Olean Times Herald Thursday, December 17, 1981
Big Changes Tie Series In ‘Knots’ By JAY BOBBIN
Followers of the drama series “Knots Landing” recently witnessed a tragedy. Auto dealer Sid Fairgate, played by actor Don Murray, died as a result of injuries sustained in a car mishap arranged by underworld forces. While audiences might regret his departure from the program, it doesn’t upset Murray; in fact he requested it.
“I asked the producers to write me out of the series,” Murray states, “and I suggested how they could do it. I enjoyed my time on the showvery much, and I think it’s a good one to work on. However, it’s a show with ten stars, and there are limitations to what you can do.” Don Murray also has a yen for writing, and he was also able to exercise that talent on “Knots Landing”: “I had a good working relationship with the show’s creator, David Jacobs. He agreed from the beginning that one of the most difficult characters to write for was Sid Fairgate, so David carte to rely a great deal on my rewriting. Certain issues covered on the show really reflected my own views, expressed through Sid. I felt I could give the character much stronger words, since I was also arguing from my own standpoint.”
The gap left in the show by Sid Fairgate’s death will be filled through the development of other continuing characters. Both Sid’s wife Karen (Michele Lee) and daughter Diana (Claudia Lonow) will be given more attention in the new scripts. So will Valene Ewing, wife of Gary, who is related to the wealthy Ewings of “Dallas.” Valene has mostlybeen portrayed as a simpleton with old-fashioned values, but a certain event is giving new creative fuel to the actress who plays her, Joan Van Ark. “My personal bonus this year,” she reveals, “is the addition of Julie Harris to the regular cast, which is probably the most exciting thing I could imagine. She’ll be playing my mother, as she did in an earlier episode.” Harris inspired Van Ark to apply to the Yale Graduate School of Drama, where the latter “got a scholarship at the age of 18.1 was only the second girl to ever do that, the first being Julie Harris, so she’s very special to me.”
By
Paul Raven ·
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