Gone With or Without fanfare

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Sue Sue Applegate
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

    Just reading the lovely tributes to Olympe Bradna by Larry and Moira, and found out Larry Hagman has passed away in a Dallas hospital. Hagman, star of the original Dallas and it's recent incarnation, was the only son of actress Mary Martin.
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    The following tribute appeared on Barbara Eden's official facebook page:

    As I received the news this evening and as you read this I still cannot completely express the shock and impact from the news that Larry Hagman has passed. I can still remember, that first day on Zuma Beach with him, in the frigid cold. From that day for five more years, Larry was the center of so many fun, wild, shocking… and in retrospect, memorable moments that will remain in my heart forever.

    He was such a key element in my life for so long and even, years after I Dream of Jeannie; our paths crossed many times. Throughout various productions I had the pleasure of watching the Texas Tornado that was Larry Hagman. Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry. You couldn't fault him for it, it was just who he was. I am so thankful that this past year I was able to spend time with him and experience yet again ‘Larry’ in all his Big Texas bravado.

    I, like many others believed he had beat Cancer and yet we are reminded that life is never guaranteed. My deepest condolences go out to his wife Maj, his son and daughter and his grandchildren, as well as his friends in this time of his passing. I can honestly say that we've lost not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana.

    Goodbye Larry, there was no one like you before and there will never be anyone like you again.
    -Barbara

    From The Dallas Morning News:

    Larry Hagman, who played the conniving and mischievous J.R. Ewing on the TV show Dallas, died Friday at Medical City in Dallas, of complications from his recent battle with cancer, his family said.
    He was 81.

    “Larry was back in his beloved Dallas re-enacting the iconic role he loved most,” his family said in a written statement.

    “Larry’s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time.”

    The role of J.R. transformed Mr. Hagman’s life. He rocketed from being a merely well-known TV actor on I Dream of Jeannie and the son of Broadway legend Mary Martin, to the kind of international fame known only by the likes the Beatles and Muhammad Ali.

    Mr. Hagman made his home in California with his wife of 59 years, the former Maj Axelsson. Despite obvious physical frailty, he gamely returned to Dallas to film season one and part of season two of TNT’s Dallas reboot.

    Friends were in shock Friday, especially those who saw him only days ago. But those close to him say he knew the end was coming and he was glad to have his family in town for Thanksgiving.

    For Dallasites, Mr. Hagman’s recent return to film the TNT show was a pleasant reminiscence of the days when Dallas was the biggest TV program in the world, seen by an estimated 300 million people in 57 countries.

    Mr. Hagman lived part of the year in a penthouse at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, now known as the J.R. Ewing Suite, and the actor became part of the fabric of the city — attending polo matches with restaurateur Norman Brinker, unwinding over cocktails with oilman Jake Hamon and his wife, Nancy, at their Bluffview home or dining with Mansion on Turtle Creek owner Caroline Rose Hunt, whose oil-rich family was the nonfiction version of the Ewings.

    “Hagman in his role as J.R. was mythic, and as a human he was a hard-working ambassador for Dallas and the underdog,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Thursday night. “I had spent a couple of evenings with him recently … and he always pitched in to help the city.”

    Mr. Hagman lit the scheming J.R. with his own innate sense of fun and mischief.

    “From the moment we met him, he started the entire ball rolling,” said his TV ex-wife Linda Gray (a.k.a. Sue Ellen Ewing) last month at a fund-raiser in Preston Hollow for the Larry Hagman Foundation, which promotes creative arts education for children in the Dallas area. “He came into a room in Burbank. He walked in with a saddlebag filled with ice and bottles of champagne. That is how we had our first read-through of the original script. That bonded us to this wonderful man.”

    In September, Ms. Gray played host to Mr. Hagman for an 81st birthday lunch at Café Pacific in Highland Park Village.
    Throughout the summer of 1980, the world hung on the question “Who shot J.R.?” The ultimate TV cliffhanger aired on March 21, 1980, when an unseen assailant shot J.R. Ewing twice.

    As everyone waited to find out who the shooter was, Mr. Hagman had an epiphany that would pave the way for TV giants such as Jerry Seinfeld and the cast of Friends to get a larger share of the profits from their shows.

    In his memoir, Hello Darlin’, Mr. Hagman said, “Ronald Reagan was campaigning against Jimmy Carter, American hostages were being held in Iran, Polish shipyard workers were on strike, and all anyone wanted to know was, who shot J.R.?”

    The world was filled with J.R. T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers.
    “Everyone was making a windfall from J.R. except me,” he said.

    He threatened to leave the show if his contract were not renegotiated.

    After months of tense negotiations, he was finally given his $100,000 per episode asking price.

    Originally from Weatherford, Mr. Hagman was born to 17-year-old Mary Martin and 21-year-old Benjamin Hagman, an attorney.
    “How hillbilly can you get?” Ms. Martin later said.
    The marriage lasted five years, and Mr. Hagman was raised largely by his maternal grandmother while his mother became a famous stage actress.

    Mr. Hagman also worked as a stage actor before appearing in films such as Ensign Pulver and the Otto Preminger epic In Harm’s Way. But he first became a star when he was cast as an Air Force officer who falls for a genie in a bottle played by Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie. It was a major hit that fizzled, according to Mr. Hagman, after he and Jeannie were wed on the show.

    “Once they got married,” he said, “nobody cared anymore.”

    When Dallas debuted as a five-part miniseries in April 1978, J.R. was merely a supporting character. But Mr. Hagman’s dazzling portrayal soon earned him bigger and bigger pieces of the story line until he was the star of the show.
    Despite the enormous cultural impact of the J.R. character, Mr. Hagman refused to be defined by the part. He continued to show his acting chops with role such as the H.L. Hunt/Clint Murchison composite character in Oliver Stone’s Nixon and as Gov. Fred Picker in Primary Colors.

    Michael Cain, founder of the Dallas International Film Festival, was a close friend of Mr. Hagman’s. The Dallas star appeared at a festival event in 2011, handing out awards to up-and-coming high-school filmmakers.

    “I was blessed to … witness his heart that was so full of passion and charity and mischievousness,” Mr. Cain said. “His friendship will be missed by many, including me. Recently on a trip to Santa Monica, I was initiated into a celebration, a ritual that Larry performed with guests as the sun set over the ocean, where we shouted out to the sun as the final sliver passed over the hills. … I know he would want us to stand and shout and celebrate his life and the passion with which he loved and lived it.”

    In addition to his wife, Mr. Hagman is survived by a daughter, Kristina Hagman, a son, Preston Hagman, and five granddaughters.

    Staff writer Robert Wilonsky contributed to this report.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Rita Hayworth »

    I have fond memories of watching him on "I Dream of Jeannie" back in 1965 on ... and I never get enough pure fun comedy of him, Barbara Eden, Bill Daily, and others that brought good humor on our television sets back then.

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    First he was Captain Tony Nelson ... then Major later on and he made this role iconic.

    I was never was a Dallas fan and never will because I just don't like soap opera type shows ... but I was surprised to see him in a cameo in Superman the Movie back in 1978.

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    Guess What? ... He played a ARMY Major!

    He's always be in my heart known as Major Anthony Nelson.

    I happy that you get a chance to meet him on several occasions Sue Sue!
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by JackFavell »

    Wow. I just can't believe it. He seemed very vital, a real presence. Who would have thought back in 1965 that the unassuming, good looking Tony Nelson could have gone on to a multi-decade career, playing one of the most fun of all bad guys in television history? It always brought a smile to my face to see Larry Hagman show up. It makes me sad to think he won't be making any more surprise guest appearances, but I think I would like to go out like he did, back in the limelight, and doing what he loved to do.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by CineMaven »

    :shock: :shock:

    What shocking news to wake up to!! I just saw Larry Hagman walking down the red carpet at TCM's film fest this past April. Gee. I'm sorry to read this.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

    Jackie, it's so true. He was a larger than life presence. Joan Collins just recently commented that he gave her the inspiration to play Alexis on Dynasty.

    Cinemaven, it was so much fun to see the cast there last April. Jackie Brady has written a lovely tribute to Larry Hagman on her blog, and discusses the circumstances of their meeting at the festival here: http://jaxbra.tumblr.com/

    And I am grateful that the TCMFF has given us so many opportunities we would never have had if we just "stayed put." :lol:
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Lzcutter »

    Emily Squires, a director of *Sesame Street* and writer for various soap operas has died: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/e ... tor-393769

    And actress Deborah Raffin has died as well: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/d ... oks-393715
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

    Lynn, I had just heard about Deborah Raffin. She had developed a company creating books on tape that has blossomed into a multi-million dollar corporation. Her lifestory is an inspiration.

    Emily Squires, in addition to her credits on Search For Tomorrow and directing Sesame Street from 2005 to 2007, she also produced a special about the Dalai Lama.

    Two hard-working, talented gals.

    Hmnnn. Hard working and talented. Now, who does that remind me of?
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by moira finnie »

    Lynn & Christy,
    I had heard about the lovely and intelligent Deborah Raffin's unexpected death from leukemia (she seemed so young). I remembered fondly the first time I saw her in The Dove (1974), a beautifully made film telling a true story about sailing around the world. It was old-fashioned, I know, but it was greatly enhanced by the photography of Sven Nykvist and the artless sincerity of Raffin and Joseph Bottoms.

    Thanks to that link to The Hollywood Reporter above I learned that Raffin's mother was 20th Century Fox contract player Trudy Marshall (1920-2004). Her mother, whose career went south after she married a man she loved, irking Darryl Zanuck, apparently, had been a model before Hollywood beckoned. During her relatively brief movie career Trudy had been a noticeable addition as a leading lady to Laurel and Hardy's The Dancing Masters (1943). Marshall also pops up in The Dolly Sisters (1945), Sentimental Journey (1946), and was very effective as a family member in The Sullivans (1944).

    One item that the obits seem to have given short shrift to this holiday weekend:

    Deborah Raffin may have been the biggest American-born movie star ever in China. This was largely due to a hilariously cliche-ridden made-for-tv movie, Nightmare in Badham County (1976), about college girls in trouble after their car conks out in a rural backwater. When mainland China first opened up to the West, for some reason, they sent us ping-pong players, and we sent them Raffin in this odd little exploitation film. The entertainment-starved Chinese apparently cherished her image after millions had seen her on television in this movie, apparently repeatedly. Chuck Connors even played her nemesis who threw her and co-star Lynne Moody into the chain gang after Deborah spurned him! According to The LA Times, the actress was very taken aback when she visited China in the '80s and heard rabid fans crying "nightmare, nightmare, nightmare" and pointing at her wherever she went. Fortunately, Raffin saw the humor in their fervor....later--when she was safely back home.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by charliechaplinfan »

    Hadn't there recently been a new series of Dallas? He hasn't looked well for a few years but it's still a shock to hear of his passing.

    Deborah Raffin, another shame.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

    Yes, Moira, I had read about the fascination the Chinese had for her appearance in Nightmare in Badham County, and I've never seen The Dove, so I think it is going on my bucket list. I have had groups of people screaming at me in a foreign language, and it can be a little unsettling, but never in Chinese!

    I have also had a car conk out in the middle of a swamp at midnight, so maybe the Chinese revered that courage!

    Thanks for the info about Trudy Marshall. Her career didn't survive, but luckily her marriage did. That's always an homage to perseverance. She was born on Valentine's Day, so maybe that had something to do with it! :lol:

    Allison, the new Dallas cast made an appearance at last year's Turner Classic Movies Festival. For a great first person account of meeting Larry Hagman, follow this link to a passholder's blog entry of her brush with Dallas greatness: http://jaxbra.tumblr.com/
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Western Guy »

    Always sad when an entertainer from the television era I grew up on passes. The 60s really don't seem so long ago, but so many talents of "when television was actually good" have left us, and we'll never see their likes again. From Raymond Burr to Jack Webb and Harry Morgan to Davy Jones to Rowan and Martin to the cast of BONANZA, among so many others who provided our generation with fun, wholesome entertainment.

    Larry Hagman was always an entertaining actor to watch, whether playing the harried Major Nelson or devious J.R. The obvious fun he had portraying J.R. was half the fun for those of us watching.

    I forgive him for BEWARE! THE BLOB because as a film actor he did an outstanding job playing Buck the Russian translator opposite President Henry Fonda in FAIL SAFE. Their scenes are, to me, the highlight in a magnificent movie. In fact, think I'll pop in my DVD tonight in memory.

    RIP Mr. Hagman.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by JackFavell »

    I agree, Hagman is excellent in Fail Safe.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Rita Hayworth »

    Sue Sue Applegate wrote:Lynn, I had just heard about Deborah Raffin. She had developed a company creating books on tape that has blossomed into a multi-million dollar corporation. Her lifestory is an inspiration.
    I admire Deborah Raffin for that ... being handicapped of which I'm (deaf/hard of hearing) ... I admired her for starting the idea of putting books on tape so the blind can have the joy of reading through spoken words. She is my heroine.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

    That's inspiring, kingme!

    And Allison, and Western Guy, I completely agree about Larry Hagman in Failsafe.
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    Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

    Post by Western Guy »

    Moira, speaking of NIGHTMARE IN BADHAM COUNTY, was there any TV movie of that era that did not feature Robert Reed?
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