Keck's Exclusives First Look: "Dallas" Honors Miss Ellie
Apr 1, 2012
by William Keck


J.R., Sue Ellen, Bobby, Ray, Cliff and Lucy will be back at Southfork when TNT's "Dallas" premieres June 13, but one original cast member will not return.

Barbara Bel Geddes, who played beloved matriarch Miss Ellie, passed away in 2005, and the series will explain that her character died in 2001. But her presence will still be strongly felt.





"Barbara is a big piece of our history, and it's important to me to honor her," says TV son Patrick Duffy, whose Bobby will be seen laying a simple bouquet of flowers at Mama's grave.

"To come back with Linda [Gray] as Sue Ellen and Larry [Hagman] in his J.R. hat, and then see the words ELLIE SOUTHWORTH EWING FARLOW on the gravestone made me think, 'Oh, that's right — she's gone.' It was hard to get through the dialogue."





There will be other tributes to Barbara, as well as to the late Jim Davis, who played Ellie's husband, Jock. Bobby will take his new wife, Ann, to a sweetheart tree where his parents carved their initials.

And the production designer, Richard Berg, painted a portrait of Ellie and Jock to hang in the redesigned Ewing home. "He captured Jim and Barbara in a look to each other that is unbelievable," raves Patrick.

"That painting is actually alive and gives me a nice feeling that they're always there. Through the whole first season, I don't think an episode goes by that Mama is not mentioned in reference to Southfork and the land."

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dallas-Miss-Ellie-1045522.aspx

Thanks for posting that interview!! What a sweet and touching story.

That is so wonderful. She was the heart and soul of Dallas and deserves to be remembered. No mention of Howard Keel though. I wonder what they'll say about Clayton?

wil Clayton be rememberd to mr howard keel

When they first started talking about the new series, they had mentioned that Clayton has passed on was buried at Southfork next to Ellie. I dont think they should re cast the role since Howard Keel is gone.

When they first started talking about the new series, they had mentioned that Clayton has passed on was buried at Southfork next to Ellie. I dont think they should re cast the role since Howard Keel is gone.
That's nice to hear. There appears to be 2 gravestones on the photo above. Maybe the other one is Clayton's.

That's sweet - and a nice nod to the show's roots.

Yeah, this is a good sign that they are honoring the past and the wonderful (and essential) contributions of Barbara Bel Geddes. I'm impressed.

It's still hard for me to believe I'm going to be interested in this, though. I have a strong feeling the three adults from the old show will be in the background (they surely aren't going to have 80 year old J.R. sleeping around and being as actively evil as he was, it would be a bit silly), and I really don't care about the kids. I really wish they'd have been able to get Pam back (Victoria Principal). Without her, Bobby seems out of sorts and I always wanted them to end up "together". I'm sure they'll have some lame explanation as to why she's not around, but it won't be good enough.

Oh, I LOVED Dallas in its first four or five years. But for me, after Jim Davis died and Bel Geddes left, and all the crazy 'back from the dead' and 'reconstructive surgery' stuff started happening, it just got really weak. And once you kind of got that J.R. was never really going to get his, alot of the suspense was gone.

Again, nice touch on the grave scene. Kind of rare these days.

Has Victoria Principal even been approached about appearing on the new show? As for JR, I could still see him being, ahem, active - another Hugh Hefner!!! :eek: :crazy: :lol:

I enjoyed the show after Pam left even more than I did when she was there. Victoria Principal has made it clear she never wants to come back vocally, so it seems like a fine thing to me to move the story on without her.

i got know something please help me with this how is everyone or some people getting the series on preview box set sent to their homes before everyone else

Has Victoria Principal even been approached about appearing on the new show? As for JR, I could still see him being, ahem, active - another Hugh Hefner!!! :eek: :crazy: :lol:

Well, I'm kinda thinking there's only ONE Hugh Hefner, but I know what you mean! :lol:

As to Principal, her wikipedia says that rumors have been flying that she might be asked to come back (probably not as a regular, if she did) but nothing for sure yet.

Pam was far from my favorite character on Dallas but what I hated was the way they wrote her out and sort of left her in limbo. I would have rather they recast her than leave her like that.

Pam was far from my favorite character on Dallas but what I hated was the way they wrote her out and sort of left her in limbo. I would have rather they recast her than leave her like that.

Pam was recast with actress Margaret Michaels for one episode in season 11. But the character never appeared again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4qpLjnZd0

Pam was recast with actress Margaret Michaels for one episode in season 11. But the character never appeared again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4qpLjnZd0

Something tells me that if Pam ever reappears, no one is going to want to see the recast. If they don't bring back Principal, they might as well not bother.

If they don't bring back Principal, they might as well not bother.

Agreed.

Something tells me that if Pam ever reappears, no one is going to want to see the recast. If they don't bring back Principal, they might as well not bother.

For the ultimate in prime time soap bad recasting, I refer you to....Dynasty.

All of the Carrington kids were recast at one point or another and none of the replacements were very good.

Yeah, you went from an American Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) to a British Fallon (Emma Samms). On the other side of the coin, you went from a British Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) to an American Amanda (Karen Cellini). What were the casting people thinking???

I always assumed Pamela died. If she does come back, the writers better come up with something good. She's been gone for a long time and she's got some explaining to do, not only to the viewers, but especially Bobby and Christopher and also Cliff. :lol: Could be interesting though.

Pam was recast with actress Margaret Michaels for one episode in season 11. But the character never appeared again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr4qpLjnZd0
Yea I remember that. They should have kept her. It would have been better than having her appear later on as a Pam look-alike.

Something tells me that if Pam ever reappears, no one is going to want to see the recast. If they don't bring back Principal, they might as well not bother.
Yea, there's no reason to recast the role now.

Yeah, you went from an American Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) to a British Fallon (Emma Samms). On the other side of the coin, you went from a British Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) to an American Amanda (Karen Cellini). What were the casting people thinking???

Well, at least Emma Samms tried to speak with an American accent -- though at times, her real one slipped through, but Amanda went from being a Brit to a Valley girl. How could someone suddenly lose their British accent?

The second Amanda didn't stick around very long.

I think it's just so sweet that the show will be paying special homage to its matriarch:

I did think the second Stephen Collins (Jack Coleman) worked quite well, actually, but yes, overall, Dynasty really went overboard with the replacements. And they outdid Dallas for the "coming back from the dead" and plastic surgery silliness. You can get away with that once or maybe twice but some of those shows made it seem like the Afterlife was a revolving door! :crazy: