They wanted to make her less rural, less of a cartoon. Not that Southern woman are cartoonish - they're the strongest women in this country, but with Val they wanted to take the stereotypical things out.
I had been doing plays in New York and on a whim we packed up and moved West, I started doing commercials and plays and guest star spots on TV and one thing led to another and I got Knots Landing.
I didn't even know Michele before we started the show but we became great friends, and still are.
When you're on a long running series, you reach a very rarefied, high oxygen area and after a while to keep a show on the air they have to make some very drastic changes.
