Fans of soap operas will remember the show Dallas. It was a prime-time show on CBS between 1978 and 1991. The main plot centered around the marriage of oil company owners Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes whose families were enemies. An oil tycoon version of Romeo and Juliet so to speak.
If you watched it you’ll remember the character of Sue Ellen, who was played by Linda Gray since the pilot episode. She stayed on the show for 12 seasons until the episode when Sue beat her husband R.J. (an oil tycoon who was known for building all sorts of shifty schemes) at his own game and left the city.
Since leaving the show Linda Gray has been through a lot. She appeared in a movie Oscar with Sylvester Stalone in 1991. She has a leading role in Fox’s drama series Models Inc., and she acted in quite a few TV movies. She also reprised her role of Sue Ellen on the Dallas spin-off shows Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996), Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998), and in the TNT continuation of the original show Dallas.
2020 was a hard year for Linda, her son Jeff died of leukemia. She became sort of a recluse and was rarely if ever seen in public. It almost seemed like she rarely left the house.
When she was spotted out shopping in California she was hardly recognizable. Gone was the usual diva image that we got used to since her time on Dallas and after the show. Instead, Linda was spotted shopping near her home, dressed in a beige hoodie and wearing a pair of glasses, her hair carelessly tied back.
While dressing casually not to bring attention to yourself is understandable it’s the fact that Linda looked like she aged quite rapidly after her son’s death. It was obviously a difficult time for her and you can still sort of see that the pain she lived through left a mark on her.
The 81-year-old actress now lives a quiet life on a farm that she owns in the Valencia suburbs and hardly shows up in public. She seems to shy away from the cameras and the general Hollywood hustle and bustle.
