I never watched Dallas, but I sure watched "I Dream of Jeannie". Larry Hagman had a good run as far as creating a pair of iconic TV characters to entertain all of us. R.I.P. The clip of the pilot episode posted here threw me for a minute.... especially Jeannie's 'purple' bottle. Tony's mission on Stardust One was a B&W episode and the bottle was a smokey green with gold pattern of twining leaves for the entire first season... no purple until Season 2.
Im glad I could help you learn a new word, today, but what does increasing your word power have to do with Hagman?
I've been trying to look into this - there doesn't seem to be any concrete reports of how many episodes were in the can. It premieres in late January and that's only two months from now... dare I say it, it's safe to say that he'd be there for the first few... maybe even half. I wonder if... in his state of health if he and the producers didn't anticipate any of this and film a video will for the show or something... imagine if the show were to continue for years? I'm sure his (the actor's) eventual death had come up in logistical planning. I'm sure the writers are scrambling now. Just so sad to have it happen right now. But I've read that Larry was happy to have his family all together for Thanksgiving...
It's highly likely that the writers of the series had built in a contingency plan in case something like this happened. Showrunners have done same for far less major a concern. Whether or not the contingency plan could work/be implemented after episode 206 is the big question. But now I'm also just as bummed we won't get to see JR's further schemes this season. Here's a video clip I've posted before, "The best of JR Ewing" [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZV3365a7Ew[/yt]
Nobody got shoved into the Southfork swimming pool last season, did they? They really need to bring that back. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xucc1bi2Yl0[/yt]
Full disclosure: I never was a DALLAS fan, so J.R. as a character never caught much of my attention. But I was a younger age when I DREAM OF JEANNIE came out and very much enjoyed the bumblings of Majors Nelson and Healy. Hagman's early career has a standout role as President Henry Fonda's interpreter in FAIL-SAFE. He also had a terrific part as a closeted Democratic rival to John Travolta in PRIMARY COLORS. In the 70s he even directed the little-seen sequel to THE BLOB. But despite all that, I think we could best honor Mr. Hagman by taking his expert advice from 1978's SUPERMAN. I hereby suggest everybody reading this post give the person you love a vigorous chest massage, followed by extensive mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If Larry was willing to do it for Valerie Perrine, how can we do no less in his memory? Rest in peace, sir.....
As far as non-Dallas & non-I Dream Of Jeanie roles, I liked him in Blake Edwards' SOB, one of my favorite 1970's movies. Not a starring role, but fun anyway.
I'll miss him too, Dallas isn't the same without his scheming. OK Dallas, time to get a Larry Hagman as J.R. statue or lets rebuild Big Tex in his image.
Well, this was kind of unexpected, since he seemed to be doing well. Very sad. I was never a big Dallas fan, but I was definitely a fan of I Dream Of Jeannie and his Major Nelson (and what a team he and Bill Daily made). The fact that his two iconic roles were the extremes of slapstick comedy and malevolent drama shows what range and presence he had as an actor. RIP, Larry Hagman.
This sucks... How would people react to a recast of J.R. I wonder? Tough shoes to fill for another actor but it's been done before.
^ I'm very glad that the reboot was abandoned (John Travolta was about the worst idea I've ever heard to play JR) but I always thought Connor Trinneer could pull it off. As for who could play JR in the current series, if recasting was ever considered? I have no idea.
It's already been reported that the producers are moving ahead with a storyline that will "give his iconic character a proper send-off," so it looks like recasting J.R. is out of the question... and in my not terribly humble opinion, that's as it should be.
Indeed. I mean you just couldn't in any sense simply recast the iconic role and pretend nothing happened. The real question is in how they'll bring the magnificent bastard-ness now?
I remember him from I Dream of Jeannie more than Dallas. It was a lot of fun watching him on both shows. He will be missed.