# Abby Dalton

Gladys Marlene Wasden (August 15, 1932 – November 23, 2020), known professionally as Abby Dalton, was an American actress, known for her television roles on the sitcoms Hennesey (1959–1962) and The Joey Bishop Show (1962–1965), and the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1986).

## Life and career

Dalton was born Gladys Marlene Wasden on August 15, 1932, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dalton had three children by her marriage to Jack Smith, including Kathleen Kinmont, an actress who closely resembles her mother. Kinmont was married to Lorenzo Lamas, Dalton's onscreen son in Falcon Crest.

### Television

Dalton made numerous appearances on television. James Garner and Clint Eastwood engaged in a fist fight over Dalton in the episode "Duel at Sundown" of Maverick. In 1958, she played the love interest of gunfighters on Have Gun Will Travel, starring Richard Boone, and The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors. She appeared as Eloise Barton in an episode of the Western series Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards.
From 1959 to 1962, Dalton played nurse Martha Hale on Hennesey (she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role) with former child star Jackie Cooper in the title role, and she portrayed Joey Bishop's wife on The Joey Bishop Show from 1962 to 1965. As the Hennesey series was ending, The Joey Bishop Show was preparing for the start of its second season on NBC. Dalton played the role of Ellie Barnes, the wife of Joey Barnes (Bishop). As the season began on September 15, 1962, Dalton and Bishop are shown as newlyweds Ellie and Joey Barnes. Hennesey's finale was aired two days later on September 17, 1962, with Martha Hale's marriage to Chick Hennesey. Hence, Dalton portrayed being married to two different titular television sitcom characters on two different networks within two days.
Dalton was a semi-regular panelist on NBC and syndicated Match Game and appeared in the early years of Hollywood Squares. Dalton also appeared on Super Password, with Bert Convy as the host, and guest-starred on the interview program Here's Hollywood.
Dalton was cast in the original pilot for what became the ABC series Barney Miller as Barney's wife. However, this version of the pilot, for a show titled The Days and Nights of Captain Barney Miller, was rejected by the network, and the role wound up being recast with Barbara Barrie. In 1977, she appeared in an episode of the crime drama The Feather and Father Gang.
In the 1980s, Dalton played winemaker Julia Cumson on Falcon Crest. In the show, Julia is the daughter of Angela Channing (Jane Wyman) and the mother of Lance Cumson (Lorenzo Lamas). Julia was at quiet odds with her mother, Angela, and for the show's first two seasons, she was a troubled but nonviolent person. In the second-season finale, however, she was revealed to be a killer. Much of the third season focused on her dealing with life both in prison and in a mental institution, and toward the end of the season, her character escaped from the mental institution to try to kill her mother. Julia was believed to have been killed in the second to last episode, but soon into the fourth season, she was revealed to be still alive. She returned sporadically during the fifth and sixth seasons, but did not reappear after 1986. After leaving the series, Dalton had guest-starring roles on Hotel and Murder, She Wrote.
Dalton also was a TV game player and regular on Stump the Stars (1964), PDQ (1970) and Match Game (1973–74). She appeared on The Rifleman in the episode "The Marshal" as hotel clerk Nancy Moore.

### Movies

In 1957, Dalton played roles in the Roger Corman films Teenage Doll, Carnival Rock, and The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent. Her first leading role was in the 1957 film Rock All Night produced by American International Pictures. The following year, she starred in Stakeout on Dope Street, Girls on the Loose, The High Cost of Loving and Cole Younger, Gunfighter. In 1966, Dalton played Calamity Jane in The Plainsman with Don Murray, and appeared in the rarely seen film A Whale of a Tale (1976), with William Shatner and Marty Allen. Her later films included the Don "The Dragon" Wilson movie CyberTracker (1994), Buck and the Magic Bracelet (1999), and the horror film Prank (2008).

## Death

Dalton died on November 23, 2020, in Los Angeles after a long illness.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1957 | Rock All Night | Julie | |
| 1957 | Teenage Doll | | uncredited |
| 1957 | The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent | Desir | |
| 1957 | Carnival Rock | Girl at Carnival | uncredited |
| 1958 | Cole Younger, Gunfighter | Lucy Antrim | |
| 1958 | Girls on the Loose | Agnes Clark | |
| 1958 | Stakeout on Dope Street | Kathy | |
| 1958 | The High Cost of Loving | Cora, Secretary | uncredited |
| 1966 | The Plainsman | Calamity Jane | |
| 1976 | A Whale of a Tale | Anne Fields | |
| 1989 | Roller Blade Warriors: Taken by Force | Mother Speed | |
| 1994 | CyberTracker | Chief Olson | |
| 1998 | Buck and the Magic Bracelet | Ma Dalton | |
| 2008 | Prank | Mrs. Sweeney | |
| 2013 | Mrs. Sweeney | Mrs. Sweeney | Short |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1958 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Belle Starr | Season 7 Episode 35: "Way of the West" |
| 1958 | The Rifleman | Nancy Moore | Season 1 Episode 4: "The Marshal" |
| 1958 | Have Gun - Will Travel | Meg Wellman | Season 2 Episode 9: "Young Gun" |
| 1958 | Jefferson Drum | Eloise Barton | Season 2 Episode 10: "Thicker Than Water" |
| 1959 | Sugarfoot | Elizabeth Bingham | Season 2 Episode 9: "The Desperadoes" |
| 1959 | Maverick | Carrie Christianson | Season 2 Episode 19: "Duel at Sundown" |
| 1959 | Rawhide | Ruth | Season 1 Episode 8: "Incident West of Lano" |
| 1959 | Mike Hammer | Stacy Lee | Season 2 Episode 21: "Curtains for an Angel" |
| 1959–1962 | Hennesey | Lt. Martha Hale Hennesey, RN | Series regular |
| 1960 | The Chevy Mystery Show | Karen Prescott | Season 1 Episode 7: "Dead Man's Walk" |
| 1962 | Hawaiian Eye | Julie Gant | Season 3 Episode 29: "Nightmare in Paradise" |
| 1962–1965 | The Joey Bishop Show | Ellie Barnes | Series regular |
| 1967 | The Danny Thomas Hour | Mary Danopolous | Season 1 Episode 2: "Instant Money" |
| 1967 | The Jonathan Winters Show | Self | |
| 1968 | My Three Sons | Janet Ingram | Season 8 Episode 28: "Gossip, Incorporated" |
| 1969 | Anderson and Company | Augusta Anderson | TV Movie |
| 1970 | Nanny and the Professor | Dr. Elizabeth Carlson | Season 2 Episode 8: "The Masculine-Feminine Mystique" |
| 1970–1974 | Love, American Style | Delores / Barbara Finletter | 3 episodes |
| 1972 | Magic Carpet | Lucy Kane | TV Movie |
| 1974 | Police Story | Liz Rollins | Season 1 Episode 14: "Cop in the Middle" |
| 1974 | Apple's Way | Nancy Benton | Season 1 Episode 8: "The Temptation" |
| 1974 | Grandpa, Mom, Dad and Richie | | TV Movie |
| 1974 | Barney Miller | Elizabeth Miller | Season 1 Episode 0: "The Life and Times of Barney Miller" |
| 1975 | Adams of Eagle Lake | Margaret Kelly | 2 episodes |
| 1976 | The Waltons | Stella Lewis | Season 4 Episode 20: "The Test" |
| 1977 | The Feather and Father Gang | Ruth Marks | Season 1 Episode 10: "Murder at F-Stop 11" |
| 1981–1987 | Falcon Crest | Julia Cumson | 100 episodes |
| 1983–1984 | The Love Boat | Ellen Baker / Martha Parker | 3 episodes |
| 1983–1987 | Hotel | Helen Scofield / Laura Carpenter | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Hardcastle and McCormick | Fran Hendrix | Season 3 Episode 17: "Round Up the Old Gang" |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Judith Keats | Season 3 Episode 9: "Obituary for a Dead Anchor" |
| 1995 | The Young and the Restless | Lydia Summers #1 | |
| 1997 | L.A. Heat | Bridgette Peterson | Season 1 Episode 26: "Wake Up Call" |