‘Dallas’ celebrates 45th anniversary: The cast then and now

It’s been 45 years since audiences were first introduced to the Ewing family.

Before there were shows like “Game of Thrones” and “Breaking Bad,” there was “Dallas,” the must-see TV show of the ‘80s. The show dominated network television throughout the ’80s with everyone wishing they could live on the legendary Southfork Ranch. It had the entire country wondering, “Who shot J.R.?”

The legacy of the show was so strong, a reboot series premiered in 2012, starring Jordana Brewster, Brenda Strong, Josh Henderson and many members of the original cast. The reboot was canceled in 2014 after three seasons.

Here is a look at where the cast of the original “Dallas” series is now. 

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Larry Hagman

Prior to taking on the role of J.R. Ewing, the lead character on “Dallas,” Larry Hagman already had a successful career in entertainment, having starred in 139 episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie.” His portrayal of J.R. earned him four Golden Globe nominations and two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

After spending 13 years playing J.R., Hagman appeared in a few more projects, including “Primary Colors” and a few TV movies like “Dallas: J.R. Returns” and “Dallas: War of Ewings,” before taking a break from acting until 2006, when he appeared in five episodes of “Nip/Tuck.”

His final acting roles included a two-episode arc on “Desperate Housewives” in 2011 and his triumphant return to the character of J.R. Ewing in the 2012 revival of “Dallas.”

The actor married Maj Axelsson in 1954 and was with her until his death in 2012. The couple had two children together — daughter Heidi Kristina and son Preston.

He was diagnosed in 1992 with cirrhosis of the liver and acknowledged he had drank heavily for years. In 1995, a malignant tumor was discovered on his liver and he underwent a transplant.

In 2012, family members announced the Texas native died at a Dallas hospital from complications with cancer.

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“Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most,” the family said at the time. “Larry’s family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday.”

Ken Kercheval

Ken Kercheval had appeared in a number of television shows and movies before landing the role of Cliff Barnes on “Dallas,” the role he is most recognized for and for which he won a Soap Opera Digest award.

After “Dallas” ended, Kercheval appeared in “I Still Dream of Jeannie,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Golden Palace” with Betty White, “Walker Texas Ranger,” “ER” and the two “Dallas” spin-off movies, “Dallas: J.R. Returns” and “Dallas: War of Ewings.” 

From 1993 to 2000, Kercheval made appearances on “Diagnosis Murder,” following that up with an appearance on “Crossing Jordan” and then a 14-episode arc on the “Dallas” reboot series from 2012 to 2014. His final role was in the film “Surviving L.A.,” which was released in 2020 after his death.

Kercheval was married to his first wife Judith Peters Launt from 1956 to 1967 and had three children with her: Caleb, Liza and Aaron. He was then married to Ava Ruth Fox from 1986 to 1993 and had his fourth child, Asa. 

In 1994, Kercheval married Cheryl Paris, and the couple had their daughter Madison before divorcing in 2004.

The actor was diagnosed with lung cancer after years of heavy smoking and had to get part of a lung removed in 1994. He was diagnosed with pneumonia in 2019 and died in April that year at age 83.  

Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes, who starred as Ewing family matriarch Miss Ellie Ewing on “Dallas,” got her start in the late 1940s on Broadway, winning many awards for her work on stage. 

She transitioned to films in 1947 with “The Long Night.” In her second movie role, Bel Geddes was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance in 1948’s “Mama I Remember.” 

When her film career was reportedly put on hold after her name appeared on the Hollywood Blacklist in 1951, Bel Geddes focused on her Broadway career and began making guest appearances on various TV shows, including “Studio One,” “Playhouse 90,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Decision” and “Riverboat.” She also appeared in Alfred Hitchock’s 1958 film, “Vertigo.”

In 1993, Bel Geddes was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame after acting in 15 Broadway plays. She shares the honor of being in the hall of fame with her father, Norman Bel Geddes, who was a stage and industrial designer.

Bel Geddes was the first star who signed on to star in “Dallas,” with Larry Hagman telling The Associated Press, “She was the rock of ‘Dallas.’ She was just a really nice woman and a wonderful actress. She was kind of the glue that held the whole thing together.” He also told the website Ultimate Dallas he only signed on to star in the show because he heard she was going to play his mother.

The third season of “Dallas” featured a very personal storyline for Bel Geddes in which her character underwent a mastectomy, something the actress experienced herself in 1971. Her performance in that season earned Bel Geddes her second Emmy nomination and first win, making her the only “Dallas” cast member to win an Emmy Award.

She was also nominated for a Golden Globe that year and received two more Golden Globe nominations, eventually winning the award in 1982 and one more Emmy nomination in 1981.

A few days after wrapping filming on the sixth season, Bel Geddes underwent quadruple bypass surgery and was forced to sit out the first 11 episodes of the seventh season. She was replaced by Donna Read for a short time. She returned to the show until 1990, after which she retired from acting. Following her retirement from acting, Bel Geddes wrote two children’s books, “I Like to Be Me” and “So Do I.” 

Bel Geddes married theatrical manager Carl Sawyer in 1944, and together the couple had one daughter, Susan, before divorcing in 1951. That same year, the actress married stage manager Windsor Lewis and had another daughter, Betsy, with him. They remained married until his death in 1972.

In August 2005, Bel Geddes died of lung cancer at the age of 82 at her home in Maine. When making the revival in 2012, Patrick Duffy told TV Guide, “Barbara is a big piece of our history, and it’s important to me to honor her … through the whole first season, I don’t think an episode goes by that Mama is not mentioned in reference to Southfork and the land.”  

Patrick Duffy

Patrick Duffy had a few acting credits to his name prior to starring as Bobby Ewing on “Dallas” and continued to act in a number of TV movies throughout the run of the show.

The actor wasted no time finding a new project when “Dallas” came to an end, quickly signing on to star as Frank Lambert on the hit sitcom “Step by Step” alongside Suzanne Somers. The show lasted seven years, airing from 1991 to 1998, and Duffy directed many episodes.

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He continued to act steadily, appearing in many TV movies and series throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Duffy appeared in episodes of “Family Guy” and “Reba,” as well as the movie “You Again” with Kristin Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis and Betty White. From 2012 to 2014, Duffy returned to the role of Bobby Ewing on the “Dallas” reboot.

Following his return to “Dallas,” Duffy went back to making guest appearances on various shows, including “Hollywood Darlings,” ‘American Housewife,” “Station 19” and “NCIS.”

From 2006 to 2022, Duffy starred on the hit soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful,” playing the character of Stephen Logan for 151 episodes. 

Duffy married Carlyn Rosser in 1974. The couple had two children together, sons Padraic and Conor. The actor converted to Buddhism after being introduced to the religion by Rosser and has been a longtime member of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International. 

Duffy and Rosser were married for 43 years before she died in 2017. It was reported in 2020 he had begun dating actress Linda Purl, and the stars later confirmed the news. 

In 1986, Duffy’s parents were murdered during an armed robbery of the restaurant they owned in Montana.

Duffy recalled that horrific evening in a 2019 interview. 

“My father kicked these two young men out of the bar at some point in the evening,” he told Closer Weekly. “So they went and drank elsewhere … and came back to the bar to kick his a–. When they stepped in the bar with their guns, they shot him. There was nobody else in the bar, so they shot both my mother and my father.”

Linda Gray

Linda Gray is most well known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on “Dallas,” having only had guest appearances on various other shows until landing the role on the hit show.

Following her time on “Dallas,” Gray starred in a string of TV movies throughout the 90s before landing a starring role on “Models Inc.” in 1994. The show only lasted one season and was off the air by 1995. She returned to the role of Sue Ellen in two “Dallas” reunion TV movies and had a six-episode arc on “The Bold and the Beautiful” from 2004 to 2005.

After a few more guest appearances on shows such as “90210” and in films such as “The Flight of the Swan” and “Hidden Moon,” Gray returned to the role of Sue Ellen in the 2012 to 2014 reboot of “Dallas.” 

She also starred in the Hallmark Channel movie “Perfect Match” and appeared as a guest in the shows “Winterthrone,” “Significant Mother,” “Hollyoaks” and “Hilton Head Island.”

Her last on-screen appearances were in the 2019 movies, “Grand-Daddy Day Care” and “Intuitions.” Most recently, Gray was featured in an episode of the podcast series “Tara Tremendous” and the podcast series “Tremendous,” both in 2020.

Gray also had an illustrious career on stage, playing Mrs. Robinson in the 2001 production of “The Graduate,” on the West End. A year later, she began directing in theater, making her directorial debut with the play “Murder In the First.” In 2014, she returned to the stage to play the Fairy Godmother in the pantomime theater’s production of “Cinderella” in London.

The actress married art director and photographer Ed Thrasher in 1962 and was married to him 21 years before getting a divorce in 1982. The former couple share two children, Jeff Thrasher and Kehly Sloane.

Steve Kanaly

While starring on “Dallas” as Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly was also appearing on other popular shows of that time period, such as “Fantasy Island,” “The Love Boat” and “The Twilight Zone.” While he’s worked on other projects, he is most known for his portrayal of Krebbs.

Following the success of “Dallas,” Kanaly was featured in the films “Driving Me Crazy” and “Double Trouble,” before getting a role in the show “Okavango: The Wild Frontier,” which was canceled after two seasons. He then had a 10-episode arc on the soap opera “All My Children.”

He continued to act in independent films such as “Sliding Home” and “Scorpio One” before making his return to the character Ray Krebbs in the TV movie “Dallas: War of the Ewings.” He later appeared in “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “The Division,” which was his last acting role for almost ten years.

Kanaly returned to the screen in 2012 for the “Dallas” reboot, appearing in four episodes. His final acting role was in 2014 on an episode of the show “DeVanity.”

The actor met wife Brent Power in 1974, and after a year of dating, the two were married in March 1975. Since then, the couple have welcomed two children, Quinn Kathryn and Evan Elizabeth.   

Howard Keel

Howard Keel was already considered a bona fide movie star when he took on the role of Clayton Farlow in “Dallas.” He was one of the great stars of the ’50s, starring in a number of musicals, both on stage and on screen.

His role on “Dallas” was a career boost after his star had begun to wane following his heyday in the ‘50s and ’60s when he was signed with MGM Studios and appearing on both Broadway and the West End.

Following the end of the show, Keel continued to act throughout the ’90s and early 2000s in episodes of “Murder, She Wrote,” “Hart to Hart” and “My Father’s House.”

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In 1984, at the age of 64, Keel released his debut album, “With Love,” followed by two more records, “And I Love You So” and “Reminiscing – The Howard Keel Collection.”

In 1943, Keel married his first wife Rosemary Cooper, and they were divorced five years later in 1948. That same year, Keel met Helen Anderson while they were working on “Oklahoma!” They married a year later in 1949. He had three children with Anderson, daughters Kaija Liane and Kirstine Elizabeth, and a son, Gunnar Louis, before getting divorced in 1970.

Keel married his third wife, airline flight attendant Judy Magamoll, in December 1970. The two remained married for 34 years, until Keel’s death in 2004. Together they had one child, a daughter, Leslie Grace. He has ten grandchildren between all his children.

He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004 and died in November of that year, just six weeks after his diagnosis.

Victoria Principal

Victoria Principal had decided to retire from acting, pursuing a career as an agent from 1975 to 1977, with the intention of going to law school, when the script for “Dallas” came across her desk. She knew immediately that she had to play Pamela Barnes Ewing, a role which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

She left the show before it reached the end of its run and continued to star in TV movies throughout the rest of the ’80s and ’90s, while also appearing as a guest star in shows like “Burden of Proof,” “Home Improvement” starring Tim Allen and “The Larry Sanders Show.”

She created her own production company in 1987, Victoria Principal Productions, and she produced and starred in six films, including “Naked Lie,” “Blind Witness,” “Don’t Touch My Daughter” and “Midnight’s Child.”

Principal continued to make appearances as a guest actress in shows like “Providence” and “The Practice,” before landing a starring role on the short-lived soap opera “Titans,” her final on-screen role.

The actress also had a successful career as a writer, penning three books about beauty, skincare, fitness, well-being and health, including, “The Body Principal,” “The Beauty Principal,” “The Diet Principal” and “Living Principal.”

Principal met her first husband, writer-producer Christopher Skinner, in 1978 when he had a small role on “Dallas,” but their marriage didn’t last long. They divorced in 1980. 

She then entered a high-profile relationship with singer-songwriter Andy Gibb after they met on “The John Davidson Show.” They recorded many songs together, with their duet “All I Have to Do Is Dream” released in 1981. They split up a year later in March 1982.

She met her second husband, plastic surgeon Harry Glassman in 1983 and married him in June 1985. The two were married over 20 years when Principal filed for divorce in 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.

Charlene Tilton

Charlene Tilton only had a few credits to her name before taking on the role of J.R.’s niece, Lucy Ewing Cooper, on “Dallas,” her breakout role.

Following her success on the show, Tilton starred in the western movie “Border Shootout,” starring Glenn Ford, as well as the comedy “Problem Child 2,” before getting a guest spot on “Married…with Children.” She followed those with a string of comedies throughout the early 2000s, including “The Silence of the Hams,” “Superhero Movie” and “Paranormal Calamity.”

Tilton continued to act, appearing in films such as “Edge of Salvation,” “Hemmingway,” “Not Another Celebrity Movie” and “Reading Writing & Romance.” She returned to her breakout role for a few episodes of the “Dallas” reboot throughout its two-year run.

The actress then had a guest role on the popular show “The Middle,” and appeared in “Doctor Spine” and “Lucky Dog.” Later in her acting career, Tilton appeared in a number of movies for both Lifetime and the Hallmark Network, including “Road Less Traveled,” “Second Chance Christmas,” “Starting Up Love” and “A Welcome Home Christmas.” 

Her most recent acting roles were in the 2021 movie “A Unicorn for Christmas” and 2023’s “Heaven Sent.”

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Tilton married her husband, country singer Johnny Lee, in 1982. They were divorced by 1984. They share a daughter together. 

In 2001, Tilton started a relationship with cinematographer Cheddy Hart. While the two never got married, they lived together for many years, until his death in December 2009 from heart failure.

Tilton was known to have had a close friendship with co-star Larry Hagman, meeting him when she was in high school. She referred to him as Uncle Larry and was devastated when he died. She released a statement saying he was “the father figure that I so needed and longed for” and that he protected her while on set of “Dallas.”

Susan Howard

Susan Howard had a long history in television before getting one of her final acting roles as Donna Culver Krebbs on “Dallas.” Prior to being cast on the show, she appeared in “The Flying Nun,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Star Trek‘’ and “Bonanza.”

While on the show, Howard also appeared in “Vega$,” “The Power Within,” “Having Babies” and “The Love Boat.” Two years after her exit from “Dallas,” she acted as co-host for “The 700 Club.”

Her final on-screen appearance was in the 1993 movie “Come the Morning,” after which she retired from acting.

Howard married actor Charles Howerton in 1962, and they divorced in 1964. They share one daughter together. In 1974, she married film executive Calvin Chrane and has been living with him in Texas since 1998.

Priscilla Presley

Priscilla Presley had only two acting credits to her name when she got cast in “Dallas” in 1983, remaining on the show for five years. She appeared in a few movies after “Dallas,” such as the “Naked Gun” trilogy, and she played herself in movies “Wedding at Graceland” and “Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays.” 

She first rose to fame when she married rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley in 1967 when she was 21 years old. They met for the first time six years prior when she was only 14.

The couple had one daughter together, Lisa Marie Presley. When Priscilla was 27, she filed for legal separation from Elvis. Their divorce was finalized in October 1973.

Priscilla never remarried, but she dated computer programmer Marco Antonio Garcia.

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She and Garcia lived together for 22 years and welcomed their son Navarone Garibaldi in that time. They separated in 2006. 

In 2022, Elvis’ life was brought to life on the big screen in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as Elvis and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla. In January 2023, Priscilla and Lisa Marie were present at the Golden Globes when Butler won his award for best actor in a leading role in a drama for his portrayal of the rock icon.

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Two days later, on Jan. 12, 2023, her daughter Lisa Marie died. Lisa Marie is survived by her three daughters: Riley Keough and twins Finley and Harper Lockwood. Lisa Marie’s son Benjamin Keough died in July 2020.