As much as we all love “Dallas’s” opening credits, they aren’t without their quirks.
Linda Gray and Steve Kanaly weren’t added to the title sequence until the second season, while poor Ken Kercheval had to wait until Season 3 to get star billing. By the time the show was winding down, the credits had become a free-for-all: Lesley-Anne Down was added to the opening titles the moment she joined the show, even though hardly anyone remembers her character, Stephanie Rogers.
Meanwhile, actors who made lasting contributions to “Dallas” — including John Beck (Mark), Morgan Brittany (Katherine), Mary Crosby (Kristin), Jared Martin (Dusty), Deborah Shelton (Mandy) and William Smithers (Jeremy) — were never promoted to the title sequence. (This is just a sampling, of course. Feel free to name additional actors in your response.)
Your #DallasChat Daily question: Which “Dallas” actors deserved a spot in the opening credits?
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Dallas Decoder 
Why Audrey Landers, of course!
It always bothered me this one – how/when did they decide a character was important enough to join the iconic opening credits?
Katherine Wentworth, Mark Grayson, Mandy Winger and Jeremy Wendell should all have been elevated to the credits when they were at their peak as all of them were important characters for at least 2 seasons ( whereas Dusty, great character though he was, seemed to come and go a lot and it may not have been worth the effort/,money involved in re-filming the credits in his case).
Also lets not forget the greatest of the “secondary” characters, JR’s superb secretary, the lovely Sly who was in the show from S4 right through to the bitter end!
On the other hand Jack Ewing/Dack Rambo seemed to get on their very soon after he arrived even though his character ended up going nowhere ( or was that back to Alaska when it turned out to be a dream).
All of the above 🙂 plus Sly & Phyllis, Jackie (been there from practially the start), Dora Mae – so underrated! Jordan Lee (also underrated), Harv, Harry McSween, Serena, Punk, Dave Culver and many others! Liz Adams should never have been added to the titles.
Willard “Digger” Barnes might have been a supporting character, but as the daddy of that “god damned Barnes” & a 1 time rival of Jock Ewing’s affections for Miss Ellie, not to mention 1/3rd former of the Ewing Oil Company Limited of Dallas, Texas should have been added to the credits for the episodes he was in!
One other thing we all seem to be forgetting, awesome though the Dallas theme music was there was only so long they could play it while they were showing all these characters!
I like all of the characters sarah listed above, but all of them (with the [possible exception of Sly) truly were secondary characters. I think the ones included in the pictures above plus Afton, Mitch, and jamie should have been in the opening credits for their time on the show.
Afton, Mandy, Jamie, Kristin, Katherine, Mark and Sly
All of the example credits (screen-capture photos) with this article are great and appropriate. The music and split-screen credits help make Dallas so iconic.
All of those listed and Jamie (Jenilee Harrison) Also what about John Ross and Christopher?
And Afton of course
Very nice image! That really looks like the real credits. I think Morgan Brittany should definitely have been in the opening during her peak.
Yes I agree with John , the example credits are awesome. Love seeing those characters getting the split screen treatment in classic Dallas style. Can you please have whoever made them do two more for Afton and Jamie, PLEASE!!
Audrey Landers was on long enough and was important enough. Deborah Rennard was nearly important enough, same with Omri and Joshua. The others were only on maybe a few seasons. Take William Smithers he would be there and then be gone for long periods.
The theme tune was extended and partly repeated during Donna reed’s season as more characters were added 🙂
Shelton, Smithers, Landers, Martin, Brittany and Crosby all were valuable on the show, on long enough and played important characters to the show and brought meaning to Dallas and the Ewings. How is Beck up there? He was not on long enough and he only interacted with Pam and not important or any valuable meaning to the show or to the Ewings. Forget about Season 9 because nothing existed , it was all a horrible dream.
We should digitally erase Beck from all the episodes!
Please do not take this comment to heart. I meant that the others deserve credit because they played more important roles and they interacted with the Ewings and others as well. Beck played a character that was just a temporary wedge to separate Pam and Bobby just for storyline purpose he was not meant to play anything more and he did not play a person that interesting nor did he really interact much with the Ewings. Beck did not or was not given much to act with or display his talents, so to me that kind of role does not deserve credit in the opening of Dallas .
Oh, I was just joking, Maryann. I understand what you meant, and I agree that among the choices listed, Beck probably contributed the least to the show.
Poor Afton Cooper – you really
Had to work to get in the Dallas credits haha
Meanwhile on dynasty they’d let an extra on as guest star or regular 🤷🏼♂️ Gave it pretty easy on that show
Howard Keel should have been added to the credits much sooner. He didn’t get added until season 7.