Patrick Duffy celebrates Dallas and Bobby Ewing.
Patrick Duffy recurs as Stephen Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful, but the role he’ll always be known for the most is, of course, Bobby James Ewing on Dallas. As that beloved serial celebrates its 45th Anniversary, Duffy is recalling memories of his time as TV’s most popular hero.
“I follow Dallas Fanzine…online, so I’m fully aware of the wonderful things you continue to do for the memory of this show,” Duffy said of the Instagram account dedicated to the memory of Dallas, the primetime serial that ran from 1978-91 and had a revival from 2012-2014. “It’s much appreciated, believe me.”
Duffy marveled that the show is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. The show’s first season was a mere five episodes, but the family dynamics were quickly established. J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and his brother Bobby battled for control of Ewing Oil; J.R. constantly undermined Bobby’s marriage to Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal) due to the long-running Ewing/Barnes feud. J.R. and wife Sue Ellen’s (Linda Gray; ex-Priscilla, B&B) dysfunctional marriage served as a dramatic contrast to Bobby and Pam’s happier (but never conflict-free) union.
“I can’t believe we’re already celebrating 45 years,” said Patrick Duffy, adding he was glad to have been a part of it and glad to still be a part of the show’s continuing fandom. “We are all still very close,” he says of the show’s surviving cast members. While Dallas was known for its shocking season finales, Duffy was recently asked to recollect what he thought was his “worst episode.” Duffy opined that one of his least favorites was the one in which Bobby acted as a ninja, dressed all in black, and jumped out of a helicopter, which struck him as a bit out of character.
Duffy, of course, shot the episode, but he notes that moments like that don’t strike him as lining up with the premise of the show. “We survived it,” he says. Asked what Bobby would be doing today, Duffy points to the TNT revival that was airing a decade ago to answer that question. “That [revival] established what Bobby had done in the 20-plus years we were off the air,” the actor offers. He notes that “bar-fight Bobby” was no more, and, instead, he was settled in his marriage to Ann (Brenda Strong) and acted as a conscientious patriarch to the Ewing family. “I think that would still be his position,” Duffy adds. “Family first. I think Cynthia Cidre [Dallas’s executive producer] wrote that — brilliantly, I might add.”
Patrick Duffy took time to recall late actress Roseanna Christiansen, who played Theresa, the Ewing family maid for nine seasons of Dallas. “She was always this presence in the Ewing family dinners,” the actor recollects. “She’d be the one to deliver a certain piece of news, always so steady, lovely, such a wonderful personality. I was shocked and saddened when I saw that she had passed.” (Christiansen died on July 14, 2022, at the age of 71.)
Patrick Duffy says that an actor’s worth to the show wasn’t necessarily measured by the number of lines his or her character had. “No matter how many episodes they participated in, they were part of that Dallas family,” the performer says. “They contributed. They were integral. Once the piece of the puzzle was missing, the puzzle didn’t make sense. [Roseanna] was a great piece of the puzzle. She was a family member in the house. I appreciated her very much — as did we all.” Duffy wrapped up his thoughts by thanking Dallas Fanzine again for keeping the fire burning.
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