‘Falcon Crest’ Premiered 43 Years Ago … Where is the Cast Now & Who Married Elizabeth Montgomery?

Lauren Novak December 4, 2024

FALCON CREST, Margaret Ladd, Lorenzo Lamas, Robert Foxworth, Jane Wyman, Susan Sullivan, 1981-1990 — Everett Collection

The ’80s were a peak era for nighttime soaps, and few reached the heights of Falcon Crest, which premiered 43 years ago today. Chronicling the lives, loves and feuds of the wealthy Gioberti/Channing family in the fictional Tuscany Valley, the series focused on the California wine industry and its related drama for nine seasons on CBS, from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990.

What are the Channings up to today? Read on to find out where the cast of Falcon Crest is now.

David Selby, 83 (Richard Channing)

CBS Television/Everett Collection; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

David Selby was already an established actor when he was cast in Falcon Crest — he had guest roles on shows like The Waltons and Kojak, but was best known for playing Quentin Collins on Dark Shadows. Playing Richard Channing, the illegitimate son of the Channing empire and frequent nemesis of Channing family matriarch Angela, earned him the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actor.

In the years after Falcon Crest, he continued acting in shows such as Mad Men and NCIS: New Orleans, and even appeared in the award-winning 2010 film The Social Network. He was most recently seen in the movie The Great Nick D.

Lorenzo Lamas, 66 (Lance Cumson)

CBS/Everett Collection; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Lorenzo Lamas, who played Angela Channing’s playboy grandson Lance Cumson, was the only cast member to appear in all 227 episodes of the show. That set the tone for the rest of Lamas’ career — the actor likes to stay busy! After Falcon Crest concluded, Lamas became the star of another show, the syndicated action series Renegade, which ran from 1992 to 1997. He also went on to appear in another soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful, from 2004 to 2006, and was a frequent guest star on the Nickelodeon children’s show Big Time Rush from 2009 to 2013.

His later career also took some turns away from the fictional and towards reality: in 2009, Lamas starred in his own reality show called Leave It to Lamas. In 2014, Lamas released an autobiography called Renegade at Heart, touching on his career, famous family (Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl) and personal life.

His most recent role was in a movie called Stepmom from Hell, and he voiced the character Meap on the Disney show Phineas and Ferb.

Susan Sullivan, 82 (Maggie Channing)

CBS/Everett Collection; Jody Cortes/Getty Images for ABA

Susan Sullivan, who played Chase’s wife Maggie, appeared on many soap operas, including The Best of Everything, Another World and A World Apart, before becoming a series regular on Falcon Crest. Though her character was ultimately killed off in a drowning accident, her career survived — she went on to appear in The Kominsky Method, Last Man Standing and, more recently, Castle. Her latest role was in a TV series called Smartphone Theatre.

Margaret Ladd, 82 (Emma Channing)

CBS Television/Everett Collection; Rob Kim/Getty Images for Amazon

Though Margaret Ladd had appeared on screen before Falcon Crest, including a small role in the 1973 crime film Friends of Eddie Coyle, she got her big break when she was cast as Angela’s daughter Emma Channing, a role which earned her The Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actress in 1986.

Ladd continued acting after the show ended, most recently appearing in the 2014 Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle and Woody Allen‘s TV series Crisis in Six Scenes. She also created a program called The Imagination Workshop, which uses the arts to help veterans, those with mental health issues, senior citizens and others who are disadvantaged.

Robert Foxworth, 83 (Chase Gioberti)

CBS/Everett Collection; John M. Heller/Getty Images

Robert Foxworth was a staple on ’70s TV shows like The Mod Squad, Barnaby Jones and Quincy, M.E. After appearing in Falcon Crest as Chase, Angela’s nephew and primary feuding partner, he continued working in TV, guest-starring on shows such as Murder, She Wrote, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Six Feet Under, and Law & Order. His most recent role was voicing Ratchet in the Transformers franchise.

You may also recall that he was the third husband of Elizabeth Montgomery. The two cohabited for 20 years before getting married in 1993, shortly before the actress’ death in 1995.

William Moses, 65 (Cole Gioberti)

CBS/Everett Collection; Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images

William Moses played Cole, son of Chase and Maggie, on Falcon Crest and went on to guest star in Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. But he might be best known for costarring in the 1988 Julia Roberts film Mystic Pizza, where he played a caddish upper-crust architect.

More recently, Moses appeared in Melrose Place, Mad Men, Chicago Med, The Good Doctor, General Hospital, NCIS and, most recently, the TV movie Mystic Christmas.

Jane Wyman d. 2007 (Angela Channing)

Lorimar Television/Everett Collection; CBS Television/Everett Collection

Wyman is the only primary cast member of Falcon Crest to no longer be with us — and it’s not over-stating it to say that she was the primary cast member, playing matriarch Angela Channing, who ruled the Falcon Crest winery with no mercy for her foes or her family (who were often one and the same).

But unlike most of the show’s stars, Falcon Crest wasn’t Wyman’s big breakthrough. She began her acting career almost half a century earlier in 1932, and starred in countless films throughout the ’30s and ’40s (she was also married to former President Ronald Reagan from 1940 to 1949, when he was also a film star; his presidency lined up almost exactly with her run on Falcon Crest).

She moved into TV in the ’60s, and by the mid-70s, declared herself retired. Wyman had decided to focus on painting, but Hollywood began knocking again at the end of the decade, and by 1981, she was the anchor of Falcon Crest (in a role rumored to have first been offered to Barbara Stanwyck).

After Falcon Crest, she played Jane Seymour‘s screen mother in a 1993 episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, before retiring completely. Wyman passed away on September 10, 2007, at the age of 90, of natural causes.

Who is your favorite character in Falcon Crest? Let us know in the comments!