Audrey Landers

Audrey Landers (born July 18, 1956) is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the television drama series Dallas and her role as Val Clarke in the film version of A Chorus Line.

Early years

Landers was born Audrey Hamburg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Landers began her acting career at the age of 9, when she starred in her first community theater musical, and continued acting and singing in community theater shows in New York State. Music was always a passion, and Landers began writing poetry and songs at a young age. Landers was first noticed with a country song that she wrote and performed at the age of twelve, which led to a Nashville recording contract with Epic Records, a performance on The Merv Griffin Show, and a year-long role on the daytime drama, The Secret Storm. During her teen years, she acted on the daytime drama Somerset and studied music at the Juilliard School in New York, while majoring in psychology at Columbia University. Her feature film debut came in The Tennessee Stallion (1978) with her sister, Judy Landers. Although Audrey is older than Judy by just over 2 years, they bear such a strong resemblance to each other that they have been mistaken for twins, and they have even appeared in a number of features together as identical twins.

Sue Ellen Ewing

Sue Ellen Ewing (maiden name Shepard) is a fictional character and one of the female leads in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas and its continuation series. Sue Ellen is portrayed by actress Linda Gray, and has appeared on the show since its pilot episode, first broadcast on April 2, 1978. Dallas follows the trials of the wealthy Ewing family in the city of Dallas, Texas, into which Sue Ellen married when she wed the notoriously evil J. R. Ewing. Gray played Sue Ellen until the twelfth season of Dallas, when her character finally leaves Texas after beating J.R. at his own game, seen in the episode "Reel Life". However, Gray later returned for the series finale "Conundrum Part II", the subsequent Dallas telemovies ("J.R. Returns" and "War of the Ewings"), and the reunion special entitled Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork, which aired in 2004, and reunited her with former castmates.

Sue Ellen's storylines in the first season focus on the character's bout with alcohol and her slowly deteriorating relationship with her husband. The final episode of the season focused on the birth of her son with J.R., John Ross Ewing III. While her relationship with J.R. is not always harmonious, it's a significant aspect of her overall character. As the series progressed, Sue Ellen came into her own as an individual character. The actress has said of her character's personality: "I never wanted her to be boring. She was never boring before – she started out kind of boring, but I think that's the kiss of death because people will expect her to be interesting." Gray later described Sue Ellen as being, "one of the most interesting characters on TV in the 1980s. She was the original Desperate Housewife. She led the way for all those girls."

Ewing

Ewing may refer to:

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Afton Cooper

Afton Cooper (formerly Van Buren) is a fictional character from the popular American television series, Dallas, played by Audrey Landers. Joining the cast during the fourth season and remaining until the first episode of the eighth, Landers returned at the end of the twelfth season for five episodes and reprised her role one more time in the 1996 TV movie, Dallas: J.R. Returns. In 2013, Afton returned in the second season of the new 2012 series, Dallas.

Storylines

Afton is the sister of Mitch Cooper, the husband of Lucy Ewing. J.R. Ewing is immediately attracted to Afton Cooper and they wind up in bed. J.R. gets her a singing job in a bar where she meets Cliff Barnes. Afton and Cliff become romantically involved but it doesn't last long because Afton thinks Cliff is a loser. Unlike her brother Mitch, Afton is fond of money. When Cliff Barnes has a case against J.R. concerning the counter revolution in South East Asia, Afton plots with J.R. to drug Cliff so J.R. can get his hands on the evidence that connects J.R. to a counter-revolution. Eventually Afton turns against J.R. and falls for Cliff. After Sue Ellen divorces J.R., Sue Ellen and Cliff resume their previous relationship and Cliff loses interest in Afton. However, Afton still loves Cliff and later, when Cliff attempts suicide, Afton finds him and is able to save his life.

Rachel Platten

Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. Her third studio album and major-label debut, Wildfire, reached number five in the United States and received generally mixed reviews. The album spawned singles "Fight Song" and "Stand by You". "Fight Song" peaked at number six on Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. "Stand By You" so far peaked at number thirty-seven on Billboard Hot 100 becoming her second Top 40 hit.

Early life

Rachel Ashley Platten was born on May 20, 1981 to Jewish parents Paul and Pamela Platten (née Jabush). She was born in New York City but grew up in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She studied classical piano from the age of 5 and then took up guitar in high school. She attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols for high school, where she sang in the school's singing group. At Trinity College, she was a member of the Trinitones, the college's all-female a cappella group. As a part of a study abroad program, she went to Trinidad to do an internship at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang back up for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002. Platten graduated from Trinity College with a degree in international relations in 2003. According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full-time. She then moved to New York City's Greenwich Village where she cut her teeth playing with a Prince and Sly and the Family Stone cover band called Dayz of Wild. In 2012, it was reported that she married Kevin Lazan in a Jewish ceremony. She performed her solo music around the Village and eventually began touring the country. She has worked with numerous charities, Musicians on Call (where she sings bedside to hospital patients) and she is an ambassador for Music Unites. She also works with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and was an ambassador for Below the Line (a call to end world poverty).