Covers, covers... Linda Gray's relationships

Hello my dear readers,

It's been a while, I know. I apologize. It's been quite a summer and autumn, but now I feel it's time to get back to this blog business. So here we go!

Linda Gray's magazine covers definitely deserve their own post. As you know, I was a Pam-boy myself, but after Victoria Principal left Dallas, I began to see Dallas' other leading lady in a different light. Moreover, I thought that Linda Gray became more radiant and beautiful as she matured. She was also one of the best actresses on the show.

However, before Pamela's departure, I wasn't particularly fond of Gray's character.  When we used to play Dallas with the kids next door, we never had a JR, because nobody wanted to play him, and we also had to force my friend's little sister to be Sue Ellen. It was all about Pam, Bobby and occasional Lucy. We were a bit confused about Sue Ellen's name, though: was 'Sue' her first name and 'Ellen' her middle name, or was 'Ellen' her last name? Eventually we decided  it had to be her last name, after all, no one else on Dallas had two first names. So when the phone rang, our Sue Ellen, 7 years of age, answered accordingly: "Ellen residence, Sue speaking".

Those were the days.

It seems that Linda Gray had more cover stories in Finland than Victoria Principal, although I think it was the other way around globally. Linda seemed to be popular among certain kind of women's magazines, but she never appeared in rock magazines like Victoria, Charlene or even Priscilla.

Especially Linda's divorce seemed to be very popular topic, and particularly in 1983. Here's the first cover story of the year:

I think she looks particularly lovely on this cover. The title of Apu says "Success proved disastrous - Linda Gray gets divorced".

Inside, the magazine dives into Linda's bubbly life: "Nowadays Linda Gray enjoys her baths alone. Earlier she spent much of her free time sitting in the bubbles with her husband Ed".

"Linda caught the disease of Dallas - divorce is happening." Finnish press loved to talk about "the curse of Dallas" or "Dallas disease" when referring to miserable lives of Dallas' stars. I recall several other similar titles of the 1980s.

The story goes on saying Linda doesn't want to be a superwoman anymore. Now she wants peace and quiet. "Sue Ellen is so stupid", Linda is fed up with her. She wants her to be smarter, but obviously it doesn't fit for the story.

Next cover is from Anna later the same year. This is the first time the press hinted that Linda was having an affair with her co-star Larry Hagman:

"Scandalous romance of Dallas stars Linda and Larry!" This was also one of the favourite subjects of the Dallas stories during the 1980s. It used to make me frustrated, because no matter how I wanted it to happen, there were never articles about the scandalous romance of Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy. It seemed so unfair. Sigh. However, in retrospect we know that these rumours weren't true. Linda and Larry were only good friends.

Next we have September's issue of Jaana telling us that "Linda Gray has fallen in love with a millionaire - even more passionate than on Dallas":

I wonder why they used this old photo of Linda. She already had her famous short look that year, so this old picture really doesn't do her justice.

The year goes on! October issue of Anna spills the T:

"Dallas' Linda Gray opens up about her divorce". Of course this was the time before internet, but it still seems a bit dated: Apu told us about her divorce in March and this is October. Well, inside the mag confesses that the rumours about Linda and Larry were false.

This is all for now. Enjoy and take care, my fellow Dallas fans!

Happy Valentine Girl!

Valentine's day may be long gone, but it's never too late to tribute my favourite Valentine Girl, Mandy Winger!

Oh, Mandy. You came and you gave without taking, but Sue Ellen sent you away...

Although losing Audrey Landers was a bummer, I liked Deborah Shelton equally well as Cliff's and eventually JR's new squeeze. "You'll hear from me again!" she whispered to Sue Ellen in 1987 and left Dallas. Despite her promise, she never came back. (Well, that's not true: she eventually did come back for a few minutes on TNT's new Dallas.)

Nevertheless, here are two articles from the 1980's celebrating her red-hot-beauty.

First one states rather sarcastically that "Deborah Shelton is here for the same reason she is on Dallas: as a decoration. Her fame has never reached the same heights as Victoria Principal's, Linda Gray's or even Priscilla Presley's."

The article goes on to explain how Priscilla has clout; she is now negotiating with the producers to get a real birthing scene on Dallas. "She, like her character Jenna, is pregnant." Priscilla's negotiations must have failed as we were spared from seeing a baby come out of Jenna's vajayjay. Oh, well.

(Same magazine tells us about a new series called Moonlighting starring someone called Bruce Willis. He has already started a singing career and is the coverboy at the moment.)

The second article is much nicer. It says: "Mandy is one fierce seductress, but in real life Deborah Sheldon (!) is the epitome of good mother: My daughter Tamara, 7, is the best thing that ever happened to me. Dallas comes second. Dallas has given me a chance to give my daughter the best possible education, which is more I ever dared to dream." 

Something Old...

Oh, the weddings of Dallas! They were always super-exciting. Of course, the press  - even in Finland - had usually revealed something about the upcoming event, so it wasn't a total surprise. Nevertheless, I was always beyond happy when they decided to have big, lavish weddings. Therefore, I felt betrayed if someone "eloped" or just went to the "city hall". This was before I understood anything about show business and budgets and stuff.

However, what fun times they were!

I used to love finding out what kind of wedding dresses the ladies of Southfork had chosen. More often than not I was bitterly disappointed. I have to say, out of all the weddings Dallas had, this dress was one of  my favorites:

The text says: "During her nightmare, Pam was remarried. However, when audience demanded Bobby back, the guy who played Pam's fiancé, John Beck, had to go." 

So sad. Naturally, Bobby was the king of stud muffins back then and I was ecstatic to see him back, but I liked Mark as well. I mean, who could resist his mustache-ious gorgeousness?

Pam's dress is tasteful and beautiful, unlike the true, spiky nightmare she was sporting when she married Bobby one year later. Yikes. *Shudder*

Another what-was-she-thinking -dress was this one:

(The mag also features the "famous Mayo-diet". Now what on earth is that?)

I had seen the pics of Sue Ellen's dress before the episode aired, but I was still surprised to find out the dress was actually long. And the eighties mullet didn't help one bit. However, Linda Gray is still gorgeous and the episode itself was amazing and memorable, classic Dallas.

Next, some clips of real-life Dallas weddings, Charlene Tilton's and Victoria Principal's second marriages from 1985 (not to each other, though):

We learn that "Charlene Tilton was married to scottish musician Dominique (?) "Nicky" Allen on Holy Thursday. Charlene says she and ex-beau Johnny Lee had totally different views of life.

Victoria Principal has been visiting italian designer Elvira Gramano in Rome. She is searching for the right dress for her wedding to Harry Glassman."

I like Charlene's dress, I think she looks radiant. Victoria's dress in this photo is not - thankfully - the one she chose to wear eventually. This is:

"The mid-summer bride of the whole world was Victoria Principal." The text also states rather cynically that "Victoria is not a newbie at the wedding game, she has also had time to drive Andy Gibb into mental break down." Now that's not nice. Victoria looks happy and beautiful regardless.

Ken Kercheval, a.k.a Cliff Barnes, was one of the stars who rarely was on the headlines. Here's one from 1984, however, featuring his wedding bliss:

His wife's name was Ava Fox, and they were married finally after all kinds of obstacles, including Ken's mother's illness.

Let's dive into the 90s. At the time there were only occasional stories of Dallas on Finnish magazines, which was sad. Dallas wasn't red-hot anymore. Here's something blue with lovely Sheree Wilson's wedding picture with her fiancé and their son, Luke. Her husband's name is Paul Derobbio: 

"From a funeral to a wedding. Now that we have said tearful goodbyes to Dallas' April, we are happy to learn that in real life Sheree Wilson is doing better than ever." Story goes on to state that "By the way, they are going to end Dallas. This is no surprise, since April was the only one of the show's current female stars to possess real charisma." This sounds about right. 

That's all for now. Take care, my dear readers! :)