birth_place article_title name birth_date
los angeles , california jim houghton
 jim houghton november 7 , 1948
jim houghton

james `` jim '' houghton -lrb- born november 7 , 1948 -rrb- is an american actor and writer .
houghton was an original castmember of the cbs daytime soap opera `` the young and the restless '' , in which he played greg foster .
his most prominent role is that of kenny ward on the long-running prime time soap opera `` knots landing '' , which he played from 1979-83 .
in more recent years , houghton has become a soap opera scriptwriter , working on `` the young and the restless '' and also `` the bold and the beautiful '' .
although not as prolific as his television work , houghton has also appeared in films .
these include roles in `` sweet sugar '' -lrb- 1972 -rrb- , `` one on one '' -lrb- 1977 -rrb- , `` i wan na hold your hand '' -lrb- 1978 -rrb- , `` more american graffiti '' -lrb- 1979 -rrb- , the cult horror film `` superstition '' -lrb- 1982 -rrb- and `` purple people eater '' -lrb- 1988 -rrb- .
houghton is the son of `` twilight zone '' producer buck houghton , and his sister , mona houghton , is also a television writer .
james and mona collaborated on three of the scripts for `` knots landing '' in 1982 .
houghton is seen on the cover of the warren zevon album , `` the envoy '' .
