In 1978, CBS featured a 5-part miniseries not knowing that it would be one of the most successful and popular TV shows in its history of broadcasting. Dallas eventually became a regular series lasting for 14 seasons from 1978 until 1991, with the mini-series comprising the first season. The show was all about money, power, sex, and competition between two iconic families: the Ewings and the Barneses. It became a Shakespearean classic with the elopement of the Barnes daughter and the Ewing son. Of course, there’s plenty of backstory there, but it wasn’t just the story that made the show. It was the characters and the actors that portrayed them. With the 40th anniversary of the show’s premiere this year, some of these actors reunited for one amazing trip down the Dallas memory lane.
A photo from the reunion was recently released, and looking at it is nostalgia at its best. In the photo, we see Steve Kanaly, Charlene Tilton, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Gray–all older now but still looking great as ever. They stand before the Southfork Ranch house, which was the primary shooting location for the exterior shots of the grand Ewing mansion. From what we can see in the photo, much of the ranch exterior remains the same, but the actors sure look a lot different.
Starting from the right, Kanaly, who played Ray Krebbs in the series, has certainly aged. But you can see him here still sporting the same look of the ranch hand character–cowboy hat, brown suede coat, and an oversized buckle. Kanaly is now 72 years old, and he was only 32 when he was cast to play Krebbs. Next to Kanaly stands Tilton, who played Lucy Ewing in the series. The blonde beauty may be almost 60 now, but she still looks as stunning as she did 40 years ago when she was only 20 years old. It’s hard to imagine how young she was when she started the show. Next to her stands Duffy. Duffy was the one who played one of the most central characters in the show–Bobby Ewing. The show’s original focus was Bobby’s marriage to Pamela Barnes. Duffy still looks recognizably the same, even with the silver ponytail that he now sports. At almost 70 years old, this star looks amazing for his age. Finally, we can see 77-year-old Linda Gray standing next to Duffy. Gray played Sue Ellen Ewing in Dallas, main character J.R. Ewing’s alcoholic and problematic wife. Gray, just like Tilton, still looks amazing. It’s difficult to believe that she was almost 40 when she started the show then.
Times have come and gone for these four stars, and it’s absolutely wonderful to see them back together even for a brief photo session and an interview. All four of them have done some acting work after the series ended in 1991. Duffy has even reprised his role of Bobby Ewing a couple of times after Dallas was rewritten as a movie in 1996 and rebooted in 2012. Kanaly has also reprised his role of Krebbs before, but he’s since appeared in shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger. Gray has been featured in Melrose Place before, while Tilton has been featured in a couple of movies including the comedy thriller, The Silence of the Hams. They all might have taken different career paths after Dallas, but we’re all lucky to have seen all of their talents together once upon a time.
