‘Dallas’ Star Charlene Tilton On Surviving Foster Care and Her Bond With Larry Hagman (EXCLUSIVE)
Learn more about the actress’ time on the beloved series and where you can see her next!
For 12 seasons, Charlene Tilton played Lucy Ewing on the hit series, Dallas, the CBS primetime dramatic series that ran from 1978-1991 and centered on the bitter rivalry between the Ewing and Barnes families.
That role, Tilton says she was born to play, was also the answer to her prayers. Tilton spent much of her childhood in the foster care system because her mom, who was a single mother, was often institutionalized for mental illness. The actress, who hails from the “other side of Hollywood,” as she calls it, was determined to make her dream a reality and see her name in lights.
Tilton’s big break on Dallas not only catapulted her into superstardom, but it also made her a bona fide 1980s sex symbol—a title she still has a hard time understanding.
Forty-seven years after Dallas premiered, Tilton continues to conquer the world by starring in a new film, TV series, singing for live audiences and showing up as Lucy to meet and greet events for fans.
Woman’s World caught up with Tilton in this exclusive interview, where she recalled the horrors she endured as a child and why the late Larry Hagman still has a strong presence in her heart.
Woman’s World (WW): You are starring in the new horror film, Final Recovery, for Amazon, which is being released on May 2nd. This a different genre for you?
Charlene Tilton: It is—I have never done one. I would describe this as a horror thriller, which takes place in a drug rehab center my character runs. In the movie, some of the patients go missing and let’s just say I am not the sweet old woman you think I am (laughs).
WW: What drew you to doing a horror-thriller?
CT: The storyline was interesting and the woman I get to play is an evil woman, which is very different than anything I have ever done. I must confess it was fun to be bad, especially having just wrapped God Is Not Dead 5, which is part of The God Is Not Dead franchise and The Nana Project for Tubi with Mercedes Ruehl. Talk about going from one end of the spectrum to another (laughs).
WW: You also star in Final Recovery with your daughter Cherish.
Charlene Tilton: That was thrilling. I think she was shocked to see me play this really bad character. My daughter plays one of the patients in the film, plus she wrote some of the music for the movie. Cherish is so talented and I applaud how professional she is.
WW: Was it easy to work with your daughter and can you separate being mom/daughter from being a colleague?
Charlene Tilton: I am not “mom” or “momanger” and I do not comment on anything. We both stayed centered on our jobs.
WW: What did you teach Cherish about the business?
Charlene Tilton: When I was in Dallas, I was close with the cast and the crew. My daughter knows the importance of treating the cast and the crew with kindness. She is so grateful to be in a great work environment with so many talented people because it’s all those folks who bring a project to life and make it a success.
WW: Who helped and guided you when you were younger?
Charlene Tilton: I was fortunate that after I got Dallas, the people I was surrounded by such as Oscar nominee Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing) and Larry Hagman (JR Ewing) had a stellar work ethic and I just watched them. I learned things such as you always arrive 15 minutes early.
You come to work prepared; you know your lines, it’s an all-for-one environment, no one is a diva, no one is demanding, and you always be professional. That’s how I got educated. I had no idea what I was doing when I was cast in Dallas because I was 17 years old.
WW: You are such a happy-go-lucky person, and yet your childhood was anything but happy.
Charlene Tilton: It’s interesting. Now that I am older, I realize some things from my childhood shaped my personality today, but yes, my childhood was difficult. When I was five years old, my mom was taken away from me in the middle of the night because she was having a nervous breakdown. She was out of control. They had to beat her with clubs and put her in a paddy wagon right in front of me.
The next three years I was sent to different foster homes. I would bounce from one home to the next. I was able to be reunited with my mother before my 8th birthday. I realize now I am trying to be more present and calmer in every moment. But I guess for me, my DNA is fight or flight because much of my life was seeing my mom go in and out of mental institutions. I never knew what the next day was going to hold.
WW: Were the foster families and homes you went to welcoming, given the challenging circumstances you were facing?
Charlene Tilton: No, they were not nice. Most of them did not want me. One was abusive and the bottom line was I was not wanted. I was told I was not wanted. I would hear them talking when they thought I was asleep. One family had two kids of their own and I heard them say, “When are we going to get rid of her because I don’t want to share my room with her?”
WW: Tell me more about your mom…
Charlene Tilton: She tried so hard. There were times she worked as a secretary for an insurance firm, and she tried her best to do different things. I remember Christmas and holidays were always a big deal, and she did try to make things nice with decorations. Although my mom struggled, she was smart. She even once worked for the Pentagon.
WW: Because of your mom’s illness, did you ever have to come to her rescue?
Charlene Tilton: Yes, I got a call while filming Dallas that she was running up and down the street naked. When I got the call in between scenes, they asked me what they wanted me to do. Back then, you could hold a person for 24-hour observation and I could never get the help she needed. It was an endless battle trying to help her. She was horribly schizophrenic and bi-polar. I was trying to maintain my job, deal with her challenges and I was a single mom. It was a lot.
WW: How traumatizing, watching so many terrible things unfold at a young age.
Charlene Tilton: It was. I see now there was trauma and PTSD, but at the time, you just go through the motions. When I was a student at Hollywood High School, an agent saw me in a play and asked if I wanted representation.
Of course, I did, but in order to take the next steps, I needed professional headshots, and I did not have the money. I had been working at The Egyptian Theater, making $1.70 an hour and living on different friends’ couches because my mom had to be re-institutionalized. I decided to take my high school picture across the street and have duplicate photos made, which they used.
WW: What was your first job?
Charlene Tilton: My first job was Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster. Then I went on to do Happy Days, Eight Is Enough and different shows. Then I got Dallas. I was in over my head because it was a lot of work, I was only 17 and the show was a worldwide phenomenon. When I wasn’t filming, I travelled all over the world doing interviews, events and appearances. I look back now and realize it was such a whirlwind. It was crazy and it was all going so fast.
WW: Why does acting bring you so much joy?
Charlene Tilton: Acting was my safe place, and I discovered that when I was in a foster home in Illinois. I went to one school for a brief period, actually many of them were for a brief period, and I was in a Christmas show.
We had to sing “O Christmas Tree,” and when we did that song, I got lost in myself. I felt like I was drawn into a place where nothing else mattered. It lifted me up from sadness and when it did, nothing else mattered. Being on that stage was magic. It made me forget everything, even if it was for only a few moments.
WW: Did you ever see your mom again?
Charlene Tilton: I was reunited with my mom around my 8th birthday, and she had a black and white Zenith TV. I got to watch shows like The Brady Bunch. I was amazed that the six kids found their biggest problem to be if Jan was allergic to the family dog. I was also in awe of how their house was always clean, there weren’t cockroaches because my mom was a hoarder.
WW: Didn’t you live in Hollywood?
Charlene Tilton: We lived in the rundown section of Hollywood. The TV studios were around me like Paramount, Desilu and Screen Gems. Every day I would walk by them before and after school to stare through the gate. All I could do was dream of being inside there one day.
WW: You talk a lot about your mom. What about your dad?
Charlene Tilton: I never knew him, but during the pandemic, I did one of those DNA Research kits. I found out that I have two brothers and a sister from my father’s side. We connected about three years ago and now we all have a relationship. As for my dad, I found out my dad was a successful pilot; he and my mom were never married, I was not planned, and he did not want to have anything to do with myself or my mother.
WW: Did you ever try to connect with your father?
Charlene Tilton: I learned he lived in Arizona and on a Facetime call myself and my siblings decided we were going to fly out there and meet him. We first met up at a local Marriott. I had a videographer film us meeting for the first time but unfortunately after we got to my father’s house, we found out he had passed away.
WW: You are also a grandma?
Charlene Tilton: I am, and I love where I am now. I get to spend a lot of time with my grandchildren at the park or jumping on the trampoline so yeah, this window is amazing.
WW: You share a lot about Dallas. Do you keep in touch with your former co-stars?
Charlene Tilton: I do. I participate in reunions and cast panel discussions with Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue-Ellen Ewing) and Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs). We did German Comic Con about two years ago and get this, 50,000 people showed up.
Now that Dallas is streaming, people are rewatching the episodes or young people are just discovering it. Dallas still attracts an audience and gets a large turnout at The Southfork Experience.
WW: What is that?
Charlene Tilton: Patrick, Linda, Steve, me and maybe 10 other cast members attend this three-day event at Southfork in Texas that includes a cocktail reception, Q&A panels, a meet and greet, autograph signing and a BBQ. The event was so popular we are doing it again August 8th-10th. I will also be with the cast at Fanboy Expo in Knoxville, TN. It will be held beginning on July 11th and we will have about 15 members with us.
WW: One cast member who sadly cannot be present is Larry Hagman, who passed away in 2012. Larry’s character, J.R. Ewing, has been labeled one of TV’s greatest villains of all time, yet I hear Larry was nothing like his on-screen persona.
Charlene Tilton: After my divorce with my first husband, Larry called me. He always called me Niecy and said, “Niecy, no one knew what to say to you,” and remember, back then, things like divorce were not talked about the way they are today.
Larry was always warm, loving and fun with everyone. Larry loved laughing, blowing bubbles and he took a lot of home movies when he was on set. Some were Behind-the-scenes, some were at his house, other times it was the cast goofing around.
WW: You had cute nicknames for one another?
Charlene Tilton: I always called him Uncle Larry and he always called me Niecy.
WW: Larry also gave your grandkids a gift that keeps on giving?
Charlene Tilton: Yes! He got them these great bubble machines that are so awesome. They bring so much joy, and you can’t be sad when you have bubbles surrounding you. Bubbles are very big in my family and that’s all because of Larry.
WW: Not only did you go through a painful divorce (Tilton was married to Johnny Lee 1982-1984), but you suffered more heartbreak when your fiancé Cheddy Hart suddenly passed away. How did you manage to bounce back from so much grief?
Charlene Tilton: One thing I have been blessed with is having a positive attitude, a sense of humor and a sense of irony. It’s just part of my makeup. The words, “I am bored,” have never come out of my mouth. Yes, I have been through hard times. When I went through my divorce, it was awful. After Cheddy died, I went through a couple of months where I just sat on the couch drinking and smoking cigarettes because I was so sad.
WW: How did you climb out of that hole?
Charlene Tilton: You have to do something and so I got involved with Actors for Autism. I heard this inner voice ask me, “Are you going to lay here and be depressed or go live the life you were meant to have?” The best way to get out of your own depression is to help someone else. I taught kids in Los Angeles for over nine years. Now that I live in Nashville, I do a lot of work with foster care.
WW: Talk about coming full circle…
Charlene Tilton: Yes. It has been so rewarding for me, having come from the foster care system. I help try and find kids foster homes, especially the older kids who are aging out.
WW: Do you still get recognized as being an American sex symbol and is that a title you are proud of?
Charlene Tilton: I never saw myself like that (laughs), I still don’t. Back then I was so focused on doing a great job and paying attention to the work. Today, I am just so happy and grateful to be where I am and surrounded by the people and a career I love.
Conversation
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