James Houghton Dies: The ‘Knots Landing’ Actor And Soap Writer Was 75

LOS ANGELES - JULY 1: KNOTS LANDING. James Houghton as Kenny Ward. Image dated July 1980. (Photo ... [+] by CBS via Getty Images)
CBS via Getty Images
James Houghton, who played record producer Kenny Ward in the first four seasons of Knots Landing, died on August 27 at his home in Encino, California of peritoneal mesothelioma cancer. He was 75, and his death was not announced until now.
Born November 7, 1948 in Los Angeles, Houghton began his acting career with a guest role in the Charles Bronson TV drama Man with a Camera in 1959. Following appearances in The Twilight Zone, sitcom McKeever & the Colonel, and western Alias Smith and Jones, among other series, he headed to daytime for the recurring eight-episode role of lawyer Greg Foster in The Young and the Restless from 1973 to 1976.
In 1977, Houghton was cast in his first regularly scheduled primetime series as Rick Wilson in the CBS action/adventure Code R in 1977. The short-lived series focused on the emergency services of the California Channel Islands.
The following season marked the debut of Knots Landing, which initially featured four families in the fictional Seaview Circle cul-de-sac, including the Wards - Houghton’s Kenny and Kim Lankford as his wife Ginger. By season five, original cast members Houghton and Lankford (who were real-life neighbors) and John Pleshette as Richard Avery were written out of the series. But Houghton shifted to a role as a writer, alongside his sister Mona, for three episodes of Knots Landing in 1982.
LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 1: KNOTS LANDING December 1979 Episodic cast shot. From left to right: Kim ... [+] Landford (as Ginger Ward), James Houghton (as Kenny Ward), Claudia Lonow (as Diana Fairgate), Michele Lee (as Karen Fairgate), Don Murray (as Sid Fairgate), Steve Shaw (as Eric Fairgate), Justin Dana (as Jason Avery), (unknown actor), John Pleshette (as Richard Avery), Constance McCashin (as Laura Avery), Joan Van Ark (as Valene Ewing), Ted Shackelford (as Gary Ewing). (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
CBS via Getty Images