TV Villain, JR Ewing Dies - WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News & Community

By Colleen McEdwards (CNN) 

Actor Larry Hagman, from the hit TV show "Dallas," has died.

His family says he died Friday after complications from cancer. He was 81 years old.

His career spanned from television to the big screen, but he will always be remembered as J-R Ewing, from "Dallas."

Larry Hagman wore many hats in his career, but is best known for the Stetson that he wore on "Dallas." despite roles on film and on stage, Hagman will always be remembered as the villainous JR Ewing.
And you drove Cliff to attempt suicide?
How was I to know he was going to do a dumb thing like that?
When JR was shot by an unknown assailant, it became one of the most famous cliffhangers in TV history, watched by 300 million people from all around the world.

In fact, the "Dallas" franchise was so successful, the series was recently reprised. The US network, TNT, brought it back with a new generation of Ewings, and Hagman came back too, returning as JR once again. Critics say, he was the best thing about "Dallas." but, explaining the character's appeal, Hagman once said, "the time is ripe for a real bad guy and I'm it."

Have a good day, master!
Oh I'm going to have a wonderful day, Jeannie.

It was a good guy who Larry Hagman blasted into people's living rooms, playing astronaut Tony Nelson on "I Dream of Jeannie." The show was a hit in the 1960s and is still popular in syndication.

Even as a kid, Hagman orbited in showbiz. As the son of Peter Pan star, Mary Martin, his movie roles included "Up the Cellar" and "Harry and Tonto."

I don't need an office anymore. I'm living off the cream now
It was only after milking a huge contract from the producers of "Dallas" that Hagman became immensely wealthy. He had houses, he had cars. He had vices. Two of them included drinking and smoking. He smoked for 24 years, gave it up and became an anti-smoking activist and spokesman for the American Cancer Society.

He stopped drinking in 1995, when he was diagnosed with liver cancer and underwent a life-saving transplant.

If we'd won in Vietnam, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Nobody's fault, Jack.

In recent years, Hagman appeared on the big screen in films like "Nixon" and "Primary Colors." But it's his role as the charming and conniving oil man that audiences will never forget.