger during the 1970’s.In 2005 Ted made a guest appearance in ‘Crossing Jordan’ with Jill Hennessy as Emmett Parker who is accused of killing 14 women. During February 2006, Ted joined the cast of ‘The Young and The Restless’ as Genoa City district attorney William Bardwell. Aside from his career, Ted remains married to his wife Annette Wolfe. ABB
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