Steve Kanaly who played cowboy Ray Krebbs on Dallas for ten years answered questions from fans on the Ultimate Dallas site.

 

 

Interviewer - Out of interest do you know why they changed the original ranch?

Steve - Yes , the owner was in Oil business and at that time there was a lot of restrictions on oil production and he was being investigated along with a lot of other people about illegal oil sales and decided he didn't want a movie company around his place. So he sort of just pulled out.

Kevin Oliver in Texas asks: Steve, I always wanted some of that generic beer you were always drinking. When I go into a bar and I tell them "gimme a beer", they normally ask which kind. Nobody ever asked ole Ray though, he just wanted "couple of draft beers." Since I'm on fire, I learned the expression "someone slipped me a mickey" from your character. Also loved it when you asked Pam if she wanted a cup of "hot jona". What the hell is "jona"?

Steve - Well Kevin if you are confused I am confused, I don't ever remember saying a 'cup of hot jona' I have no idea what that is and I'm not sure about 'slip a mickey' and how you would learn that from my character on the show and I really don't understand the question about the beer either but I do have a comment. That is, my preference for beer at that time was 'Lone Star' and most often that was what we drank. I, Larry and Patrick if we were drinking beer on camera it was beer, not that we were all alcoholics but its a long day and its nice to have a couple of sips on a cold beer and I know I certainly had 'Lone Star' when I had mine, they just put a new label on it. The other beer, if you can get your hands on it is 'JR Beer', Larry had a whole garage full of it at one point.

Interviewer - I have seen that for sale on the net

Steve - Its probably not drinkable, don't buy it to drink it in mind, but you can probably get it on Ebay.

Richard Beijers in the Netherlands asks : What did you do after Dallas?

Steve - Almost immediately I went to another television series that was not huge but one I really loved 'Okavango', I played a character which was not JR but is J.D and was kind of a scoundrel. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed being in South Africa and had a chance to play this edgy fun character. It had a nice run , a lot of people really enjoyed the show and it was actually almost too good to be popular, it had a little moral note in each show. I also did a year in New York on a daytime show called 'All my Children', I could barely stand it, I could not stand living in the confines of a big city. I did a play, I directed, I did a film called 'Sliding Home' and I did several other films. I generally stayed busy but the main thing is that Im staying healthy and ready and able for the next one that comes along.

Pauline in Glasgow, Scotland asks : Hi Steve (We met a long time ago in 1983, when I won a competition to meet you, and we went riding!) How did you get the part of Ray, and is he anything like you?

Steve - I remember this girl and we did some fun stuff, make sure she understands that I remember that and I appreciate her writing in. The part, when it was first explained to me was over the telephone and they said there were three or four male roles that could be right depending on how they decide to go. With a brief description I went to the studio thinking about the Bobby character, he was young,rich,he's got the money, the fast life style and I get to the studio and there are all these Lucy hopefuls in there and I asked if I could see a script from one of the girls I know. Here's Ray, Ray's running the ranch , flying the helicopter, his girlfriend is marrying the younger brother , he' sleeping with the granddaughter in the hayloft , conspiring with the older brother to break up the marriage all in the first show. So I pretty much knew right off the back that Ray Krebbs was the character that I wanted to play, my chance to play a contemporary western character and there were not many opportunities like that around.

Pauline also asked : How did you get your break into films/tv, as I know John Milius played a part?

Steve - It was through John Milius as I mentioned earlier and he wrote a film for himself to direct but that was bought out by Paul Newman's company who hired John Huston to direct 'The life and times of Judge Roy Bean'. Through Milius I was introduced to John Huston and Milius suggested that I would be fine to play one of the Western roles in that film, specifically I had never done any acting previous to that. They saw me and I had a meeting and was offered the job , basically I jumped in with both feet and one week turned out to be twelve and you know I said "I think I'm going to stay with this". I went to school with Tom Selleck, Sally Fields, and other young people at that time who were resuming careers in the business and I came home to Los Angeles and I told them "Hey you will never guess what I just did and I need to learn how to act...fast..how do I do it?", I was advised but that was the beginning.

Pauline asked another question : "What was it like filming the mini series and did you ever imagine the show would become so popular?"

Steve - The mini series was a huge challenge , it was a lot of fun, we shot it in Texas in one of the more severe winters they had in many years, snow and ice storms, we stayed at a crappy motel , the budget was very tight and creature comforts minimal. But we all really bonded through the suffering and everyone learned to care and trust each other a lot, we all felt we had done a good job by the time we were finished , it was different, very different to anything on TV.

Alan in London asks :Did you enjoy working with Jim Davis and how did his death affect the cast?

Steve - Jim was somebody who I had seen in films and television, a very likable man that people were drawn too and was the perfect actor for Jock Ewing and brought so much to the role. Sadly we would loose Jim two or three years into the run when he died of inoperable brain cancer. I tell actors all the time when they say "my careers going nowhere", everybody is going to quit, its the ones that stay in there that have the chance, so Jim was one of those guys, he had a career that lasted fifty years and at the very end when he was in his late fifties he gets a show that makes him a world wide star. He enjoyed it more than any of us because it meant so much to him and because of that he was such a joy to be around. One of the really outstanding things that happened to him I remember was that he went to London with his wife , they had never been before and they are out in front of Buckingham Palace watching the changing of the guard and one of the guys in the big hat says, as the crowd is now all focusing on Jock Ewing instead of the procedure, "Oh Mr Ewing could you please step inside the gate", and he was so amazed that he had become this star. He came back and he told me this story and it was just wonderful. His death of course was terrible but he set a brave example to everybody that would ever have to go through this, taking each day at a time and making the most out of it, he said he was going to finish the season and all through the season he was treated with chemotherapy , he lost his vision and his balance, his ability to memorize his lines , he was a very brave man.

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