Linda Gray, who pIayed the legendary role of Sue Ellen Ewing in the hit show Dallas, had a life filled with excitement and a number of obstacles.
Recalling her childhood in Culver City, CaIifornia, she says how being given the chance to hang out with her friends around the filming studios triggered something in her that made her fall in love with acting. Her father, whom she describes as a rather cold person was always supportive of her career. Her mother used to be a heavy alcoholic while Linda and her sister were growing up so they had to take care of the house for long.
“She wasn’t falling down drunk, there was never any yeIIing,” Linda wrote in her book The Path to Happiness is Always Under Construction. “She wasn’t mean – she was just blurred, in her own world, she would forget to buy food so I started doing the cooking. My sister and I didn’t like her.”
Linda married her first and only husband, whom she separated with in 1983, photographer Edward Lee Thrasher, when she was 21. They had two children together, and although she enjoyed being a mother, it was her husband who somehow stood in her way of making a career in acting.
Although she was part of many commercials, it took Linda quite some time to finally gather the courage to attend acting classes.
In 1967, Linda was paid $25 to be Anne Bancroft’s body double in the poster for the film The Graduate not knowing that years later, or in 2001 to be exact, she would end up playing Mrs Robinson in the West End State production of The Graduate.
During the 1960s, she got a rejection letter from the Glamour Magazine, but that only made her more determined to succeed. “It was so funny that I kept that letter,” she wrote. “I kept the letter because I realized that we all have rejections, and it was her opinion when I was 20 years old. I could have had it devastate my life. But, I didn’t. This feisty streak came out – ‘Oh, yeah? I’m gonna show you!’ With great love and a lot of humor, I kept that letter. It kicked me from behind, and made me want to go and do something.”
After playing small roles, Linda finaIIy got the one that marked her career, that of Sue Ellen Ewing. She appeared in total of 308 episodes on Dallas and played alongside Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy.
Speaking of her relationship with Hagman, Linda told CM Chat Live: “He was the bad big brother that I never had. He was always doing something in my mind wrong – he was drinking too much, or whatever, and I would reprimand him, he loved that, he loved to do something just to make me crazy. I’d say ‘Don’t eat that. You don’t need that much sugar, and stop drinking.’”
In fact, when Linda was briefly fired from the show for asking for a higher pay, it was Hagman who demanded she gets back.
For her legendary performance in Dallas, Linda received numerous awards, including two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – TeIevision Series Drama, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Her son, Jeff Thrasher, followed into her footsteps and worked as a director. Sadly, he was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in 2020. Linda was devastated. She had a hard time coping with the loss. Recently, she paid tribute to Jeff writing: “A celebration of my son Jeff’s life. He was the kindest, funniest, sweetest human being….. he brought the world such love and was loved by everyone! May his journey be a magicaI one.”https://www.instagram.com/p/CICmEWyrPUt/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=675&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fbengalimedia24.com&rp=%2Fheartbreaking-update-on-dallas-actress-linda-grey%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2dgWz6EFpC6RtaLAWwCBgR-BcaAhAdm0FRg147EhNfvC0WfZ9fCh18Swk#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A1751%2C%22ls%22%3A1148.4000000059605%2C%22le%22%3A1748.4000000059605%7D
We are very sorry for her loss. Linda is doing her best to live her life without her son. She is 82 years old and is looking as stunningly beautiful as always
We moved into an old house and discovered an ancient safe in the basement — what we found inside completely changed our lives
When Fiona, Derek, and their son, Ethan, inherit a house in a new state, they jump at the opportunity for a fresh start. But during their renovations, they discover an old safe in the basement. However, their lives change forever when Ethan discovers the key to the safe.
Growing up, we were never the wealthy type. My family was pretty average, dealing with the usual stuff that people seem to juggle: credit card bills, loans, and relying heavily on paychecks just to make ends meet.
So, when I got a random call one day saying we’d inherited a house in a different state, it felt like something out of a movie.
The house belonged to my grandpa’s brother, a man we were never particularly close with. But he had passed away, and to our surprise, he left us his house in his will.
“We’ve been waiting for a new start, Fiona,” my husband, Derek, said. “I think we should take it and just start a new chapter. Ethan is starting high school, so it’s the perfect time to switch schools anyway.”
“I agree,” I said, already thinking about looking for a new job that wouldn’t leave me so stressed out. I needed to get some of my joy back. Recently, all I had been doing was working to make ends meet.
Derek was doing the same thing.
We were tired.
This new house could be exactly what we needed. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was a charming old property that had seen better days but was spacious and tucked away in a quiet neighborhood.
The idea of starting fresh, with no rent or mortgage hanging over our heads, was too good to pass up. So, we packed up our lives, crossed state lines, and moved in.
“I’m excited, Mom,” Ethan said. “I think I needed a change of scenery from town as well. I didn’t really want to go to high school with the same people I’d known since I was five years old.”
When we first arrived, the house was as expected. It was old, creaky, and full of charm but needed a little TLC.
“We’ll make it a home, Fiona,” Derek said, already going on about new flooring.
A few weeks in, Derek was already planning to replace some floorboards, and I was determined to breathe new life into the dusty old kitchen.
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