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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > Larry Hagman and J.R. dies but the legend lives on - A villain in Ireland as well as everywhere else in the world

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Larry Hagman and J.R. dies but the legend lives on - A villain in Ireland as well as everywhere else in the world

Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 07:28 AM

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Larry Hagman

So J.R. died with his boots on, like he said he would.

Larry Hagman played one of the greatest villains of all time, John Ross Ewing, a man who gripped the world I grew up in.

Back then there wasn’t 1,000 channels to pick from. In Ireland back in 1980 there was only a handful.

It meant that a series like ‘Dallas’ was part of the national conversation.

And no one was more iconic and important than JR Ewing. Heck the Queen Mother angled a meeting with Larry just to ask the question who shot him.

When he came to Ireland, (Larry Hagman I mean) he was accorded the welcome of a head of state, a rock star and a living legend.

I remember being at the racetrack at the Curragh when he made his appearance at the Irish Derby.

Folks flocked to him like starstruck kids. Horses were forgotten, women trampled each other to get closer.

Larry Hagman always played J.R. with that knowing grin that really evil stuff was just around the corner.

It was very fitting that he was back in his latest role in a revived edition of Dallas on TNT.

His on screen wife was with him when he died.

How cool was that, art imitating life and vice versa?

We’ll miss you J.R. and I suppose there is only one question left to answer.

Who shot him?

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