/ 21 August 2008

Ageing Dallas stars to reunite

JR, Bobby, Sue Ellen and other members of the Ewing clan are getting back together for a Dallas reunion party.

Cast members of the popular prime-time soap opera that ran from 1978 to 1991 will return to the Southfork Ranch north of Dallas on November 8 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show. Several key actors, including Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy, have confirmed they will attend.

Hagman, who played central character JR Ewing, a scheming oil baron and cattle rancher, said he is looking forward to the event.

”I may not be able to do the 40th,” said Hagman (76) in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. ”Thirty years is pretty good, and the show is still very popular.”

The reunion at the ranch in suburban Parker, north of Dallas, is open to the public. Tickets go on sale on August 22 and will cost between $100 and $1 000. The event will include fireworks, a country music concert, a question-and-answer session with the cast and tours of the mansion.

The show is perhaps best known for the ”Who shot JR?” cliffhanger that concluded the 1979/80 season in which Hagman’s character was blasted. (The shooter turned out to be JR Ewing’s sister-in-law, Kristin.)

Dallas featured the antics of a wealthy Texas clan that punched, slapped, drank, cavorted and schemed to gain control of the family fortune. The reunion promises to be tamer.

”Larry and I will have … a small shot of prune juice and be in bed by 9pm,” Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing, told the newspaper. ”We’ll let people file by the bed and watch us go to sleep. I think we can hang with the best of them until midnight.” — Sapa-AP