The wonderful Larry Hagman answered your questions in this Ultimate Dallas exclusive interview.

Our Ultimate Dallas Interviewer asked Mr. Hagman all your fantastic questions sent into UltimateDallas.Com.

 

Larry Hagman - We got along very well. He was always fun to work with because you never knew what he was going to do from one second to the other. It was always discovery we him, I loved it.

Yvonne in Germany asks Did JR love Sue Ellen?

Larry Hagman - Absolutely, he treated her like shit but he loved her. But a lot of men do that and a lot of women do that to their men too.

Pauline in Scotland asks I have a vast Dallas collection, over 80 000 articles, photos and magazines, and autographs of over 30 members of cast. Do you still have any Dallas memorabilia, and did you take anything from the set on the last day?

Larry Hagman- Yeah but I'm not going to tell you what it was

Interviewer - Oh go on

Larry Hagman- No I stole it

Interviewer - Come on, give us a clue

Larry Hagman - No no no, it was worth a lot of money. But I did buy 200 cases of JR Beer. When it first came out it was about $24.00 a case, and now each can is worth $100 and if I sign its worth $150, so that's a good investment. I send those to charities who use them for auctions and the last signed 6 pack I did down in Texas for a hospital fund raiser I and I got 65 hundred dollars. That's a lot of money so they have served a purpose too.

Mark Arbouine in London asks Last year I watched a Dallas special on TV in the UK during which you were interviewed at your home. I noticed on a wall in the background was the portrait of Jock that appeared in Dallas. Is this painting now yours and how did you acquire it?

Larry Hagman - (coughs) Refer to your earlier question, (laughs loudly), oh god, I knew you would weasel that out of me somehow. That's not an admission of guilt by the way. I don't think.

Jamie in Germany asks I like the characters you played in I dream of Jeanie and Dallas. Which of these did you prefer playing and why?

Larry Hagman- I liked Dallas better because it was more deceptive, you could do more with it. Jeanie was a flat out easy character to play, more like me to tell you the truth, kind of naive and good looking (laughs) and humble, don't forget humble.

Andre in Vancouver asks What was your relationship with Jim Davis like?

Larry Hagman- Jim was a wonderful guy, he never thought he was a very good actor so was a little insecure, which was a really strange thing to have from this really rugged , western, tall, good looking man. He was kind of insecure but he really knew what he was doing, and having fun with it. We really got along very well, he got pissed off with me a few times when I pushed him, when I was directing. I would say "Have more fun with this" and he'd say "Goddamn it I'm doing my whole thing", I said "I know that sir because you are a wonderful artist" But he never really believed that and he didn't take any bullshit either so you had to be careful how you did it.

Andrew also asks and how did his 1981 passing affect you?

Larry Hagman - We were all on hiatus and I was in Scotland, a real fancy smancy hotel in Scotland, and I came down for breakfast and there was a journalist from a local paper, and he said "How do you feel about Mr Davis's death?". We were expecting that, he had a brain tumor and he'd lost all his hair and we had to have a stand in for him to get up from the breakfast table, you know every show we had a breakfast table thing, if he had to leave the table it would be over his shoulder onto his back, the man would get up and then Jim would turn around and you would cut to Jim turning around. It was unfortunate but of course we all gotta go and he had a good life, and went out with bang, a star of the most successful show on the earth.

James in London asks Do you think that it's fair to say that, towards the end of Dallas's run, JR's character had become less formidable and more of a comedy buffoon? Was this a conscious decision, and if so whose and why?

Larry Hagman - I think tended to do a parody and they were writing in that direction also. After ten or twelve years you can only play something so long and then you start to parody it. I admit to the last couple of years shows were not up to par. At that time I was making the largest salary known on television and I didn't want to see it die because those were the years paying off then I wasn't making anything.

Matthew Patriquin in Hyannis Ma asks Did you ever feel uncomfortable with some of the lines you had?When you called Sue Ellen a loser, when she was really down, was quite crushing, but did it bother you?

Larry Hagman - Oh no no no, that was just part of it all. But some of it was couched in language that was not Texan if you know what I mean, it was more Jewish New York or New Jersey where a lot of these guys were from. So I would change it to the local vernacular because I did know the mind set and I did know the vernacular of the local Texans because I was brought up down there.

Will Rodgers in Tennessee asks - My favorite era of Dallas was the first three seasons when Jock was alive, Bobby and Pam were newlyweds, and you were the most menacing as J.R.
What was your favorite era of the show?

Larry Hagman - I think that was probably, the exploratory years, when we were playing with the characters and the writers were playing with the characters. Later on when it became a routine it was not as exciting I'll admit that. The first three years were wonderful, the rest were just money making and having fun.

Steven Matthews in L.A asks - Why did Dallas end? I heard there was a planned 14th season. Is that true?

Larry Hagman - No no (laughs) there wasn't any planned 14th season, we all saw the writing on the wall. The ratings had been going down and so fourth, that curve goes on every show and in everybody's life.

Colby in London asks What did you, and the general Dallas clan, really think of Dynasty

Larry Hagman - I thought it was a good show, I can't speak for the other people, but we didn't not respect it. It was a different show from Dallas, it was much more glitzy. Dallas was more raw and when one producer took over from Mr Katzman he tried to make i9t like Dynasty and I just rebelled at that. So we did a year kind of like mock Dynasty but we all respected it, it was a fun show too.

Interviewer - The Dynasty season being the dream season?

Larry Hagman - The dream season came up when I got my regular writer and director back , Leonard Katzman and he was the driving force behind the show.

Interviewer - So you were fundamental in getting him back?

Larry Hagman - Oh god yes, I said get him back or that's it. They said "What do you mean that's it?" I said "You guys can figure that out, its either me or this other producer", they said "You don't mean that", "Yeah I do I know its old fashioned and it's star shit but I'm playing the star card now, I want my old producer because it makes me happy and my goal in life is to be happy and rich and Iv archived both of them and I don't want to loose the happiness part of it". They couldn't understand that of course, they couldn't fathom that an actor would want a guy back just because it made him feel good

Interviewer - But they did it

Larry Hagman - Of course they did , they had no choice. Remember humble and remember humble

Interviewer - (laughs) Yes very humble

Ewing_87 in Hong Kong asks - Were you really the most powerful person on the set of Dallas?

Larry Hagman - Leonard Katzman was the most powerful absolutely. You know the show went to Hong Kong

Interviewer - (laughs) - Linda Gray right?

Larry Hagman - Yes Linda was over there

Wendell in Russia asks I'm a die-hard fan of JR Ewing. What was your wife saying about Dallas and JR?

Larry Hagman - My wife loved it, she said I had finally found the part, my part, the defining part of my personality and vision. Sure enough she was right and she was the one who persuaded me to do it. Now what I would like to know, is Dallas playing in Russia at the moment?

Interviewer - I can find out, I will let you know.

Interviewer - On the web site forum , everyone is discussing your comments about the war, there are 100's of messages. They are all talking about it

Larry Hagman - What do they say?

Interviewer - Most of them seem to be for your comments

Larry Hagman - That's in Germany

Interviewer - No all over, there's a few people who weren't too pleased

Larry Hagman - Do they call me 'mother f**king, penis breath communist'?

Interviewer - No not quite (laughs)

Larry Hagman - That's what I get and I reply "I was never a communist" (Laughs very hard). Laugh out loud, L O L

Interviewer - (laughs) See again, you know lots about the internet

Larry Hagman - Communism has kind of been dead for a few years now. They are in the mind set of that's where their living, back in the Vietnam war I guess. But anyhow my stance is for the troops and I support all our children we send over there but I don't respect people who send them, simple as that.

Interviewer - Its interesting reading the forum, you have provoked so much discussion which is good.

Larry Hagman - I'm sure it is, I'm not for any kind of war, we've been engaged in several wars since the second world war and we lost in Korea, we lost in Vietnam, they are political wars, they have nothing to do with any real threat, nor does this one. It will go down in history as just one of our great great great mistakes but we don't seem to car over here, our leaders don't seem to care, I care and there are millions of other people who care. People can be brainwashed by the Government and I can understand why, they "leaders". Germany had leaders and Russia had leaders, China and certainly Cuba has had leaders who impose their will on logical thinking.

Sally Hollingsworth in Ipswich ,Suffolk,England asks do you keep in touch with any of the cast member who left before dallas ended officially?

Larry Hagman - Oh yeah. Linda Gray and I see each other probably twice a month for lunch or dinner with my wife and her boyfriend. We travel often together, we went down to Palm Springs this last weekend to kick off a Charity Benefit for Dennis Weaver who we've both worked with before and who is a big television star here. He's going to drive a hydrogen car from Palm Springs to Washington DC in about 14 days and publicize the fact we need alternate energy, Oil is going to run out and very quickly as well.

Pamela in London asks- Can you send all us fans on Ultimate Dallas a message Larry Hagman? We all think you are great and want to wish you all the best.

Larry Hagman - I will give you my personal pre dar, don't worry, be happy, feel good.

Interviewer - Thanks Larry Hagman and thanks to everyone who sent in questions.

Page 1|2|3