Larry Hagman

Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Biography

Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012, Height 6 feet 1 inch [1.85 m]) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer. He was best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera Dallas, and the befuddled astronaut Major Anthony Nelson in the 1965–1970 sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of actress Mary Martin. After his parents divorced, he lived with his grandmother in Texas while his mother pursued acting roles. At age 16, Hagman followed his mother into acting and got his start in small theater productions and commercials. He began his acting career in the early 1950s, appearing in Broadway plays and television shows. He had a supporting role in the 1964 film Fail-Safe. In 1965, Hagman was cast as Major Anthony Nelson in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. The show was a huge success, and Hagman won two Golden Globe Awards for his performance. He left the show in 1970 to pursue other projects. In 1978, Hagman was cast as J. R. Ewing in the soap opera Dallas. The show was an even bigger success than I Dream of Jeannie, and Hagman won four Emmy Awards for his performance. He remained with the show until it ended in 1991. In 1995, Hagman underwent a liver transplant. He returned to Dallas in 2012 for a revival of the show. He died of complications from leukemia later that year.

Movies

The Dame Edna Experience is a British television comedy talk-show hosted by Dame Edna Everage. It ran for twelve regular episodes on ITV, plus two Christmas specials. The first seven aired for the first time in 1987, the next seven in 1989. It was directed by Ian Hamilton and Alasdair MacMillan and produced by London Weekend Television. Regulars on the program, besides Dame Edna, were her "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop and Robin Houston who was the announcer, with orchestra conducted and arranged by Laurie Holloway. Each program featured several celebrity guests, usually three, but some programs included up to eight guests. There would also be other invited "guests" like Kurt Waldheim and Imelda Marcos who once introduced at stage right would fall victim to a trap door or something similar and fail to make it to their chair. The entire series was released on DVD by BBC Video in June 2004, and can now also be purchased as a complete set including the Christmas specials and the three An Audience with Dame Edna specials, plus other material. The series was released for Region 2 by Network DVD in the UK in 2007, as a 4-disc set. For reasons unknown, the Region 2 release does not include the 1989 Christmas special "The Dame Edna Satellite Experience" that ended the second series and featured Ursula Andress, Yehudi Menuhin, and Robert Kilroy-Silk. It does, however, include the one-off 1990 Christmas special A Night On Mount Edna with guests Mel Gibson, Charlton Heston, Gina Lollobrigida and Julio Iglesias.

More info
The Dame Edna Experience
1987