Larry Hagman

Larry Martin Hagman, born on September 21, 1931, in Fort Worth, Texas, was an American actor whose career spanned stage, television, and film across more than six decades. He was the son of actress Mary Martin, who became a Broadway star and musical comedy performer after his birth. His father, Benjamin Jackson Hagman, of Swedish descent, worked as an accountant, lawyer, and district attorney. His parents divorced in 1936, and Hagman was raised largely by his maternal grandmother, Juanita Presley Martin, in Texas and California while his mother pursued her career. He attended Black-Foxe Military Institute and briefly Woodstock Country School in Vermont. After his grandmother's death, he joined his mother in New York City, then returned to Weatherford, Texas, where he graduated from Weatherford High School in 1949. He subsequently enrolled at Bard College in New York, majoring in dance and drama, before leaving after one year.

Hagman began his professional acting career in 1950 at Margaret Webster's school at the Woodstock Playhouse in Woodstock, New York. That same summer he worked in Dallas as a production assistant and performed in small roles at Margo Jones's theater company. He appeared in a production of The Taming of the Shrew in New York City and performed in tent show musicals with St. John Terrell's Music Circus in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Lambertville, New Jersey. In 1951, he joined his mother in the London production of South Pacific, remaining with the show for nearly a year. He received his draft notice in 1952 and enlisted in the United States Air Force, spending the majority of his service entertaining troops in the United Kingdom and at bases across Europe. After leaving the Air Force in 1956, he returned to New York City and appeared in the off-Broadway play Once Around the Block by William Saroyan, followed by nearly a year in another off-Broadway production, James Lee's Career.

Hagman's Broadway career ran from 1951 to 1962, with his debut occurring in 1958 in Comes a Day. He went on to appear in four additional Broadway productions: God and Kate Murphy, The Nervous Set, The Warm Peninsula, and The Beauty Part. His work during this period earned him a Theatre World Award in 1959.

His first television role came in 1957, when he played Kenneth Davidson in the episode "Saturday Lost" of the syndicated crime drama Decoy. In 1958, he appeared as a guest on the adventure-drama series Harbourmaster alongside Barbara Bain and made three appearances on Lloyd Bridges's syndicated series Sea Hunt. In 1960, he was cast in a CBS summer medical series, Diagnosis: Unknown, and in 1961 he joined the daytime soap opera The Edge of Night as Ed Gibson, a role he held for two years. He made his film debut in 1964 in Ensign Pulver, the sequel to Mister Roberts, and that same year appeared in the Cold War thriller Fail-Safe.

In 1965, Hagman was cast as Air Force Captain Anthony Nelson, the master and eventual love interest of the genie played by Barbara Eden, in the NBC sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. The show ran for five seasons through 1970 and entered the top 30 in its first year. Hagman and Eden subsequently reunited on multiple occasions, including appearances on The Donny and Marie Show in 1999, on Larry King Live in 2002, at the TV Land Awards in March 2004, and at the Chiller Expo Show in 2005. In 2006, the two promoted the first-season DVD of I Dream of Jeannie during a publicity tour in New York City and later performed together in the play Love Letters at the College of Staten Island and at the United States Military Academy at West Point — their first time acting together since Eden's five-episode arc on Dallas in 1990.

In 1978, Hagman was cast in the role of J.R. Ewing, the conniving elder son and businessman at the center of the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas, a role he chose over a competing offer from The Waverly Wonders. He based elements of his portrayal on Jess Hall Jr., the owner of Antelope Tool and Supply Company, where Hagman had worked as a young man in Weatherford. Dallas aired in 90 countries and ran from 1978 to 1991, generating one of television's most famous plot devices when J.R. was shot by an unknown assailant in the 1980 season finale, sparking the worldwide "Who shot J.R.?" phenomenon. During the ensuing contract negotiations, Lorimar Productions began shooting scenes without Hagman as producers weighed whether to pay his increased salary demands or write the character out of the series. Hagman reprised the role in the 2012 revival of Dallas. His additional film credits include Harry and Tonto, S.O.B., Nixon, and Primary Colors. He also worked as a television producer and director and made guest appearances on dozens of television programs from the late 1950s until his death.

In 1995, Hagman underwent a life-saving liver transplant. He died on November 23, 2012, from complications of acute myeloid leukemia.