Dallas TV Show Family

Jock Ewing, the tough patriarch of the Ewing family, was raised in a family that had little money. Since Texan oil was discovered in the early 20^th century, the lone-star state attracted a motley crew of tough men seeking their fortune in the black gold. Jock was drawn to oil and cleverly taught himself the skills needed for extracting oil, particularly the blasting techniques needed to get oil from the limestone rock. As a wildcatter, he partnered with the heavy-drinking Digger Barnes. Jock marries Amanda in 1927, but because he was away from home so often, Amanda would often be very lonely and became withdrawn. After a gunfight outside her home, Amanda had a breakdown and Jock had to place her in a hospital. Amanda’s medical care was expensive and Jock worked furiously to earn enough to provide for her.

Digger Barnes’s father worked as a ranch hand on Southfork Ranch, just outside Dallas, and Digger attracted the interest of the ranch owner’s teenage daughter, Ellie. Before Digger could marry Miss Ellie, Jock Ewing courted her and married her. By now Jock was wealthy and he helped save Southfork ranch from being foreclosed. The wedding of Jock Ewing and Miss Ellie was the Dallas event of the year. After giving birth to John Ross (J.R.), Miss Ellie became very involved in the women’s volunteer charity groups and supported the arts. Jock and Ellie’s second son was born just before the Second World War and she named him Gary after her brother, Garrison. Six years later her third son, Bobby, was born. Her boys grew up on Southfork ranch and learnt to ride the horses. Miss Ellie had a swimming pool built next to the house for her sons to play in.

In the late 1970s, Miss Ellie discovered a tumor in her breast and had to have a mastectomy to save her life. She battled with her self-image for years afterwards. Soon Miss Ellie had more stress in her life. Her son Gary left Southfork after a bitter fight and she also discovered that Ray Krebbs, the ranch foreman, was Jock’s illegitimate son. Furthermore she was furious to discover that Jock was one of the developers behind the Takapa development project that was going to destroy a beautiful wilderness area in Texas. When Jock was working in South America, it was Miss Ellie that had to rescue Ewing Oil from bankruptcy after JR’s bad business deals and through this she met Clayton Farlow. It was at the 1981 Ewing barbeque that Miss Ellie heard the news that Jock had been in a helicopter crash in South America and was presumed dead.

In her anguish, Miss Ellie’s health deteriorated over the next couple of years. Clayton helped her through this difficult time by taking her away from Southfork to recuperate at the Takapa Resort. Clayton and Miss Ellie fell in love and were soon engaged. At their wedding, Miss Ellie was given away by J.R and Bobby. Their romantic honeymoon was on a cruise of the Greek islands. Within a few years Miss Ellie had another traumatic experience when she discovered some personal belongings of Jock’s in the possession of Wes, the new ranch foreman. Wes told Miss Ellie that he was indeed Jock. He had survived the helicopter crash and, because of plastic surgery he looked different. Clayton was very distressed and left Southfork. After much family turmoil, Wes did admit that he wasn’t Jock, but knew him well in South America. Wes then departed and was not heard of again. Further strain was put on Miss Ellie’s marriage to Clayton when he had heart surgery and would not follow the doctors’ advice. Clayton began seeing a lot of a younger woman, Laurel, and this did not help their marriage at all. Clayton left Southfork again but eventually he and Miss Ellie were reunited.

Dallas could not be Dallas without J.R. Ewing. Jock and Miss Ellie’s eldest son had a tough childhood in that Jock was harsh on him to prepare him for running the family’s oil business. J.R. loathed his brother Gary, probably because his mother paid too much attention to Gary, leaving J.R. under the strict care of Jock. With Bobby, however, J.R. was more compassionate with as he did not see Bobby as a threat to his power lust. J.R. not only had a lust for power, but also for women. He was infamous for playing the field when, in 1963, J.R. met that year’s Miss Texas, Sue Ellen. She refused to sleep with until they were married, so in 1971 there was another huge wedding at Southfork ranch. Eight years later, Sue Ellen gave birth to John Ross Ewing the Third. By then J.R. and Sue Ellen were having marital problems and at one point it was thought that their son was fathered by Cliff Barnes. Sue Ellen left J.R. in 1981 and, with some help from Pamela, she took John Ross away from Southfork. J.R. and Sue Ellen did reunite and his son returned to Southfork with his mother.

Their happiness was not to last. J.R. was back to his unfaithful ways. He met a waitress called Cally on a fishing trip and, after seducing her, Cally’s brothers forced J.R. to marry their sister. J.R. abandoned Cally and returned to Southfork. Cally tracked down JR and it was not long before that marriage was over. J.R.’s son from a previous relationship, James, identified himself to J.R. and, although JR took him in as his own, they constantly quarreled.