# J. R. finally dies - Larry Hagman dead at 81.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 24, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959 "2012-11-24T04:18:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/41 "2012-11-25T19:31:48Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> Wonder if they’re going to do something dramatic with the character’s death on the _Dallas_ reboot? (I can’t see them recasting the part.) Kind of boring to just have an episode where people are standing around saying, “Wow, so J.R. died in his sleep.” Much more interesting to have him be murdered (off camera) and do another whodunnit. Not shot this time, though.
Larry had already filmed six episodes of the upcoming season, but the writers have promised they are going to do justice with his death in the story - so I would imagine something pretty dynamic is going to happen and be at least a major part of one episode, if not the rest of the season.
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### Author:  [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/42 "2012-11-25T19:40:38Z")
I remember reading in a book about a strange incident that occurred on the set of “I Dream of Jeannie” between Sammy Davis, JR. and Larry Hagman. At one point, one of the guys on the set walks in and there is bad tension in the room. Sammy Davis, JR. is threatening to walk off because of something Hagman supposedly said to him. Thankfully Barbara Eden spoke privately with Sammy Davis, JR. and he agreed to finish filming but he wanted no further contact with Larry Hagman. Does anybody know what happened? To be fair to both men, I doubt that Larry Hagman would have been dumb enough to make a racist remark to Sammy Davis, JR. although I know Larry Hagman was infamous for his “eccentricities” in life. On the other hand, I also doubt that Sammy Davis, JR. was one of those prima donnas who could dish it out but not take it. Does anybody have any actual details on this incident? If I were in touch with Barbara Eden, I would ask her myself.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/43 "2012-11-25T21:12:37Z")
Incidentally: could you imagine what would happen if J. R. Ewing were black? There would be the godawfulest uproar…
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/44 "2012-11-26T01:21:43Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> Wonder if they’re going to do something dramatic with the character’s death on the _Dallas_ reboot? (I can’t see them recasting the part.) Kind of boring to just have an episode where people are standing around saying, “Wow, so J.R. died in his sleep.” Much more interesting to have him be murdered (off camera) and do another whodunnit. Not shot this time, though.
“Who blew up JR?”
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/45 "2012-11-26T03:01:40Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> My favorite role of his was as the translator in the 1964 movie _[Fail-Safe](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/)_. It also featured a great dramatic performance by, or all people, Dom DeLuise.
See post 7.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/46 "2012-11-26T03:22:02Z")
> [@DMark](#):
>
> Larry had already filmed six episodes of the upcoming season, but the writers have promised they are going to do justice with his death in the story…
Bobby and Sue Ellen charge people $100 bucks a pop to piss on J.R.'s grave and make enough money to buy Texas.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/47 "2012-11-26T05:07:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Bobby and Sue Ellen charge people $100 bucks a pop to piss on J.R.'s grave and make enough money to buy Texas.
What would I get if I bring a dog with diarrhea?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/48 "2012-11-26T12:46:37Z")
Hagman was also a director. He directed episodes of \*I Dream of Jeannie[/i], but also quite a few episodes of _Dallas_ as well as _In the Heat of the Night_ and two episodes of _The Good Life_.
He also directed the sequel to The Blob, _Beware the Blob_. When the film was released on VHS, it was promoted as “The Film that J.R. Shot!”
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/49 "2012-11-26T13:26:22Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> Incidentally: could you imagine what would happen if J. R. Ewing were black?
“Mongo was easy; the bitch was inventing the candygram. Probably won’t even give me credit for it.”
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/50 "2012-11-26T14:03:30Z")
It was quite a risk casting Hagman, known for such a nice-guy role, as JR, wasn’t it? I wonder if early reviews of ‘Dallas’ ravaged it for that, and had to eat their words later.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/51 "2012-11-26T14:25:40Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> What would I get if I bring a dog with diarrhea?
Contact info for a good vet?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/52 "2012-11-26T14:31:48Z")
How J.R. cool is it that Hagman died in [Dallas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hagman#Death)?
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### Author:  [@Greekfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greekfreak)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/53 "2012-11-26T16:36:43Z")
Too young to remember IDOG but loved him in Dallas. I also remember him having a bit part in the first Superman movie ad well as a JR Ewing type role in Nixon. A great loss, in my estimation, and bymost accounts, a nice guy to work with. RIP Larry.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/54 "2012-11-28T02:27:47Z")
> [@Greekfreak](#):
>
> Too young to remember IDOG but loved him in Dallas. I also remember him having a bit part in the first Superman movie ad well as a JR Ewing type role in Nixon.
He was also the clueless USAR Colonel in _The Eagle Has Landed._
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/55 "2012-11-28T02:34:15Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> My favorite role of his was as the translator in the 1964 movie _[Fail-Safe](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/)_. It also featured a great dramatic performance by, or all people,\*\* Dom DeLuise\*\*.
His performance in the movie was strangely comical, especially given the gravitas of the story. His character was _nothing_ like the one described in the book.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/56 "2012-11-28T02:42:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Hagman was also a director. He directed episodes of _I Dream of Jeannie_, but also quite a few episodes of _Dallas_ as well as _In the Heat of the Night_\*\* and two episodes of _The Good Life_\*\*.
Not to be confused with the British sitcom aired in the US under the title _Good Neighbors_. In an eerily prescient casting decision, Hagman’s short-lived sitcom ('74–'75?) starred him opposite Donna Mills (“Abby” on _Knot’s Landing_) and David Wayne (“Digger Barnes” on _Dallas_).
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/57 "2012-11-28T08:02:33Z")
I seem to remember a movie Hagman made as a man who had remarried when he thought his first wife had died. It turned out she was very much alive, and he found out. Then he was on an elevator, and when it stopped at one floor the doors opened and his current wife and his supposedly deceased wife stood there side by side. When he saw them he fainted.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/58 "2012-11-28T14:00:16Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com) on Hagman’s former costars and friends reacting to his death: [http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/24/showbiz/larry-hagman-celeb-sympathies/?iref=obinsite](http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/24/showbiz/larry-hagman-celeb-sympathies/?iref=obinsite)
> [@terentii](#):
>
> [Dom DeLuise’s] performance in the movie was strangely comical, especially given the gravitas of the story. His character was _nothing_ like the one described in the book.
I don’t remember DeLuise at all, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie. Walter Matthau is also good in it, as a coolly calculating Kissingeresque defense intellectual, not to mention a young Fritz Weaver as a conflicted Air Force officer. Sorrell Booke (later better known as Boss Hogg as _The Dukes of Hazzard_) plays a Congressman. Quite a cast.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/59 "2012-11-28T16:21:10Z")
Just remembered [The Good Life](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066663/), a short-lived TV series in the early 1970s. I liked it. A young married couple escape the rat race by becoming servants to a wealthy businessman.
EDIT: I see it mentioned before now, but I didn’t catch the reference before.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-r-finally-dies-larry-hagman-dead-at-81/641959/60 "2012-11-28T19:11:44Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> He was also the clueless USAR Colonel in _The Eagle Has Landed._
And the doctor who refuses to let his patient be moved from a parking lot in “The Big Bus”!
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