Shannon Wilcox, ‘Dallas’ Actress and ‘Buck James’ Star, Dies at 80

Shannon Wilcox, who made her mark on television on Dallas, Buck James, and other series, has died at age 80.

Kelli Williams, alum of The Practice and Lie to Me, told The Hollywood Reporter that Wilcox, her mother, died on September 2 in Los Angeles.

Born in Ohio and raised in Indiana, Wilcox moved to Paris to become a dancer after college before coming back to the States and starting an acting career in Los Angeles, according to THR.

After making her screen debut in a 1976 episode of Starsky & Hutch, Wilcox went on to play guest roles in shows like Hawaii Five-O, Family, and Hart to Hart before studying at the Sundance Institute in 1981.

Later, she appeared opposite Dudley Moore and Mary Tyler Moore in the 1982 film Six Weeks and joined Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in the 1984 film Songwriter.

In the ABC medical drama Buck James — which ran for 19 episodes between 1987 and 1988 — Wilcox starred as Jenny James, the long-suffering ex-wife of Dennis Weaver’s title surgeon.

She also had a recurring part as Anita on Dallas, appearing at the end of the CBS primetime soap’s 13th season and the beginning of the 14th.

Ali Goldstein/ABC

More recently, Wilcox had guest-starring parts on The Resident, Truth Be Told, and Grey’s Anatomy. On Grey’s, she played a ballroom dancer dying of stage IV colorectal cancer in Season 16’s “Save the Last Dance for Me,” as seen above.

Offscreen, Wilcox was married to plastic surgeon John Williams from 1965 to 1984 and actor Alex Rocco from 2005 to his 2015 death. In addition to Kelli, Wilcox had a son, the writer and producer Sean Doyle.

The late actor “was quick to laugh, lit up every room she entered and loved traveling and making friends all over the world,” Kelli told THR. “She spoke French, Spanish, and Italian. One of her greatest passions was dancing tango and salsa, which she continued to do beautifully well into her 70s. Her dance card was always full.”