Joan Van Ark

“Knots was about the relationships that were built over many years.”

“My brother Mark still lives in the house we grew up in.”

“So I had all the names, three names, and that's good to have on a soap.”

“A couple of years ago I ran in the LA Marathon.”

“When two characters or two actresses are together for a while there is bound to be chemistry developing.”

“I didn't even know Michele before we started the show but we became great friends, and still are.”

“I had been doing plays in New York and on a whim we packed up and moved West, I started doing commercials and plays and guest star spots on TV and one thing led to another and I got Knots Landing.”

“They wanted to make her less rural, less of a cartoon. Not that Southern woman are cartoonish - they're the strongest women in this country, but with Val they wanted to take the stereotypical things out.”

“I need to run every day. If I don't I feel cheated.”

“Running is a great way to relieve stress and clear the mind.”

“Running is my church.”

“I'm Presbyterian and I don't go to church very much.”

“It was understood that when I left to do the pilot that I wasn't coming back.”

“David Jacobs is a great influence on my life, has taught me so much about so many things.”

“When I become the village idiot, or at least, it starts to become a joke, you can't do that much longer.”

“You've got to realize that any lady on a soap is devoting her life to it, 24/7.”

“When I'm not involved in an acting job I try to run 10 miles a day.”

“When you're on a long running series, you reach a very rarefied, high oxygen area and after a while to keep a show on the air they have to make some very drastic changes.”

“I want to play trailer trash; I swear to God.”