# What role is Larry Hagman best known for?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted
**Created:** [April 7, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749 "2025-04-07T17:15:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/1 "2025-04-07T17:15:53Z")
Is it oil baron J.R. Ewing in the 1978-1991 from _Dallas_ or Major Anthony Nelson in the 1965–1970 from _I Dream of Jeannie_.
_Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/1))_
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/2 "2025-04-07T17:18:39Z")
Buck from _Fail-Safe_
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/3 "2025-04-07T17:25:07Z")
Good one! 👍
I originally did not watch _ **Dallas** _ at all because (a) I thought it was just another silly soap opera, and (b) I couldn’t imagine Tony Nelson as an asshole. I decided to give it a try when a friend told me what a _great_ asshole he was, and she was right. I got hooked after the first few episodes and didn’t miss any until a weekend five years later when I had to go out of town and couldn’t watch TV.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/4 "2025-04-07T18:24:49Z")
My immediate first thought was Tony Nelson. He was a great bad guy as JR, but as I said, first thought…
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/5 "2025-04-07T18:54:26Z")
More people may have watched Dallas when it was being first aired but I’m sure reruns have given I Dream of Jeannie more exposure to people over time.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/6 "2025-04-07T18:59:53Z")
I just answered for me rather than society at large. I Dream of Jeannie by a landslide. I’m of the age when 1930’s (Little Rascals/Our Gang) to 1960’s re-runs were shown non-stop in syndication on 1970’s TV when I was a kid. I’m sure I’ve seen every episode more than once.
Dallas by contrast never attracted my attention much. Too soapy for my tastes.
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### Author:  [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/7 "2025-04-07T19:15:24Z")
One particular summer long ago I was in England and encountered a small crowd looking at the TV sets playing in a shop window. When I asked what was going on (in my ultra-American California accent), EVERYONE turned to look at me with excitement and a one woman breathlessly said, “blimey, you’re a yank, you’ll know: who shot JR?”
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/8 "2025-04-07T19:21:33Z")
I hated Dallas, hate JR, hate everything about it. Loved IDoJ.
But the question was “best known for”, not “best character” or “best show”, so I voted JR.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/9 "2025-04-07T19:24:41Z")
The reveal was one of the first episodes I watched. It was longer than usual, as I recall, and I knew who had done the deed after watching a couple of flashbacks.
I finally got to watch most of the early episodes when I was living in Czechoslovakia, 1991–92. I understood just enough of the language to figure out what was going on.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/10 "2025-04-07T19:37:38Z")
To me, he’ll always be “Parking Lot Doctor” from [_The Big Bus_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bus).
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/11 "2025-04-07T19:59:29Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I hated Dallas, hate JR, hate everything about it. Loved IDoJ.
>
> But the question was “best known for”, not “best character” or “best show”, so I voted JR.
I agree with those sentiments. But I abstained because I refuse to vote for anything involving _Dallas_.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/12 "2025-04-07T20:06:42Z")
Is there anybody who was an American kid in the 1960s or 70s who didn’t vote “Major Nelson”? I suspect the JR voters are younger or from outside the US where _Dallas_ probably found a larger audience than _Jeannie_.
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### Author:  [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/13 "2025-04-07T20:11:24Z")
Dallas was huge all over the Western world. Even Scandi kids like me knew who J.R. was.
I’ve never heard of I Dream of Jeannie.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/14 "2025-04-07T20:16:05Z")
I was born in 1967 and voted Dallas. That show was much bigger than Jeannie, even if I didn’t watch it.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/15 "2025-04-07T20:19:47Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Is there anybody who was an American kid in the 1960s or 70s who didn’t vote “Major Nelson”? I suspect the JR voters are younger or from outside the US where _Dallas_ probably found a larger audience than _Jeannie_.
My heart agrees w you. My head says no.
_Dallas_ was as huge a TV sensation in the USA as was _M\*A\*S\*H_. A ~~nighttime~~ prime time soap opera with an on-going story arc, not just freestanding episodes using the same characters in unrelated situations, was utterly ground-breaking. And utterly captivating to an audience ready for a hero they loved to hate.
_Everybody_ watched _Dallas_. I personally did not, being both overseas for much of it, and very snobbily disinterested in all things TV. But boy, was I a drag at parties where everybody else was talking about this week’s _Dallas_.
Dallas ruled the airwaves when it was on. It ran 11 years to IDoJ’s 6. And ran about a decade later when the population was larger and the TV-owning population was much larger.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/16 "2025-04-07T20:22:31Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever watched an episode of _Dallas_ (I was too young in the 80s) and I’ve definitely watched _I Dream of Jeanie_ (Nick at Nite!) but my first thought on seeing the thread title was _Dallas_.
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/17 "2025-04-07T20:24:41Z")
> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> I was born in 1967 and voted Dallas. That show was much bigger than Jeannie, even if I didn’t watch it.
I agree with this completely (even to point of being born in 1967!). _I Dream of Jeannie_ was popular enough in reruns, but it was one of those shows that you were kind of embarrassed to admit you watched, because it was kind of silly.
_Dallas_ was a cultural phenomenon. It’s hard to over-state how huge it was when it was on the air. I watched it only occasionally (mostly to see Victoria Principal), but I can’t deny how big it was.
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/18 "2025-04-07T20:37:15Z")
Me. Because the question is what _is_ he best known for, which would mean now. And a fairly large number of the people who might have answered _I Dream of Jeannie_ are no longer with us and anyone more than a few years younger than me (born in 1963) probably wouldn’t remember IDOJ - I don’t remember it first run, only in syndication.
IDOJ wasn’t referenced as much in pop culture - I never watched _Dallas_, but I know about " Who shot J.R."? and there was something about a shower and a whole season being a dream. There were other TV shows, movies and comedians that referenced some of those events, the theme song/opening has been parodied - I think there was a video game that used the theme. There were newspaper articles on the theme of “X years ago today we found out who shot JR?”. I think those pop culture references mean that people who weren’t even born when _Dallas_ was on may have heard of it and in turn heard of Larry Hagman.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/19 "2025-04-07T20:39:10Z")
> [@doreen](#):
>
> There were newspaper articles on the theme of “X years ago today we found out who shot JR?”.
I still don’t know who shot JR. And still don’t care.
Still I picked JR as being the one he is most remembered for.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-is-larry-hagman-best-known-for/1016749/20 "2025-04-07T20:49:35Z")
When my wife’s grandmother visited us in Dallas from Germany back in the late 80s, the main thing she wanted to do was see the Dallas ranch. As it turned out, you could get surprisingly close to Southfork, and she was delighted (I see they do tours now, I’m not sure how she would’ve felt about the interiors being different). Anyway, we parked nearby, and she took a picture.
JR by a mile.
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