What happened to the cast of “Dallas”? Inside the stars&x27; lives 35 years after the finale Britt HayesSun, June 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC 0 The cast of 'Dallas,' circa 1979. We're pretty sure someone in this photo shot J.RCredit: Getty(2) Long before the Duttons hit the ranch, the wealthy Ewing family’s salacious drama was mustsee TV. There would be no Yellowstone without Dallas, the 14season soap that turned stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Barbara Bel Geddes into household names.
What happened to the cast of “Dallas”? Inside the stars' lives 35 years after the finale
Britt HayesSun, June 28, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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The cast of 'Dallas,' circa 1979. We're pretty sure someone in this photo shot J.RCredit: Getty(2)
Long before the Duttons hit the ranch, the wealthy Ewing family’s salacious drama was must-see TV. There would be no Yellowstone without Dallas, the 14-season soap that turned stars Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Barbara Bel Geddes into household names. It remains one of the longest-running primetime dramas in history (followed closely by its spinoff, Knots Landing, which clocked in at 344 episodes).
Set in the eponymous Texas metropolis, Dallas followed the Ewings, a powerful family of oil tycoons and ranch owners whose feuds and foibles made for wildly entertaining primetime viewing.
Fans tuned in every week to keep tabs on Bobby, Pam, and especially J.R. — the egotistical eldest son who always had a new trick up his sleeve, and whose schemes were the subject of some of the series’ most memorable episodes.
Dallas premiered on CBS in 1978 as a five-part miniseries and became a surprise hit, with the network ultimately ordering 13 additional seasons. It may not have competed for the same prestige as many of the era’s other primetime hits, but its compelling drama and trademark cliffhangers left a lasting impact on the TV landscape.
Thankfully, you won’t have to wait until next week to find out what happened to the stars of Dallas.
01 of 09
Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing)
Larry Hagman as J.R. / Hagman in Dallas in 2012Credit: Getty(2)
Although Bobby and Pam were initially the main characters of Dallas, the scheming J.R. quickly became the breakout favorite. As Hagman once told Entertainment Weekly, “Everybody in the world’s got an a--hole like J.R. in the family.” In other words, he was the character everyone loved to hate.
J.R. was the only character to appear in every episode — most famously, the season 3 finale, “A House Divided,” which ended with the famous “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger. (J.R. would be shot three more times over the original series’ run.)
Hagman followed in the footsteps of his mother, renowned stage and screen actress Mary Martin, known for her collaborations with Rodgers and Hammerstein. Prior to Dallas, Hagman starred opposite Barbara Eden in the hit sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
The Texas native appeared in a handful of films — including Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976) and even a bit part in Superman (1978) — and tried his hand at directing with Beware! The Blob! (1972), a low-budget horror sequel that has since become a cult curio.
Hagman reprised J.R. in five episodes of Knots Landing and three made-for-TV movie sequels. The veteran actor also lent his smooth-talking persona to Nixon (1995) and Primary Colors (1998).
In 1995, Hagman was diagnosed with liver cancer and received a life-saving transplant. In 2011, the actor was diagnosed with throat cancer just as production began on a revival of Dallas.
“The first thing I wanted to do was work,” he told EW at the time. ”Get my mind off this s---. If I hadn’t worked, I’d start to worry, and I never worry about anything. My motto is ‘Don’t worry. Be happy. Feel good.’ So work saved me.”
Hagman died in 2012 in Dallas at the age of 81, due to complications from myeloid leukemia. His wife of 58 years, Maj Axelsson, died a few years later. They had two children together.
J.R. was killed off in season 2 of the Dallas revival, though his final appearance was in the third season, which aired in 2014 and included previously unused footage of Hagman.
02 of 09
Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing)
Patrick Duffy as Bobby / Duffy in Los Angeles in 2019Credit: Getty(2)
Dallas gave Patrick Duffy his breakout role as the good-hearted Bobby, who often went toe to toe with his conniving older brother, J.R., and married Pamela Barnes, the daughter of a rival family.
Duffy exited the series to pursue other opportunities, resulting in Bobby’s death at the end of season 8. He surprised everyone when he returned in season 9 finale, which infamously retconned Bobby’s death — and the majority of the season — as a dream, angering both fans and fellow cast members alike.
“I had an answering machine message, and it was from Larry Hagman, saying, 'Patrick, I want you to come out to the house, get drunk in the jacuzzi. I want to talk to you,’” Duffy explained. “I told my wife that Larry was going to ask me to come back on the show… and I did it because Haggy asked me to."
In addition to several episodes of Knots Landing, Duffy spent the better part of the ’90s starring opposite Suzanne Somers in the TGIF sitcom Step by Step. He also had memorable guest spots on Diagnosis Murder and Party Down, and returned to soaps in 2006 with a role on The Bold and the Beautiful.
In 2011, the Montana native returned once again as Bobby, this time taking over the Ewing family business in TNT’s three-season Dallas revival. He continues to act, most recently appearing in episodes of NCIS and the BET drama The Family Business.
Duffy has two children with his former wife, who died in 2017.
03 of 09
Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing)
Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie in 1979Credit: Getty
Barbara Bel Geddes was the first actor cast in Dallas, in which she played Ewing family matriarch Miss Ellie.
A star of stage and screen long before she landed on Southfork, Bel Geddes earned accolades for her Broadway performances in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Moon Is Blue, and Mary, Mary. Alfred Hitchcock fans remember her as Midge, the still-loyal ex-fiancee of Jimmy Stewart’s tortured Scottie Ferguson in Vertigo (1958).
She picked up an Oscar nomination for I Remember Mama (1948) and scored major roles in Max Ophüls’ Caught (1949) and Elia Kazan’s Panic in the Streets (1950). Her career briefly stalled when her name was placed on the Hollywood blacklist in the ’50s.
The native New Yorker won one Emmy and picked up two more nominations for Dallas. Following a quadruple bypass surgery, Bel Geddes was forced to take a break from the show and did not appear in the seventh and eighth seasons. She was controversially replaced by Donna Reed for season 8, but later resumed her role as Miss Ellie through season 13.
The decorated actress died in 2005 at age 82. She was survived by her two daughters.
04 of 09
Jim Davis (Jock Ewing)
Jim Davis as Jock in 'Dallas' in 1978Credit: Getty
Thirty years before he played Ewing family patriarch Jock, Jim Davis landed his first major film role in Winter Meeting, sharing the screen with Hollywood icon Bette Davis.
By the time he was cast in Dallas, Davis had made a name for himself as a Western star, appearing in series like Tales of Wells Fargo, Laramie, and Gunsmoke. Rarely short of work as a big-screen ensemble player, his film credits include The Big Sky (1952), Rio Lobo (1970), Bad Company (1972), The Parallax View (1974), and Comes a Horseman (1978).
Davis’ final role was Jock. He appeared in 77 episodes before his death in 1981, at the age of 71, from multiple myeloma. He was survived by his wife Blanche Hammerer, whom he wed in 1949. His character was killed off-screen in a subsequent season.
05 of 09
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Victoria Principal (Pamela Barnes Ewing)
Victoria Principal as Pamela / Principal in Malibu in 2009Credit: Getty(2)
Victoria Principal played Bobby’s on-again/off-again wife Pamela for nine seasons before she decided to exit the series. In 1987, she famously turned down a massive paycheck that included what Principal later described to EW as “a per-episode salary that would have made me the highest-paid woman on TV.”
Before Dallas, Principal was already a successful actress with roles in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) and the blockbuster Earthquake (1974).
In later years, Principal started her own production company and produced and starred in a number of TV movies. In the ’80s, inspired by her interest in self-care, the actress launched her own skincare line and published three books on fitness, beauty, and health.
In 2004, she reunited with her former costars for Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork. The actress and entrepreneur has since left Hollywood behind.
“By the time I turned 50 I felt that I wanted to make a change in my life,” Principal told PEOPLE in 2018. “My interest had shifted in such a way that to not pursue my passion, which more and more really was my skincare company and creating products that could help many people.”
06 of 09
Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ann Ewing)
Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ann / Tilton in New York City in 2024Credit: Getty(2)
Charlene Tilton played J.R. and Bobby’s niece Lucy Ann, who was mostly raised by her grandparents, Jock and Ellie.
“I had no idea what I was doing when I was cast in Dallas because I was 17 years old,” Tilton told EW of her early acting role.
She credited costars Bel Geddes, Hagman, and Davis, whose “stellar work ethic” set a good example.
Tilton had previously made her big-screen debut with Jodie Foster in Freaky Friday (1976), and appeared in episodes of Happy Days and Eight Is Enough. She starred in Dallas from 1978 to 1985, and again from 1988 to 1990, while making time for guest spots in shows like The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.
Her later roles include Hallmark and Lifetime movies and the thriller Vengeance: A Love Story (2017), opposite Nicolas Cage.
In addition to the 2004 reunion special, Tilton returned as Lucy Ann in six episodes of the revival.
07 of 09
Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing)
Linda Gray as Sue Ellen / Gray in Dallas in 2024Credit: Getty(2)
Dallas gave Linda Gray her breakout role as Sue Ellen, J.R.'s put-upon wife. She earned an Emmy nomination and two Golden Globe nods.
Prior to landing the part, Gray made small-screen history on the short-lived drama series All That Glitters, in which she played Linda, one of the first transgender series regulars on American television.
Gray left Dallas in 1989 after receiving two Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nom for playing Sue Ellen. She went on to star opposite Sylvester Stallone in Oscar (1991) and became a fixture on TV, where she appeared on Melrose Place, Models Inc., and 90210. In 2001, she played Mrs. Robinson in the West End production of The Graduate.
Gray returned to Dallas for the series finale and TV sequels, and later reprised Sue Ellen in the revival.
She has two children with her ex-husband, Ed Thrasher.
08 of 09
Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs)
Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs / Kanaly in Burbank in 2012Credit: Getty(2)
Steve Kanaly played Jock Ewing’s illegitimate son, Ray Krebbs, the foreman of Southfork Ranch.
Kanaly previously appeared in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with future Dallas costar Victoria Principal, as well as Steven Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express (1974) and John Milius’ Dillinger (1973) as Pretty Boy Floyd.
During his 11-year run on Dallas, Kanaly shared his experiences as a radio operator in the Vietnam War with Milius, the acclaimed screenwriter who was then writing the screenplay for Apocalypse Now (1979).
The Burbank native left Dallas in 1989, but returned for the series finale in 1991 and the TV movie Dallas: War of the Ewings. He also came back for the Dallas revival.
In the mid-’90s, the actor booked a handful of episodes of All My Children as the memorably named Seabone Hunkle. He also starred in The Last Chance Detectives, a series of Christian TV movies about a group of teen sleuths.
Kanaly and his wife have been married since 1975 and have two children.
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09 of 09
Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes)
Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes / Kercheval in L.A. in 2016Credit: Getty(2)
Veteran actor Ken Kercheval played longtime Ewing family rival Cliff Barnes, whose incendiary feud with J.R. was a major focus of the series.
Before Dallas, Kercheval was a Broadway star known for roles in Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and Here’s Where I Belong.
Like Hagman, Kercheval remained on Dallas throughout its run and appeared in the reunion special and eventual revival. In 1991, he subbed in for Hagman in the TV movie I Still Dream of Jeannie, playing Anthony Nelson Jr.’s high school counselor and Jeannie’s new master.
The Indiana native only appeared in a few films — Network (1976) being the most notable — but was a fairly prolific TV star with guest spots on L.A. Law,In the Heat of the Night, ER, and Walker, Texas Ranger.
After beating lung cancer in 1994, Kercheval died of pneumonia in 2019 at the age of 83. He was survived by five children.
Where can I watch Dallas?
Dallas is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: June 28, 2026 at 05:09PM on Source: RED MAG
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