While going to high school in Tulsa, OK, Ted Shackelford had a percolating interest in acting, but it wasn’t until he graduated from the University of Denver that he gave community theater a try.

When Gary and Valene Ewing (Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark) left Dallas for the sunny L.A. suburb of Knots Landing, no one expected this domestic primetime soap to last as long as its higher ...