Background
Tewes was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania to Joanne (née Woods) and Joseph Tewes, a wood pattern maker.
Tewes was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania to Joanne (née Woods) and Joseph Tewes, a wood pattern maker.
She is known for her role on the television comedy anthology series The Love Boat, which originally aired on American Broadcasting Company from 1977 to 1986. She was raised in Whittier, California. Tewes made her stage debut in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California.
In 1976, she was cast for the role of the beautiful young cruise director Julie McCoy on The Love Boat.
Tewes was one of the last of the six main cast members chosen—from over 100 actresses. She was in the third and final pilot of the show, and cast the day before production began.
In 1984, after seven seasons, Tewes was replaced on The Love Boat after a highly public battle with cocaine abuse (which she eventually overcame), although she did reprise her role as a guest in a 1985 episode. Shortly after conquering her drug addiction, Tewes was cast in the 1985 Columbia Broadcasting System sitcom pilot Anything for Love, along with Vicki Lawrence and Rebeca Arthur.
The pilot aired as a special that summer, but did not get picked up as a series.
Tewes appeared in a 1998 episode of The Love Boat: The Next Wave, a revival of the original series. In 2000-2001, she had a recurring role as a police detective on The Fugitive.