Charlene Tilton, well known for portraying Lucy Ewing on the prime-time soap opera Dallas, says she was never part of the Hollywood drug culture.

The actress, now 62, recalls her ignorance about drugs in her teens when her request for a soft drink at a notorious New York City nightclub turned into a shockingly buried reality.

“I remember one time at Studio 54, and I was so naive,” Tilton told the outlet Page Six. “I was asked what I would like when I walked in, and I said, ‘Oh, Coke, please,’ and I meant Coca-Cola. And they came back with coke [cocaine], and I looked down and I said, ‘No, no, Coca-Cola, please!”

She then credited her Dallas co-stars Larry Hagman, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Jim Davis for keeping her straight on the path.

“It really was about the work, and they protected me. There was a lot of stuff going on in the ‘80s, if you remember. And I’m telling you, it was by the grace of God in their protection that I was not a casualty of the things that were going on in the ’80s.”  Tilton explained.

“They expected me to not show up on time — to show up early, to be prepared. They taught me how to work like that,” the mother of one continued with her experience. “So I really learned from the best. I had these people protecting me, but at the same time expecting me to do the work, and I wanted to do the work. I loved it.”

Charlene Tilton, then aged 17 and working in a T-shirt shop, was cast in the worldwide hit series which ran from 1978 to 1991. She has not yet retired, having recently starred in a Lifetime Christmas movie last year.

Aside from acting, she has been very much involved in the nonprofit organization Actors for Autism since she tragically lost her fiance (cinematographeNashville near her daughter, Cherish, and two grandsons. r Cheddy Hart) to heart failure the day before 2009 Christmas. 

Currently, she lives in Nashville near her daughter, Cherish, and two grandsons.