‘Dallas’ 2014: Remembering Those We Lost

Dallas, Denny Miller, Ed Nelson, Michael Filerman, Russell Johnson

Several people who contributed to “Dallas” died during the past 12 months. Here’s a list of those we lost, along with notable deaths that occurred among the show’s extended family. Click on each person’s name to learn more about his or her career at IMDb.com.

 

James Avery

James Avery

James Avery

December 31, 2013 (age 68)

Avery, who is best known as Uncle Phil on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” played Fowler, the judge who allowed Bobby to keep Christopher in the 11th–season episode “Malice in Dallas.”

 

 

Jerry Biggs

Jerry Biggs

Jerry Biggs

Died March 30 (age 63)

Biggs appeared in bit parts in three episodes between 1982 and 1986, including playing a customer who flirted with Lucy at the Hot Biscuit in the eighth-season episode “Family.”

 

 

Lew Brown

Lew Brown

Lew Brown

Died July 27 (age 89)

Brown played Clarence, a Ewing Oil employee, in the seventh-season episode “My Brother’s Keeper.” He returned for two 10th-season episodes as Harrigan, a newspaperman who exposed J.R.’s connection to B.D. Calhoun.

 

 

Robert Cawley

Robert Cawley

Robert Cawley

Died June 23 (age 85)

Cawley played an instructor at the ice-skating rink where Bobby and Christopher met Lisa Alden in “Tough Love,” an 11th-season episode. He also played an oil field worker in the 1998 “Dallas” reunion movie, “War of the Ewings.”

 

 

Vince Davis

Vince Davis

Vince Davis

Died May 23 (age 59)

Davis played one of Sue Ellen’s business advisors in the 10th-season episode “Once and Future King” and a waiter who served J.R. and Wilson and Kimberly Cryder in “Hustling,” an 11th-season entry.

 

 

Michael Filerman

Michael Filerman

Michael Filerman

Died January 25 (age 75)

Filerman, “Dallas’s” executive program supervisor in 1978, later served as executive producer of “Knots Landing,” “Falcon Crest,” “Flamingo Road,” “Sisters” and other prime-time serials.

 

 

Med Flory

Med Flory

Med Flory

Died March 12 (age 87)

In the third-season episode “The Lost Child,” Flory played private eye Cal McBride, who J.R. hired to follow Sue Ellen when she began secretly seeing Dr. Elby. Other credits include “Lassie” and “Daniel Boone.”

 

 

Stefan Gierasch

Stefan Gierasch

Stefan Gierasch

Died September 6 (age 88)

Gierasch played Ben Masters, the storekeeper who helped Tom Owens seek revenge against Jock in the third-season classic “The Dove Hunt.” Other credits include a 1992 episode of “Knots Landing.”

 

 

Michael A. Hoey

Michael A. Hoey

Michael A. Hoey

Died August 17 (age 79)

Hoey directed “Missing,” a ninth-season episode, along with multiple episodes of “Falcon Crest” and “Fame.” He later produced several Primetime Creative Arts Emmy broadcasts.

 

 

Russell Johnson

Russell Johnson

Russell Johnson

Died January 16 (age 89)

Johnson, the Professor on “Gilligan’s Island,” played Sheriff Wyatt Mansfield in the ninth-season episode “Twenty-Four Hours.” Other credits include “Vanished,” a 1971 TV movie with Larry Hagman, Jim Davis and Denny Miller.

 

 

Dennis Lipscomb

Dennis Lipscomb

Dennis Lipscomb

Died July 30 (age 72)

Lipscomb played Nelson Harding, an IRS agent who helped J.R. pressure the Ewings to declare Jock dead, in the sixth-season episode “Billion Dollar Question.” His later credits include episodes of “ER” and “The X-Files.”

 

 

Ann Marcus

Ann Marcus

Ann Marcus

Died December 3 (age 93)

Marcus, a writer on “Peyton Place,” helped revitalize “Knots Landing” during its next-to-last season and co-wrote “Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac” with “Dallas” scribe Lisa Seidman.

 

 

Frank Marth

Frank Marth

Frank Marth

Died January 12 (age 91)

Marth played Dr. Sidney Grovner, Lucy’s physician, in “Billion Dollar Question.” He also played doctors on “Starsky & Hutch,” “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Aloha Means Goodbye,” a 1974 TV movie.

 

 

Denny Miller

Denny Miller

Denny Miller

Died September 9 (age 80)

Miller, a star of “Wagon Train,” played Max Flowers, Cliff’s foreman at Gold Canyon 340, in four episodes during the seventh season. Miller and Hagman also did episodes of “The Rockford Files” and “Barnaby Jones” together.

 

 

Ed Nelson

Ed Nelson

Ed Nelson

Died August 9 (age 85)

“Peyton Place” star Nelson originated the role of Jeb Amos in the second-season classic “Bypass.” Nelson and “Dallas” producer Leonard Katzman also worked together on a 1955 film, “New Orleans Uncensored.”

 

 

Byron Weiss

Byron Weiss

Byron Weiss

Died March 14 (age 51)

Weiss performed stunts for “War of the Ewings” and two TNT episodes, “Blame Game” and “Guilt By Association.” He also worked on Jesse Metcalfe’s 2010 series, “Chase,” and the Katzman-produced “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

 

 

What do you remember about these artists? Share your memories below and read last year’s tributes.

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘You’ve Got a Grandson’

Cliff Barnes, Dallas, Digger Barnes, Keenan Wynn, Ken Kercheval, Lost Child

Sad men

In “The Lost Child,” a third-season “Dallas” episode, Cliff and Digger (Ken Kercheval, Keenan Wynn) walk out of the hospital after visiting Pam, who has suffered a miscarriage.

CLIFF: You feel OK?

DIGGER: A little sad.

CLIFF: About Pam?

DIGGER: And you.

CLIFF: Me? You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine. We’re both fine.

DIGGER: I wanted a grandchild, that’s the truth of it.

They sit together on a bench.

CLIFF: You’ll have one. Pam and Bobby will probably adopt and you’ll be a grandfather before you know it.

DIGGER: That ain’t the same thing. It’s the end of the Barnes line. You’re the last one.

CLIFF: You’ll have a grandchild. Maybe he won’t look like you, but I can think of a lot worse things. [Smiles]

DIGGER: You don’t know what it’s like to grow old. When a man’s got nothing left but his children, his children’s children.

CLIFF: There’s no sense in talking about it, because it’s not gonna change anything.

DIGGER: Cliff, you ain’t got nobody. Who’s gonna be looking after you when you get old?

CLIFF: I’ll take care of myself, just like I always have.

DIGGER: Son, if a man’s not a father, he’s gonna be a child the rest of his life.

CLIFF: I don’t wanna listen to this. [Gets up, turns his back to Digger]

DIGGER: My whole life, I never got one thing I wanted, except you.

CLIFF: [Faces Digger, still standing] You’ve got a grandson. [Digger nods.] I’m telling you, you’ve got a grandson. John Ross Ewing III.

DIGGER: J.R.’s boy?

CLIFF: Not J.R.’s son. Sue Ellen and I had an affair last year. That baby’s mine.

DIGGER: Yours? And you let Jock Ewing have him, huh? Well, he ain’t gonna keep him. They’ll keep him over my dead body.

CLIFF: Daddy, please.

DIGGER: That’s my grandson. And he’s not gonna steal him like he stole everything else from me.

CLIFF: Daddy, just hold on. I’ll get him back, I promise. If he lives.

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 36 – ‘The Lost Child’

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Lost Child, Luke Middens, Ronnie Scribner

Surrogates

“Dallas” is sometimes thought of as a “man’s show” not just because of its rugged western motif, but also because the Ewing women so often take a backseat to their male counterparts. Consider “The Lost Child,” in which Pam suffers a miscarriage but the tragedy is seen mostly through Bobby’s eyes.

To pull this off, scriptwriter Rena Down has Bobby befriend Luke, the young son of ranch hand Bo Middens. When Bo is bitten by a rattlesnake and hospitalized, Bobby allows eager cowboy-in-training Luke to fill in for his “pa.” Bobby and Luke bond while working together, especially after Luke tells him how he never has a chance to grow close to people because he and his widower father are always on the move.

Patrick Duffy displays an effortless, big brotherly charm in his scenes with guest star Ronnie Scribner, who is believable as sensitive Luke. At times, Bobby and Luke’s relationship feels a bit too “Little House on the Prairie” for “Dallas,” but their sentimental conversations help establish Bobby’s paternal instincts.

Ultimately, this is what makes “The Lost Child” one of the cleverest entries in “Dallas’s” third season. If Luke didn’t exist, we wouldn’t know how loving Bobby is with children – and Pam’s miscarriage might not resonate with the audience as much as it does.

In a way, Luke serves the same function as baby John. At the beginning of the third season, when Sue Ellen brings home her newborn son, Pam bonds with the baby instantly, establishing her parental bona fides. The difference between these two plot devices is John is a newborn and Luke is an adolescent, so his relationship with Bobby feels more substantial.

In “The Lost Child’s” final scene, Luke tells Bobby he is moving to Montana with Bo, who has recovered from his snakebite. Bobby’s farewell scene with the boy is touching, mainly because we know Bobby isn’t saying goodbye to Luke as much as he’s saying goodbye to his dream of becoming a father.

Grade: B

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Lost Child, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Love and miscarriage

‘THE LOST CHILD’

Season 3, Episode 7

Airdate: November 2, 1979

Audience: 19.8 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Rena Down

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: After Pam suffers a miscarriage, she tells Bobby about her genetic disease and declares she mustn’t become pregnant again. Bobby befriends the young son of a ranch hand and is sad when the boy and his father move away. Cliff tells Digger he is baby John’s father. Sue Ellen begins seeing Dr. Simon Elby, a psychiatrist.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Med Flory (Cal McBride), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Ronnie Scribner (Luke Middens), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Keenan Wynn (Digger Barnes)

“The Lost Child” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.