A Chat w/Charlene Tilton...
By Greg Hernandez

She was Lucy Ewing on "Dallas" for many years and last night, Charlene Tilton livened up the TV DVD Awards at the Century Plaza Hotel which she co-hosted. "I didn't even know i was doing this until yesterday!" she told me after the event. I asked her some silly questions like who was the cutest Ewing and she said her father Gary Ewing, played by Ted Shackleford, who mostly played the role on "Knots Landing." Lucy had many steamy affairs as on the prime-time soap but Charlene says her favorite was Kit Mainwaring, played by Mark Wheeler, who broke Lucy's heart when he turned out to be gay. Her uncle J.R. (Larry Hagman) had gotten them together as sort of a business merger since Kit's family had a fortune. "He came out of the closet and came out to (Lucy) and she was devastated," Tilton recalls. "This was 25 years ago and it was handled so well. They didn't use the word gay, they used homosexual. It was my favorite storyline, the best I ever had. It was so ahead of its time."
We walked down memory lane a bit and Tilton laughed at some of her character's antics over the years which included accusing her high school teacher of rape because he gave her a bad grade! "I go into the bathroom and start cutting off these expensive clothes and run out saying, 'He raped me!'"

Charlene, who has a 24 year old daughter, has kept busy since the series left the air in the last 80s with movie appearances and TV guest spots. She co-executive produced the highly-rated "Dallas Reunion: Return to Southfork" on CBS in 2004 and last year, she was on the reality show "The Farm." Next up for Tilton is an indie film she is producing on the life of Tammy Faye. Tilton will play Tammy Faye, a very vocal supporter of the gay community, who is currently fighting cancer.
"I'm honored to play her," Charlene says. "When you are in her presence, she just exudes the pure love of God. she's so non-judgmental. She came out of all that happened to her as the most loving human being."