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For Teri Austin, Getting
the Role of Jill on ‘Knots Landing’ was a Wonderful
Stroke of Luck.
I often have people asking me how they
can get into show business. I always tell them they have to
realize everyone’s career has a slow period and not to
go Crazy when it happens. I feel qualified to give that advice
because I’ve been very lucky.
I came to L.A. the end of January 1985
from Toronto, Canada because a lot of American Producer’s
I met there kept telling me I should come to L.A. and after
a while I realized I had to leave Toronto to further my career.
Not long after arriving, I got a role
on ‘The Fall Guy’ and an NBC Pilot, ‘Champion.’
As I started my fourth month in LA, I went to a building for
a meeting and saw David Jacobs’ name on the listing in
the lobby and decided to use the house phone to say hello to
him. We had worked together on a Lorimar production in Canada.
David invited me to his office, he is the man who created Dallas,
Knots Landing, and Family, among others. I didn’t even
know he was doing Knots Landing. When I went to shoot the episode,
David came down and said . . . .”when you called, I was
casting this episode and you were so right for it and I knew
you would do it well, I’m just sorry it’s only one
scene.” The scene was with Kevin Dobson and It went very
well. Then, they started writing the character in and before
I knew it, I had done 10 shows. Each time I finished an episode,
I thought it might be my last. I’d get a script that said,
‘you know what I mean?’ and I didn’t know
what they meant because they never told me if they were going
to keep me or not. I never knew when or if I was coming back.
Then they finally gave me a contract and I knew I was in for
the duration. My chance meeting with David Jacobs was a stroke
of luck that turned into a contract. No matter how good you
are you need someone, somewhere, to say “I’m going
to give you a chance,” and David was that person for me.
Now that I’ve settled in at Knots,
I can stop and smell the roses, so to speak. I work with some
pretty wonderful people. Kevin Dobson is very funny, Doug Sheehan
has a sarcastic sort of sense of humor I enjoy, while I wouldn’t
say Hunt Block has a rollicking sense of humor, he’s a
little more quiet than the other guys. Ted Shackelford has a
dry sense of humor . . . we laugh a lot at work. This season
I stared doing more with Donna Mills. She’s such a perceptional
actress, she really has got it down. We usually do a parody
of the show during camera bickering with Abby and Jill saying
horrible things to each other we’d never be allowed to
say on camera. I would love to have the chance to work with
everyone on the show, especially Joan Van Ark.
I feel really lucky that out of all the
night time soaps, I wound up on ‘Knots Landing’.
Sure we have out elements of glamour . . . . Donna is very glamorous,
but by and large, we are a regular show people can identify
with. It doesn’t lend itself to ego problems because out
show is about normal people and most of us are very normal,
not affected. It appears the cast was picked with a strong family
element in mind.
I know I’ve been talking about
Knots Landing a lot, but it is a big part of my life right now.
when I get away and I try and getaway almost every weekend,
I go to Santa Barbara, a spa in the desert or to Lake Arrowhead.
if I have a long weekend off I go to San Francisco. I love to
cook and have friends over for dinner, that’s why when
I’ll cook all day Saturday and have the party that night.
I recently had a party in Arrowhead where everyone played a
character in a murder mystery . . . . . . .kind of like a real-life
board game. Afterward, my friends stayed over, we all went for
long walks, sat by the fire and had breakfast together in the
morning . . . . .I really love doing that. If I’m on my
own, I like to go horseback riding or practice jumping horses.
I find that very relaxing because the English riding takes a
lot of concentration. It forces you to take your mind off other
things because you have to pay close attention to the horse
and what you’re doing.
I’ll always be grateful to David
Jacobs for giving my the chance to play Jill on Knots Landing,
I couldn’t think of a better show or character to have.
I also want to thank our fans and let them know I love to hear
from them.
Copyright KnotsLanding.Net 2003
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