TV SERIES · 1981– · USA
Falcon Crest
65 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
65 Interesting Facts About Falcon Crest
Interesting Facts (43)
- #001
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At the start of the ninth season, despite health problems, Jane Wyman was said to be so unhappy with how the writers and new producers were handling the series that she refused to play her scenes. She wanted her contract terminated, but the producers refused. A compromise was reached in which her character fell into a coma. When it was determined near the end of the series that CBS would cancel it, Wyman returned for the final three episodes.
- #004
Kim Novak played Kit Marlowe, the alias Columbia Studios CEO Harry Cohn had suggested she adopt when she was a young aspiring star. Novak also slipped other jokes into Kit's aliases for the writers: Kit's real name was Susan Cameron, the name of Novak's agent during her time on the series. Another alias, Madeleine McKittrick, combined the first name of one of her characters in Vertigo (1958) with the McKittrick Hotel on Eddy Street in San Francisco, where Maddy lives in Vertigo (1958).
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- #006
Jane Wyman was said to have feuded with Robert Foxworth to the point that they measured each other's dressing-room trailers just to make sure they were the same size. When Foxworth became a director on the series, Wyman demanded that CBS add a clause to her contract making her a director as well, even though she had never directed an episode.
- #007
Because Robert Foxworth was unhappy with his role, the producers considered killing off Chase at the end of the second season; he had complained about the series drifting from its original concept. He was persuaded to stay after being offered the chance to direct some episodes of the series.
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Harry Harris had decided that the Spring Mountain Winery building was too small for the impressive interior scenes. As a result, he made arrangements for the interior scenes of the Falcon Crest Cooperage to be shot in two sections of the place formerly known as Inglenook in California's Napa Valley.
- #017
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Robert Foxworth left the series at the end of the sixth season, not because of a fight with Jane Wyman but because he was thought to be less than happy with his role. He wanted to return after a year's break, but the producers could not reach an agreement and Foxworth never came back as previously planned, so the character of Chase Gioberti would remain dead.
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Throughout the entire series, Jane Wyman developed a great relationship with Lorenzo Lamas both on and off camera. In various interviews she said that she enjoyed working with him in many of the most memorable scenes, that he was very protective of her, and that he amused her before she looked at him while going over lines, not to mention throughout the series.
- #024
Because of the public rivalry between Jane Wyman and Lana Turner, who left the series, Wyman demanded that her character be killed off.
- #025
Before settling on the final version, the producers and writers worked through a series of possibilities for the death of Jason Gioberti in the first episode, In His Father's House (1981), in which he falls from a catwalk at the winery. Earl Hamner Jr.'s original ideas ranged from Jason's body floating in a large vat at the winery to Jason being found dead at the bottom of a valley.
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Unlike Jane Wyman's chemistry with Robert Foxworth, she had better on-screen and off-screen chemistry with David Selby when he joined the cast in the second season, to the point that they even measured each other's dressing rooms. He also looked after Wyman when she fell ill in later years.
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The planned original story of a handsome young man in his late twenties, to be received with a youthful, gentle and polite manner, was meant to support his transformation into a psychopathic rapist toward the end of the season. The story was set aside and later reused for Jeff Wainwright at the end of the following season.
- #037
The first script drafts included a second-act scene in which the character Dina massaged Lance's neck in bed in a suite at Del Oro. She wanted him to leave Melissa. Since Robin Greer had already been hired for the scene, the scene was cut in rewrites and she had to be paid without performing.
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Production Story (5)
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Producer Michael Filerman suggested "Vulture's Nest"; it was later dropped because it sounded too aggressive, and Earl Hamner Jr.'s new suggestions, based on the name of Rudolph Valentino's Beverly Hills mansion, were "Falcon's Lair," later "Falcon Ridge" and "Falcon Valley." The final title settled on was "Falcon Crest."
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Characters & Cast (13)
- #049
For the seventh season, the writers planned a storyline in which Angela's long-lost daughter would come to the Tuscany Valley to wage war with Angela over control of the winery. The producers wanted Angie Dickinson for the role. When contract negotiations between the producers and Dickinson fell through, the planned long-lost daughter story was changed and Richard Channing's character was made Angela's long-lost child instead.
- #050
Shortly before the earthquake cliffhanger, Peter Stavros received an unpleasant phone call in the season finale. The call was meant to set up a storyline for the following season in which Peter's brother would come down to the valley to wage war on the Channings. Anthony Quinn was considered for the role, but when talks with the star fell through the story was scrapped and the phone scene was left meaningless.
- #051
Jane Wyman had always been Earl Hamner Jr.'s first choice for the lead role of Angela Channing. She read for it and genuinely liked the script. Wyman told Hamner she had heard that Barbara Stanwyck turned down the offer so that it could be made to her closest friend, Wyman. Hamner said the rumour was not true and that the role was never offered to Stanwyck.
- #052
The role of Francesca Gioberti was originally offered to Sophia Loren. The producers tried to entice her with the promise of a fantastic wardrobe and a dynamic character to rival Alexis Colby on Dynasty (1981), but contract negotiations with Loren broke down and the role was offered to Gina Lollobrigida. Ironically, Loren was Aaron Spelling's first choice for the character of Alexis on Dynasty, but she was rejected for asking too much money, allowing the role to go to Joan Collins.
- #053
William R. Moses's real-life mother, Marion McCargo Bell, played Harriet Roberts, the mother of Jordan Roberts (Morgan Fairchild). In 1980 Bell failed an audition for the role of Maggie Gioberti because the producers thought she was too old for the part; in 1984 she auditioned for the role of Maggie's mother, Charlotte Pershing, but this time the producers thought she was too young.
- #054
Initially, when Robert Foxworth had no choice but to continue in the lead during his final year, the producers intended for the character Chase Gioberti to attend anger management classes, fail miserably at them and become the series' most bitter and despicable villain; it did not happen. He also directed some episodes (respectively).
- #055
David Jacobs, the only one not involved with a Lorimar series, said that before auditioning for Chase Gioberti, Robert Foxworth had turned down the role of J. R. Ewing in Dallas (1978) because he did not want to play such an unsympathetic character. The role ultimately went to Larry Hagman.
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In the series' early years, and in almost the same situation as with Lorenzo Lamas, Jane Wyman was also genuinely protective of William R. Moses because he was a foreign actor who knew absolutely nothing about the words in a story. She also taught him to work overtime. When Moses left the series' cast, Wyman was very proud of him.
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- #059
In an episode of season 6, a clip from the film The Blue Veil (1951), in which Jane Wyman shared the lead, was used as a flashback while Angela recalls being told that her newborn son had died in the hospital. There is a scene in which Emma stands in front of a crowd at the spa and claims that Angela is a child stealer. The photo of Angela on Emma's poster is the same photo of the actress that appeared on the cover of her 1985 autobiography.
- #060
At the start of the eighth season, Ana-Alicia was dismissed and replaced by Kristian Alfonso, a favourite of the series' fans. Unlike her predecessor, Alfonso's character lacked the glamour that Alicia's character had embodied. Alicia would later return as Samantha Ross and leave the series for good at the end of the same season.
- #061
Jane Wyman was 41 years older than Lorenzo Lamas, who played her grandson on the series. When Earl Hamner Jr. heard that he wanted to audition for Lance, not only did the series reunite him with Wyman, but he also said in an interview that he beat out 6 other people for the role, that his determination paid off, and that as a result it gave him many opportunities to work with her.
Easter Eggs & References (2)
- #062
Kim Novak's dual role in the sixth season was a tribute to her famous dual role in Vertigo (1958). Her character's scene with Richard Channing at Fort Point near the Golden Gate Bridge was deliberately staged there as an inside reference to a famous scene she had filmed at the same spot with James Stewart decades earlier.
- #063
At the end of the eighth season, Susan Sullivan was fired by the series' new regime for financial reasons, and she also left because of creative differences, a decision that was simply understood after what the new writers and producers had done to the series in season 8. She was to appear as a guest star in 2 episodes at the start of the ninth and final season.
Deeper Meaning (1)
Life & Family (1)
- #065
In an episode of Flesh & Blood (1989), while at work, Lance Cumson received a disturbing phone call about his grandmother Angela Channing's health problems. When the nurse told him that Angela was going into a coma in the emergency room and that they should wait there with the family, both he and Pilar wanted to visit her. In real life, Lorenzo Lamas visited Jane Wyman in the hospital.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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