Ted Shackelford was born on June 23 in Oklahoma City, but grew up mainly in Tulsa, with stop-overs in Long Island, New York and Guam, where his father was stationed with the military.

Shackelford launched his career in Colorado though, where he attended the University of Denver, performing in community and dinner-theatre productions of "Hogan's Goat," "Night of the Iguana," "Bus Stop," "Sunday in New York," My Three Angeles" and "The Pleasure of His Company," among others.

The inevitable move to New York followed, where he found the going inevitably slow. He worked for over a year as the night manager of the Carlyle Hotel and finally landed an understudy part in the Broadway play, "Murder Among Friends." But at the same time, he was embarking on what would be a year-long run in the daytime soap, "Another World."

The next big move was, of course, to Hollywood where Shackelford arrived on Christmas Day, 1975. The move was propitious: he soon co-starred in the dramatic television special, "The Defection of Simas Kudirka," with Alan Arkin and later starred in the TV movie, "The Jordan Chance," with raymond Burr and "Terror Among Us."

His other television credits include guest-starring roles on "The Rockford Files," "Big Hawaii," and "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman."

During "Knots Landing"'s hiatus in the spring of 1984, Shackelford was able to find time to star in a Santa Barbara, Calif, stage production of "Key Exchange," as well as to star in an NBC movie-for-television, "Summer Fantasy," which aired in the fall of 1984. A guest appearance on an episode of "Hotel," with Sally Kellerman, was also squeezed in.

Shackelford and his wife, Jan, live in the Los Angeles hills, where, true to his character on "Knots Landing," his major concerns are ecology and the quality of our environment. He is an active member of the Sierra Club and devoted much time to publicly supporting environmentalist causes.

 J