Career

Tilton had early roles in television series such as Happy Days and Eight Is Enough. She made her first film appearance alongside Jodie Foster in Freaky Friday. In 1978, Tilton made a cameo appearance in the John Milius film Big Wednesday. A year later, she made her big break by landing the role of Lucy Ewing, the sly, vixenish, frequently frustrated granddaughter of Jock and Ellie Ewing in the popular television series Dallas, opposite legendary television actors Jim Davis, Barbara Bel Geddes and Larry Hagman, from 1978 to 1985 and from 1988 to 1990. She also appeared on one episode of the show's spin-off series Knots Landing in 1980. After Dallas fame, she gets $50,000 salary per episode, appeared on 500 magazine covers and drew 65 million viewers for her 1981 TV wedding.

Tilton is also a singer; her own vocals were heard on a 1978 episode of Dallas. In 1984, she released a dance-pop single, "C'est La Vie", which became a hit in several countries in Europe. She appeared on Circus of the Stars in 1979 and 1991, on one occasion acting as a knife thrower's target girl in a gold bikini. Tilton also did her time doing game shows as well, by becoming a panelist on the 1979-1982 syndicated version of Match Game. She also hosted the pilot for a potential revival of the show in syndication as Match Game 2/MG2 in 1996.

Tilton was the guest host on Saturday Night Live on February 21, 1981. The episode in question featured a parody of the famed "Who Shot J.R.?" episode of Dallas. In the episode, cast member Charles Rocket was shot in the chest by a sniper while doing a sketch about a sexy couple (with Gail Matthius as his partner) bathing a dog and spouting innuendo. At the end of the show, as cast members traditionally gathered around the host to say good night, Tilton asked Rocket how he felt about being shot. In character, a wheelchair-using Rocket improvised, "Oh, man, it’s the first time I've ever been shot in my life. I'd like to know who the fuck did it."

Tilton did a number of commercials in the 1990s for the Abdominizer workout equipment. She appeared as herself in an episode of Married... with Children where her involvement with the "Abdominizer" was spoofed. In addition, she has appeared in several spoof movies, such as The Silence of the Hams (1994), Superhero Movie (2008) and Paranormal Calamity (2010). In 2005, she appeared in the British reality television show The Farm.

In 2001, Tilton was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for her role as Lucy Ewing on the original Dallas television series. In January 2012, Tilton was a contestant on the British ice-skating show Dancing on Ice in its seventh season. She was paired with American figure skater, Matthew Gonzalez, who has previously worked with British actress Danniella Westbrook. Tilton was voted out in week five of a twelve-week run.

In 2012, Tilton joined the cast of TNT's Dallas revival series, and reprised her role as Lucy Ewing in multiple episodes.

Personal life

Tilton was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Katherine Thacker, a secretary. Tilton is 4'11" (1.50 m) tall. Tilton was married to country singer Johnny Lee from 1982 to 1984 and to Domenick Allen from 1985 to 1992. She has one daughter, Cherish Lee Dunn, born in 1982. In 2009, after 8 years together, Tilton's fiance, Cheddy Hart, died suddenly from heart failure at the age of 54.

On November 23, 2012, Tilton lost her longtime friend and series lead Larry Hagman due to complications from myelodysplastic syndrome due to throat cancer treatments. Prior to his death, she explained in a statement that she released, "At seventeen years old my life took a turn that one could only dream of. I was cast as Lucy Ewing in the iconic show Dallas. Dallas was so much more than a television phenomenon to me. It was my family. I grew up with a mentally ill single mother raising me and no father figure in my life. I lived on my own in an apartment from the age of fifteen. I remember the day I met the force of nature that is Larry Hagman like it was yesterday. (It was actually 35 years ago.) My Uncle Larry became the father figure that I so needed and longed for. He taught me how to be professional, work hard but have fun at the same time, and how to respect the opportunities I was blessed to have been given. He was very protective because I was so young, but also expected the best from me on the set of Dallas. He was one of the best actors the world has ever known. To me, he will always be my Uncle Larry. I am so so very sad, but cherish the lifetime of memories I have with him." Prior to her TV uncle's death, she'd kept in touch with Hagman, and was invited to his 70th birthday party in 2001.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Freaky Friday	Bambi
1978	Sweater Girls	Candy
1978	Big Wednesday	Party Girl
1980	Pale Horse Pale Rider	Miranda	Short film
1990	Law at Randado	Edith Hanasain
1991	Problem Child 2	Debbie Claukinski
1991	Ragin' Cajun	Ali Webster
1991	For Parents Only	Mrs. Farell
1992	Deadly Bet	Isabella
1992	Center of the Web	Kathryn Lockwood
1994	The Silence of the Hams	Jane Wine
1998	Detonator	Gail Davies
2000	Guido Takes a Hike	Bartender	Short film
2001	Totally Blonde	Blonde School Director
2003	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	Charlene Tilton
2005	A Distant Thunder	Susan	Short film
2006	Getting It Straight	Cynthia Rosenburg	Short film
2008	Tell Veronica	Veronica Star
2008	Superhero Movie	Jill's Mother
2009	The Fish	Charlene Tilton
2009	Sarah's Choice	Michelle Biden	Direct-to-video
2010	Paranormal Calamity	Jacquiline
2010	#1 Cheerleader Camp	Charlene Tilton	Direct-to-video
2010	Mean Parents Suck	Jean Farell
2011	Doctor Spine	Aunt Sally
2012	Edge of Salvation	Sarah Malone
2012	Hemingway	Mrs. Hemingway
2013	Buttwhistle	Mrs. Podgorney
2013	Lucky Dog	Jeanie
2014	Not Another Celebrity Movie	Chef

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Happy Days	Jill Higgins	Episode: "They Shoot Fonzies, Don't They?"
1977	Eight Is Enough	Wendy Springer	Episode: "Women, Ducks and the Domino Theory"
1978-85 1988-90 1991	Dallas	Lucy Ewing Cooper	Series regular, 246 episodes Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a TV Series or Special (1979) Young Artist Award Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award (2001) TV Land Pop Culture Award (2006)
1979	Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker	Julie	TV Movie
1979	The Fall of the House of Usher	Jennifer Cresswell	TV Movie
1980	Knots Landing	Lucy Ewing	Episode: "Home is for Healing"
1980	Laverne & Shirley	The Girl at Bar	Episodes: "Murder on the Moose Jaw Express: Part 1 and Part 2"
1980	Fantasy Island	Charlotte 'Charlie' Johnson	Episode: "Skater's Edge/Concerto of Death/The Last Great Race"
1981	Saturday Night Live	Herself - Host / Various	Episode: "Charlene Tilton/Todd Rundgren/Prince"
1983	Hotel	Holly Lane	Episode: "Relative Loss"
1980-87	The Love Boat	Various	4 episodes
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Cindy March	Episode: "The Cemetery Vote"
1993	Married... with Children	Herself	Episode: "Tis time to smell the roses"
1995	Favorite Deadly Sins	Norma Jean	TV Movie
1995	Star Witness	Grace Kelly	TV Movie
1998	Safety Patrol	Mrs. Zapruder	TV Movie
2000	The Theory of Everything	Stephanie	TV Movie
2000	Bar Hopping	Actress	TV Movie
2007	Point of Entry	Helen	TV Movie
2012-14	Dallas	Lucy Ewing	6 episodes
2013	DeVanity	Francesca DeVanity	Web series, Guest Star in episode 3.6
2013	Reading, Writing & Romance	Penny	TV Movie

[ Source: Wikipedia ]