You sent in your questions to Susan Howard in this exclusive Ultimate Dallas Interview.
Read the transcript below and click on the icon to join in the discussion with other fans from across the world.

Interviewer - Welcome Susan to the Ultimate Dallas interview. We have had 100's of questions sent in from the fans.

Susan - (laughs) That's wonderful

Interviewer - Ok let's kick off

Greg in Auckland New Zealand asks - How did you get the role in Dallas? Is it true you knew Leonard Katzman?

Susan - Yes I knew Leonard, I had done a television series which Leonard produced, which Greg may have seen called Petrocelli with Barry Newman, Albert Salmi and myself. There were a couple of characters that he wanted me to do for the first years he was doing Dallas, he and his wife were good friends, but they just didn't seem like me. Then he called me and said "I wrote this script for you" and I thought I don't really have a choice here and it was Donna. You know the first episode was Sam and all that was going on, JR and Ray. It looked like there is loads of potential for this character and not only that I related to her in ways, maybe being a strong character and feeling you wanted to make differences in life. I was very grateful to Leonard for doing that.

Interviewer - Petrocelli has just started a rerun in the UK on a cable channel

Susan - (laughs) You're kidding, it was a wonderful two years, it was so much fun and we lived in Tuson Arizona, it was a grand time. Harrison Ford, Kim Basinger did the show, if you go back and look at all the people that were guest stars it was just unbelievable we had some wonderful people.

Rotem in Israel asks Are there any thing in common between Donna Krebbs and Susan Howard?

Susan - I always believed when you do a character I don't know necessarily that's who you are. But you always have to draw on the things that perhaps attracted you to it to begin with. I very strongly believed in more simplicity of life rather than out there in your face kind of thing, which I thought Donna was. I think she was probably a very loyal friend , she was very interested in the political end of things, she had a passion for her husband, she wanted very much for him to be the guy that good things happened for and wanted to support him. Possibly I was trying as much as anything to make a rounded person, a normal person in the midst of all the others.

Pam´s twin sister from Barcelona, Spain asks Who was your inspiration for the role? btw I'm a man

Susan - huh? oh ok (laughs). You know when I was growing up my there was two, Doris Day and Ingrid Bergman but one had the incredibly gifted personality of being able to laugh and smile and make you as an audience feel like something good was going on. Ingrid Bergman on the other hand was able to bring out the pathos and the true emotional criteria of what characters and people are. So if I had any it was me trying to make a combination of those two, I'm not sure I did so good (laughs)

Pauline in UK asks What was your favorite series/storyline in Dallas?

Susan - The one that Steve and I did about the down syndrome children. For Steve and I it came the opportunity for our characters to be show cased, not only that if you go back to that time in American television, we were not really running around putting disabled, handicapped, special people in anything because they more to be pitied than to be promoted and it became the catalyst for many shows that all of a sudden started hiring people who were in wheelchairs, people who were deaf or were blind. Rather than saying that they are not worthy or can't do it they said "wait a minute, maybe we need to take another look" because we are not so perfect ourselves. I just felt like it really did bring an element that many said had nothing to do with Dallas and yet I felt very strongly that it was probably one of the most genuine pieces of film that we had done. I loved it, it was hard. The crew would cry at times when these kids would come, the kids are wanting to just be touched and the crew got very involved. It was a very emotional time, all of us did a lot of growing.

Interviewer - Didn't you have to learn to sign?

Susan - I did, oh my gosh, I still see it now. In fact when they gave me the 'Teldocto' in Italy one year I signed my thank you in sign language, I don't speak Italian but this is a universal language. It was so good, in fact I went down to the deaf school in Los Angeles and got to be there when they crowned their King and Queen, their big prom. Obviously they can't hear but they had all this music but what it is the floor, as I recall, is wood and they get a sense of rhythm from the very vibrations of it. You learn, that's one of the beauties of being an actor.

Dan James in England, UK asks I'm a big fan of yours, and i have read in several places, that you write for tv. I would like to know if this is true, have you written tv shows or films?

Susan - I wrote two of the episodes of Dallas, I also wrote a Christmas musical I would like to see produced somewhere. Iv also co written a screenplay with a friend of mine.

Claire Wass from Kidderminster,UK asks Did your political development within the Dallas series influence your decision to be involved with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept as a Commissioner?

Susan - Well I wouldn't say that it did, growing up in Texas you are always involved in the outdoors. I even asked the Governor, now the President, "Why are you appointing me to this?" and he said "because you would be good at it". I think as much as anything, what he was saying and what I came to understand after all of years of doing that, you care about the land, you care about the wildlife, you care about the fish and the waters. Pretty much what Parks and Wildlife is about is being a steward of the things that belong to the people of the State of Texas. It was great, I'm still involved, the game wardens, I'm on their Council because what they do is 'Operation Game Thief' and what they do is people who poach on park land or private land or kill animals out of season, we raise money to make sure these people go to jail or pay huge fines and then we donate the moneys to make sure kids go to college.

Margaret Goodman in England asks Do you miss Dallas,and do you stay in contact with the cast?

Susan - You know what I miss, I miss the ability to know you are going to work everyday and have an opportunity to use your gift. I miss that, I really really miss that. I try when I go and speak and do things to try and sense that I do use that gift but nothing will replace acting. Steve and I stay in touch quite often , I hear from Kenny every now and then, Ken Kercheval, I ran into Larry a year ago in Washington.

David Nisbet in Scotland asks Who was your favorite person to work with on the show?

Susan - Steve (laughs), I really loved working with Steve but as much as anything I would really love working with the different guest stars who would come in because you get comfortable with each other as actors and sometimes you take each other for granted because you pretty much know what the other is gonna do. So when guest stars come in you were challenged to listen and respect them for the uniqueness they were bringing. But I loved working with Steve, he listens and that to me is critical for an actor. If you want to learn to act learn to listen.

Sarah B, Northern Ireland asks Hi Susan What was your relationship like with the other Dallas actresses? Who were you closest to and do you stay in touch with any of them?

Susan - I had great relations with every actress on the show. I think Barbara and I had some really fun times together and Charlene and all of us did. As far as staying in touch with any of them , no I don't. Charlene every now and then I hear something about her or from her but I would not say we have any kind of a close relationship, no.

Adam in Scotland asks What's life been like since you left Dallas? Do you still act?

Susan - Well it's been very interesting (laughs), you never know what god is gonna do or where he's gonna take you. We knew someday we would want to come home to Texas, if you are from Texas you always come home. The last film I did was for the Billy Graham organization and it was obviously a Christian message film. I was the on camera spokesperson trying to reinvigorate the oil and gas industry of Oklahoma. Iv done some charity acting, some two people shows where you raise money for charities But thats it.

Lance Howard in Arizona asks I was wondering, what Jim Davis was like to work with, and how did his death, affect you, and the rest of the cast?

Susan - He was wonderful, the other day I was surfing this old movie channel and there was Jim Davis when he had to of been 30, I went "Oh my gosh, you were gorgeous then". He had the most beautiful white hair you ever laid your eyes on and he really set a tone, Jim had such a sense of who he was, he was a big man and there was no doubt that this was the head of the family, this was Jock Ewing and you believed it. He had a great sense of humor, his wife Blanche was one of the sweetest and dearest people and they were very open to you about their lives. It was very hard for anyone to be around someone suffering from Cancer like that, to watch the debilitation of him physically, emotionally and mentally , it was hard but it was good because Jim came to work everyday and he gave everything he had and it was like saying to everybody "if you think you have a problem get over it", it was a great loss but he left a legacy, he always has and he always will.

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