Interview: Linda Gray of ‘Dallas’ on Larry Hagman & Her New Book ‘The Road to Happiness’

CHICAGO – In the summer of 1980, the whole nation was obsessed with one question – “Who shot J.R.?” J.R. was J.R. Ewing, portrayed by Larry Hagman, and the TV show that provided that question was “Dallas.” The role of J.R.’s long suffering wife on the show was portrayed by Linda Gray, who has written a new memoir.

Linda Ann Gray took a circuitous route to her most famous role, as chronicled in her new book “The Road to Happiness – Is Always Under Construction.” She was born in Santa Monica, California, and like many women of her generation, married at a very young age (that marriage lasted for 21 years). She sought fulfillment beyond that life, and began a modeling career in the 1960s – one of her most famous jobs was standing in for Anne Bancroft’s leg on the poster for the film, “The Graduate.”

Ms. Gray used the modeling as a springboard for her passion, which was acting. She did 400 commercials, and made appearances in 1970s TV shows like “Marcus Welby, M.D.” and “McCloud.” Her role on “Dallas” as Sue Ellen Ewing started out as recurring, and was expanded to series regular in 1978. Sue Ellen was a booze-swilling codependent to the evil J.R., and was definitely a suspect when he was shot at the end of the 1980 season. Gray stayed with the show until the end of its first run in 1989.

Linda Gray at Her Book Promotion at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

After “Dallas,” Gray worked steadily in film (“Oscar”), TV Movies, a new series (“Models, Inc.”) and the stage. Ironically, she portrayed Mrs. Robinson in the London stage version of “The Graduate,” coming full circle from posing on the film poster. In 2012, the TNT network revived “Dallas” for three seasons, with Gray and Hagman reprising their roles as Sue Ellen and J.R. During the second season, Hagman passed away, so on that revival Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing got to eulogize both her best friend, and one of the most famous characters in television history.

Linda Gray appeared in Chicago in early October to promote the J.R. Ewing Private Reserve Bourbon, and her new memoir “The Road to Happiness – Is Always Under Construction.” Photographer Joe Arce took the Exclusive Portrait as she greeted fans and signed books at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, Ill. She spoke to HollywoodChicago.com via phone from Los Angeles.

HollywoodChicago.com: You are promoting a couple of things with this upcoming tour. Tell us about the J.R. Ewing Private Reserve Bourbon, that you will be making an appearance on in Chicago to promote?

Linda Gray: I’m excited about it. Larry Hagman would be so proud, because he had a very small ego [laughs], and he would be glad that it’s keeping the character going.

HollywoodChicago.com: Also you have a new book out ‘The Road to Happiness* *Is Always Under Construction.’ What will potential readers be most surprised about, do you feel, regarding some of the revealing elements of your memoir?

Gray: I think they will be surprised that I was fairly revealing about the events of my life, but I’m 75 years old, and I look at my life differently at this point. So much is behind me, and I’m happy be alive and talk about that life in my book. I feel like I’m showing people a different way of looking at things.

When writing a book, it’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It started as just a memoir, but as the memories came through, the upswing at the end seemed just perfect. This is what happened to me, and this is what I can say to people who are in similar situations. The reviews so far have been wonderful, and I’m very happy about that.

HollywoodChicago.com: As a young bride in the pre-feminist era of 1962, what anticipation or expectations did you and your groom at the time have for the marriage as someone so young, and why do you think your evolution as a person got fundamentally in the way of those expectations?

Gray: We all have expectations, but they’re like a moveable feast. In my mind, of course there are expectations, but at the same time we can’t be expected to stick with the same ones over time. I feel as people evolve, in thoughts and desires, hopefully as a couple you change and move on, and individually become the people you’ve always wanted to be. That’s what can be exciting about a relationship.

We didn’t start out the marriage by saying we’d be married for 20 years, have two kids, and then get divorced. When you form a partnership in marriage, you want it to last. But when things get different, you do reevaluate. The greatest and most interesting people I know are reevaluating their lives all the time. There are two words in my book that I love – ‘Choose wisely.’ I had chose wisely with my first marriage. But at some point I didn’t feel supported, and I reevaluated, and moved on.

HollywoodChicago.com: The 1960s blossomed and flowered with a new attitude right around the time you were in a young marriage and raising children. Were you aware of the new consciousness, and did that contribute to your evolution?

Linda Gray’s New Memoir Photo credit: Regan Arts. Publishing

Gray: Well, I was having babies during that time, but I also loved the hippie movement, wore long dresses and put flowers in my hair. I never did drugs, though, I think I was one of the only people during the 1960s who didn’t. [laughs] It was long hair, flowers…and babies.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your striking beauty was a natural for the modeling world. What is the most difficult thing about marketing that beauty, that essential part of you, when you were first starting out in that world?

Gray: Again, I went into it with great expectations, but subconsciously I wanted to be an actor first. I was raised Catholic, and the acting profession wasn’t in the cards. For example, my parents probably thought it was one step below hooker. [laughs] The way I got around it was to start modeling. I wanted to also do commercials, but at the time the attitude was ‘models don’t talk.’ We’re suppose just to look pretty.

But I kept pursuing the acting, and the one thing I did learn was how to accept rejection. I began to realize that I was a product, and I learned not to take anything personally. The shell got a little harder, but at least the rejection stopped devastating me.

HollywoodChicago.com: What kind of power did the pursuit of the craft of acting give you personally? What lessons from those classes did you use throughout the rest of your career?

Gray: It gave me a sense of fulfillment. Whatever profession you think that you are, when it plants itself in your psyche, then it fulfills your passion. It’s the answer to the question, ‘why am I here’? What you do allows you to answer that question, and then it’s all about the path to get there. When I finally got to experience that passion, it was the feeling that was associated with getting into acting.

I didn’t know why I pursued it, nobody else in my family was an actor. I was an oddity, and I didn’t mind it, because I loved it. I felt like I was home when I was doing the training and work. It became my craft, and I felt a responsibility to do it well. That’s how it was.

Larry Hagman and Linda Gray During the First Run of ‘Dallas’
Photo credit: Warner Home Video

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the most powerful and personal scene that you’ve ever done on stage or screen, that was closest to your heart for its truth about you?

Gray: I strive to be very present in any scene that I do, like I want to do in my life. So a very powerful scene for me was in the revival of the ‘Dallas’ series in the second season. It was at the grave site during the J.R. Ewing funeral episode. It was personal and powerful because I’d just lost Larry, and everybody thought it wouldn’t be easy because he’d just passed. But I knew I had to be in character as Sue Ellen, and it had to be about Sue Ellen and J.R.’s life together. The key for me then was being in the moment and present as that character, and for me as an actor to bring it to life.

The producer and I worked hard to hone that scene, because the audience who had been with us since the original show deserved it, and I made sure that the words in that scene were consistent with the whole history of their relationship. The producer and writer agreed, and changed it to reflect my input.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve been through many eras of show business and show business power. The sexism in the industry, although different, seems to still be present. What was your worst instance of sexism when in your career in modeling and acting, and what advice would you give to women in the business today to combat that sexism?

Gray: In my book I have a chapter about this, because the business is very male. It still is, even though it has opened up a bit, but in 2015 it still hasn’t made the strides I had hoped. My own experience had to do with wanting to direct on ‘Dallas.’ It was at the point in the series that I was bored playing Sue Ellen, she was just drinking and having affairs.

I didn’t want to be one of those actors that just because I was on a hit series that I would demand to direct. My acting teacher recommended a woman director to study under, and I wanted to be intelligent, clear and aware of what I was doing. So I studied with her, and I told her to assess when I was ready to direct, and then I would go and ask them.

HollywoodChicago.com: Did you get to that point?

J.R. Ewing Private Reserve Bourbon Photo credit: Southfolk Bottling Company

Gray: Yes. After Season Eight of ‘Dallas,’ I approached the producers and asked to direct. They said ‘no.’ I wasn’t asking for any more money, I just wanted to directed one of the 54 shows we were going to do in the next couple of seasons. They still said no. When I said that’s really what I wanted, they fired me. I called Larry and told him what happened, and told him that I was fired. To his credit, he went in and told them, ‘if she goes, I go.’ Now I know that he wouldn’t follow up on it, but it sounded good. [laughs] It must have worked, because they brought me back, and I got to direct.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your relationship with the great Larry Hagman was one of the highlights of your life, and you wrote a beautiful tribute to him upon his passing. What example of greatness do you remember from Larry, and how did that greatness sometimes affect more negative aspects of his behavior?

Gray: He was my friend for 37 years, and the good of him certainly outranks the bad. He was a party, he was put on the planet to be entertaining, and he loved the attention associated with it – it was always about him. He never hid the fact that he was fabulous, he was bigger than life and also lived it to the fullest. Sometimes that rubbed people the wrong way, but nobody could have lived life better than Larry.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were also on the recent reboot of the ‘Dallas’ series on TNT. What were the most jarring differences that you noticed about the television business between the first show and the reboot?

Gray: I noticed a lot of things. [laughs] First of all, it was very interesting to come back and play the same character after 20 years. That was the first shock, but I was happy about it. The next thing I noticed was how different the editing was – there was a cut every four seconds, I guess because everyone’s attention span is so different. It was so fast, and drove me crazy. Third, we were in hi-definition, and I could see every pore in my skin. [laughs]

It was those kind of things, and also we had to move to Dallas. It all added up, along with all the new characters. But once we all got adjusted, it was great experience. It was like starting all over again, but Larry, Patrick [Duffy] and I were amazed that we got to do it one more time. It was pulled much too quickly, but it was lovely. And Larry Hagman got to end his life portraying the character he was born to play.

HollywoodChicago.com: The subtitle of your book implies that the road to being happy is always under construction. What do you think needs to be the ingredients in that concrete, to allow it to set, and create that road?

Gray: You have to find out who you are and what you are doing here. You have to live your life with happiness. I feel that in general we have lost the sense of joy in our life, we’re not really living. I see so many people walking down the street, looking down at their devices. I say start looking up. The ingredients for the concrete are in my book, and the response has been wonderful. In my age and my perspective, it has been the best.

[16]	By PATRICK McDONALD [17] Writer, Editorial Coordinator HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [16]