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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
35 years ago, ‘Dallas’ fans found out who shot J.R. Ewing
In this Nov. 21, 1980, file photo, actress Mary Crosby, daughter viewers in March, ran ram-
of late entertainer Bing Crosby, and actor Larry Hagman, who
plays J.R. Ewing in the popular TV series “Dallas,” appear at a
party in Los Angeles. Associated Press
FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Thirty-
five years ago this Satur-
day, viewers learned the
truth.
They got the answer to the
question that bedeviled
them for months.
They found out who shot
J.R. Ewing as 90 million of
them massed in front of
half the nation’s TVs watch-
ing “Dallas” that evening
of Nov. 21, 1980.
Not that it really mattered
whodunit. What mattered
was, the issue was settled.
The mystery solved. “Dal-
las” fans could finally move
on.
So could “Dallas,” which,
by the time the shooter’s
identity was disclosed,
had rocketed from its prior
status as a mere TV hit to
the far reaches of cultural
blockbuster-dom.
A saga of the Texas ty-
coon Ewings, “Dallas” was
epic, ostentatious, outra-
geous and addictive, with
its at-each-other’s-throats
clan ruled by J.R. Ewing, a
charmingly loathsome oil
baron. As embodied by
Larry Hagman, J.R. was a
bottomless well of corrup-
tion who deployed a Lone
Star twang, cold hawk
eyes and a wicked grin.
By the evening of March
21, 1980, “Dallas” devotees
were already smitten with
his villainy. But then, on that stayed a secret to every-
third-season finale, “Dallas”
threw them a curve unlike
anything witnessed before:
J.R. was gunned down by
an unknown assailant and
left for dead on his office
floor.
Thunderstruck fans were
left with the awful possibility “It was extraordinary that
(and somehow it seemed
like a possibility) that the
series’ leading man — its
main attraction — might
have been disposed of.
And even more unsettling:
They were left in the dark
as to who pulled the trig-
ger.
Obvious persons of interest
included Sue Ellen Ewing
(played by Linda Gray),
J.R.’s long-suffering, cheat-
ed-upon wife, and his
sniveling arch-enemy Cliff
Barnes (Ken Kercheval).
Kristin Shepard, J.R.’s sexy
scheming sister-in-law/mis-
tress, was also an attrac-
tive candidate.
But “Dallas” producers,
who had cooked up the
“Who Shot J.R.?” twist as
an effective way to satisfy
a last-minute order by CBS
for two extra episodes to
close out Season 3, hadn’t
even settled on whodunit
when they decided that
the deed be done. Or, if
they had, they weren’t
talking.
Mary Crosby says she had
no idea. When she got the
script, Crosby, who played
Kristin, thought only, “What
a great way to end the
season. And J.R. certainly
deserves it!”
To ensure the big secret
one, including the doer,
everybody got a turn on-
camera pulling the trigger.
“It was a really fun day,”
Crosby recalls. “The pro-
Thursday 19 November 2015
ducers got to shoot J.R. The In fact, J.R. didn’t meet his as a dear friend and, on
makeup artist got to shoot maker until March 2013 on the “Dallas” set, “He taught
him. Larry got to shoot him- an episode of TNT’s “Dal- me how to have a great
self.” las” revival, following the time being a bad girl.
Then, after they wrapped, death of Hagman at 81 “I was there during the
Hagman, ever the jokester, from cancer four months show’s rise, which was very
changed into a novelty- earlier. exciting,” she adds. “None
shop vest and toasted the Crosby, now 56, would go of us imagined what the
company with a glass of on acting after her brief show would become.”
Scotch. As he drank, liquid stint as Kristin, and last year And she could never have
spouted from numerous appeared as herself in the imagined her place in TV
“bullet holes” in his chest. “American Masters” por- history: the one who dunit.
“There was never a dull trait of her father, legend- “I’m still a trivia question,”
moment with Larry,” Cros- ary crooner Bing Crosby. she laughs. “What can I
by chuckles. She remembers Hagman say?”q
The mystery, unleashed on
pant much longer than
intended: An actors strike
would shut down all TV pro-
duction and push the start
of the networks’ Fall 1980
season into November,
imposing an extra three
months for the nation’s fa-
vorite guessing game to
rage.
people cared after all that
time,” says Crosby.
But care, they did! View-
ers scarfed up Who Shot
J.R.? merchandise includ-
ing T-shirts, coffee cups
and beer. They put money
down betting on who the
culprit would be. They de-
voured publicity about the
stunt, including a sprawling
Time magazine cover story
whose headline, of course,
posed: “WHODUNIT?”
Running for a second term,
President Jimmy Carter re-
portedly joked at a Dallas
fundraiser, “I came to Dal-
las to find out confidentially
who shot J.R.”
No luck. But in the new
season’s fourth episode,
the answer was finally re-
vealed to all — including
Crosby, who only then dis-
covered that she, as Kristin,
was the guilty party.
“I knew when everybody
else knew,” she declares,
and watching “Dallas”
that fateful night “I was
thrilled — and spooked. I
knew that it would change
things, and it did. I was cer-
tainly a more recognizable
figure after that!”
Needless to say, J.R. would
recover and resume his
villainy. He lived even be-
yond the series’ conclusion
after 14 seasons in May
1991, when viewers were
duped into suspecting that
he had committed suicide.