Dallas Trivia

Quite a few of the Dallas parts were not assigned to the actors who eventually played them. The part of J.R. was first offered to Robert Foxworth who declined. He later acted in Falcon Crest. Bobby Ewing was to be played by Steve Kanaly, who was later cast as Ray Krebs. Sue Ellen was to be played by Mary Frann and Pamela by Linda Evans.

From the second season to the end of filming, Dallas was shot on location at the “Duncan Acres” ranch, owned by J.R. Duncan. The location of the first season, and the initial five concept-episodes, was at the “Cloyce Box Ranch” in Frisco. Because the ranch owner felt that the film shooting was disrupting his ranch activities too much, he would not permit filming of the second season on his property. The Duncan family had to eventually sell their “Southfork” house as they were constantly visited by sightseers from around the world. The famous Southfork ranch house is now a museum dedicated to the show.

For the infamous “Who Shot J.R.?” episode, several “dummy” scenes were shot with different Dallas characters so that the media could not reveal the identity of the true shooter. The gun used to shoot J.R. is on display at the Southfork ranch museum. The Writers Guild of America’s strike in 1980 causes big problems for the producers of Dallas, and particularly for the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode. The scenes had to be written long in advance and the location setup shots were done long before the Southfork soundstage shots where Kristin is revealed as the shooter. This episode broke all previous records for the highest rated single TV series episode.

Linda Gray, who played Sue Ellen, asked the show’s producers if she could direct some Dallas episodes like Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman had done. When she became awkward about his she was sacked from the show. It was only because Larry Hagman threatened to leave Dallas if she wasn’t brought back that Linda Gray continued with her role as Sue Ellen.

The TV show Knots Landin” was created before Dallas, but because no one would buy it, it was shelved and Dallas written in its place. After the huge success of Dallas, Knots Landing was revived as a spin off from Dallas.

The automobiles used in Dallas were mainly European luxury cars. J.R. drove a Mercedes S-class before changing to an American Cadillac Allante. His wife, Sue Ellen, drove a Mercedes station wagon before that was upgraded to a Mercedes S-class coupe. Bobby drove a Mercedes SL convertible as well as a BMW and a Jaguar. Pamela drove a Porsche 911 Cabriolet for most of the show. A Saab 900 convertible was driven by Lucy Ewing in the later Dallas series.

When actor Jim Davis died in 1981, the Dallas script writers initially thought of making his character, Jock Ewing, disappear in the Amazon jungle. A portrait of Jim Davis was hung above the Southfork’s living room fireplace but this picture was later moved to the Ewing Oil set after Miss Ellie married Clayton on 1984.

Howard Keel was only to make a few cameo appearances as Clayton Farlow, but because he was so popular with viewers, he became a regular cast member. Howard Keel was a famous bass-baritone singer before he took up acting and he appeared in stage productions of Camelot. After Jim Davis’s death, the Dallas producers asked Howard Keel whether he would be interested in playing the part of Jock Ewing but he refused out of respect for Jim Davis.

When Patrick Duffy returned to Dallas after his character Bobby had died, the Dallas producers used the “dream season” to bring back his character. To keep his return a secret, Patrick Duffy had to act in a Irish Spring Soap commercial, shot in New York,. The Dallas producers then edited the beginning of the soap commercial into the Bobby shower scene later.