14:38Classic TV · 1977Dallas Cast Then and Now: Who's Still Alive?
Episode: Dallas (1978): Cast Then & Now 2026 — Who's Still Alive After 48 Years
From Hollywood Legends Era · 23 min ·
About the Dallas Cast Then and Now
The Dallas cast then and now is the story of a TV family that kept America talking for fourteen seasons. The CBS drama, created by David Jacobs, began as a five-part miniseries on April 2, 1978, and ran until May 3, 1991, for 357 episodes.
The Ewings of Southfork Ranch fought over oil and money. Off screen, the actors faced very different trials. Of the fourteen people remembered in this episode, seven have passed away.
Where Is the Dallas Cast Now?
Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing
Larry Hagman was 46 when Dallas began, and J.R. appeared in every episode. He said he took the part partly because Barbara Bel Geddes would play his mother, which he called "a touch of class." When she stepped away in 1984, he suggested his own mother, Broadway star Mary Martin, for the role. She declined.
He earned two Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations for Dallas. After a cirrhosis diagnosis in 1992, he received a life-saving liver transplant in 1995 and became a spokesman for organ donation. In 2011 he announced he had throat cancer. He died in a Dallas hospital on November 23, 2012, at 81, from complications of acute myeloid leukemia, with Linda Gray at his bedside.
Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing
Barbara Bel Geddes was the first actor signed for Dallas. She had earned an Oscar nomination for I Remember Mama, played Midge in Hitchcock's Vertigo, and originated Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway.
After her own radical mastectomy in 1971, she drew on that experience when Miss Ellie faced breast cancer on the show, and she won the 1980 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Emergency heart surgery in 1983 kept her off the show for a time, and she was away again for the 1984–85 season. She retired in 1990 and died in Maine on August 8, 2005, at 82, of lung cancer. Hagman called her "the rock of Dallas."
Donna Reed as Miss Ellie Ewing (1984–1985)
Born Donna Belle Mullenger in Denison, Iowa, Donna Reed won an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity (1953) and starred for eight seasons in The Donna Reed Show.
In 1984 she took over as Miss Ellie for 24 episodes under a three-year contract. When Bel Geddes returned, Reed was let go. She sued and settled out of court for more than $1 million. She died of pancreatic cancer at her Beverly Hills home on January 14, 1986, at 64. A foundation in her name still awards performing arts scholarships.
Jim Davis as Jock Ewing
Jim Davis was born in Edgerton, Missouri, in 1909. His first major film role came opposite Bette Davis in Winter Meeting (1948), and he spent years in Westerns, earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His only child, Tara, was killed in a car accident at 17.
He played Jock until multiple myeloma made it impossible. He died at his home in Northridge, California, on April 26, 1981, at 71. Rather than recast the role, the producers wrote Jock's death into the story.
Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing
Victoria Principal was born in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1950, the daughter of an Air Force sergeant, and attended 17 different schools. She earned a Golden Globe nomination as most promising newcomer for The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972).
She played Pam in 251 episodes, then left in 1987, saying the writing had declined. She founded a production company and launched her Principal Secret skincare line in 1989. She is 76.
Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow
Howard Keel's baritone carried MGM musicals such as Show Boat and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. From 1958 to 1959 he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, succeeded by Ronald Reagan.
He joined Dallas full time in 1981 and stayed until the end in 1991. The new fame led him, at 64, to start a solo recording career. He died of colon cancer at his Palm Desert home on November 7, 2004, at 85.
George Kennedy as Carter McKay
George Kennedy served 16 years in the Army, leaving as a captain. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Cool Hand Luke (1967) and became familiar from the Airport films and The Naked Gun comedies.
From 1988 to 1991 he played Carter McKay, the tough head of WestStar Oil. His wife, Joan, died in 2015. George Kennedy died in Idaho on February 28, 2016, at 91.
Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes
Ken Kercheval, the son of an Indiana doctor and nurse, came up through Broadway and appeared in Network (1976). Like Hagman, he was on Dallas from the 1978 pilot to the 1991 finale, in which Cliff finally took over Ewing Oil.
A lifelong smoker, he had part of a lung removed in 1994 and later urged others to quit. He returned for the 2012 revival. He died on April 21, 2019, in Indiana, at 83. His family kept the cause private.
Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing
Patrick Duffy left Dallas in 1985, when Bobby was killed off. A year later he returned in the famous shower scene, which turned the whole 1985–86 season into a dream.
In November 1986, his parents were killed during a robbery at their tavern in Montana. He later starred in Step by Step and returned for the 2012 revival. His wife of 43 years, Carlyn Rosser, died in 2017. Since 2020 he has been with actress Linda Purl. He is 77.
Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs
Steve Kanaly served in Vietnam as a radio operator with the First Air Cavalry. He later shared his experiences with screenwriter John Milius, and they informed scenes in Apocalypse Now.
He played Southfork foreman Ray Krebbs from 1978 to 1989, came back for the finale, and appeared in the revival, including J.R.'s funeral in 2013. He lives on a ranch in Ojai, California, with his wife of more than fifty years, and is a respected watercolor artist. He is 80.
Susan Howard as Donna Culver Krebbs
Susan Howard, born in Marshall, Texas, joined Dallas as a guest in 1979, and the role grew into 198 episodes. She is the only cast member who also wrote for the series, with two episodes to her name.
Her contract was not renewed in 1987. She has said the reason was her objection to storylines about abortion involving her character. She stopped acting in 1993 and lives in Boerne, Texas. She is 83.
Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing
Charlene Tilton has said she grew up with a single mother and no father figure, and she came to see Larry Hagman as a surrogate father. She played Lucy from 1978 to 1985 and again from 1988 to 1990, and she said Hagman "went to bat" for her return.
She came back for the 2012 revival and is an ambassador for Actors for Autism, which runs acting workshops for people with autism. She is 67.
Mary Crosby as Kristin Shepard
Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant, finished high school at 15. On November 21, 1980, more than 90 million American viewers learned that Kristin, Sue Ellen's younger sister, had shot J.R. Crosby played Kristin from 1979 to 1981 and returned once in 1991. She is 67.
Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing
Linda Gray modeled before she acted, then played Sue Ellen in 308 episodes and again in the 2012 revival. At contract time, she asked to direct instead of asking for more money. The producers resisted, but she went on to direct episodes, starting with "Just Desserts" in 1986. She is 86.
Why Dallas Still Matters After 48 Years
On screen, Dallas was about power and money. Behind the scenes, the cast showed courage in quieter ways: an actress who turned her own surgery into a storyline that helped other women, and actors who used their own health battles to help others.
Were you on J.R.'s side or Bobby's, and where were you the night America found out who shot J.R.?
Sources and Further Reading
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