Joan van Ark was born on June 16, 1943, in New York City, far from the world of entertainment. Her life took a significant turn during her teenage years while acting in Denver, where she met actress Julie Harris, who would greatly influence her career. Julie encouraged Joan to apply to the prestigious Yale Drama School and even helped her secure a scholarship, making Joan the second woman ever to enroll there.
Joan recalled: “Harris wrote to the dean and asked him to meet me. Long story short, my parents drove me to New Haven, Connecticut, where the dean awarded me a scholarship. It felt destined”. After honing her skills in theater, Joan shifted her focus to television, where she starred in shows like Temperature’s Rising, Spider-Woman, Days of Our Lives, and even made a guest appearance on Bonanza. However, it was her role as Valene Ewing on Dallas in 1978 that propelled her to stardom.
Her success on Dallas led to her starring in its spin-off, Knots Landing, which was actually developed before Dallas. Initially, Joan was set to join the Knots Landing cast, but she ended up reprising her role on Dallas first. It was her husband, newscaster John Marshall, who encouraged her to accept the role despite her busy schedule. When it was announced that Julie Harris would play Val’s mother, Joan was thrilled. “I couldn’t believe they had picked her to be my mother”, she recalled in a 1984 interview.
After 13 seasons and 327 episodes on Knots Landing, Joan left the show just before its final season. While many speculated that her departure contributed to the show’s cancellation, she was ready for new challenges. “I loved my time on that show”, she stated, expressing gratitude to the show’s creator, David Jacobs, and her co-star, Ted Shackelford, who she considered family.
Joan and John, who met in high school, have been happily married for over 58 years and share a daughter, Vanessa Marshall, who works in the entertainment industry. Now at 81, Joan has a net worth of $10 million and remains stunning. She was last spotted five years ago, casually paying for parking in workout attire.
Her most recent appearance was in the 2017 television film Psycho Wedding Crasher. After a remarkable 50-year career in entertainment, Joan van Ark is now a life member of The Actor’s Studio, solidifying her legacy as an icon.
9 Celebs Who Ditched Cosmetic Procedures and Decided to Return to a Natural Look
Many of us find flaws in our looks or want to stop the aging process. In such cases, we might turn to plastic surgery. However, these procedures don’t always guarantee that the results will be to our liking. Some celebrities have faced these problems too, and they’ve admitted to regretting going under the knife, preferring to not repeat the same mistake in the future.
1. Simon Cowell
“There was a stage where I might have gone a bit too far. I saw a picture of me from ’before’ the other day and didn’t recognize it as me, first of all,” the TV personality admitted last year. Since then, Simon Cowell vowed to never use fillers again and is trying to regain his natural looks. Cowell also confessed that he had overdone it with Botox when he tried the procedure, stating that he currently prefers more simple facials.
2. Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz is another Hollywood star who had Botox regrets. “It changed my face in such a weird way that I was like, ’No, I don’t want to be like that,’ — I’d rather see my face aging than a face that doesn’t belong to me at all,” the actress said. Since then, Diaz has fully embraced the natural aging process, especially her laugh lines, which, according to her, only prove that she has “smiled her whole life.”
3. Anna Faris
Unsatisfied with her thin lips, Anna Faris turned to fillers to make them look plumper. And although she never went overboard, she came to later regret the procedures, as she couldn’t go back to her original lip shape. On the other hand, the actress doesn’t regret the breast augmentation that she also had around the same time.
4. Jamie Lee Curtis
After constantly being told she had puffy eyes, Jamie Lee Curtis decided to go under the knife and change their look. She’s also tried Botox, but was unsatisfied with the results in both cases. Nowadays, Curtis is a huge advocate of aging gracefully and has famously said, “Why do you want to look 17 when you’re 70? I want to look 70 when I’m 70.”
5. Heidi Montag
Years ago, people were shocked to find out that Heidi Montag underwent 10 procedures in a single day. Because of so many surgeries in a very short period of time, her health also suffered. “I wish I had waited and not made a decision so young because I have long-term health complications,” she admitted years later, adding, “Plastic surgery isn’t something that should be glorified. Take it seriously.”
6. Reid Ewing
Before rising to fame as part of the cast of the successful sitcom, Modern Family, Reid Ewing felt dissatisfied with his looks and thought that changing them would help his career as well. In total, Ewing had 8 cosmetic procedures and later came to regret all of them. “I wish I could go back and undo all the surgeries. Now I can see that I was fine to begin with and didn’t need the surgeries after all.”
7. Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda opened up about getting a facelift, but also added that she’s not proud of it. The actress also decided to never undergo plastic surgery again, scared that she would end up looking “distorted.” Since then, Fonda has preferred to take care of herself in a simpler and more natural manner. “I don’t spend a lot of money on face creams or anything like that, but I stay moisturized, I sleep, I move, I stay out of the sun, and I have good friends who make me laugh,” she said.
8. Bella Hadid
Last year, the supermodel finally cleared up plastic surgery rumors when she admitted to having had a nose job when she was only 14 years old. Hadid confessed that when she was a teenager, she felt very insecure about her looks, and being the younger sister of Gigi Hadid didn’t help that. However, she now thinks she could have learned to love the nose she was born with and regrets changing it.
9. Melissa Gilbert
The Little House on the Prairie star had a breast augmentation and a nose job, as well as some Botox and fillers. But in more recent years, Gilbert decided to remove her breast implants and embrace her natural looks instead. “I had my breast implants removed, and I’m no longer doing fillers or Botox because I’m a 53-year-old woman, and I’m trying to embrace this process of aging,” she said back in 2018.
Have you ever considered plastic surgery? What do you think about these procedures?
Preview photo credit PopularImages / Depositphotos.com, camerondiaz / Instagram
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