82-year-old Linda Gray was the Sue Ellen Ewing of the legendary soap opera, Dallas, for more than 300 episodes. As she had an illustrious career, she had some problems in her private life too.
To describe it more detailed, Linda Gray had a roller coaster life, where she had fought with her life dangering disease, addiction and a failed marriage.
As she had faced problems in her life, she had overcome any obstacle had stepped in her way, in her journey.
She had appeared with Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy in the show, Dallas, and she had talked about how she really feels about her co-stars.
She was born in 12th of September, 1940, in Santa Monica, California. She was diagnosed with polio when she was a child, and her grandfather was already sick with it too, which left her family devastated.
Gray stated, “They didn’t know what it was when he was 17, and he was always in a wheelchair,” she recalled. When I was diagnosed, everyone went crazy in my family, but I wasn’t. I thought I could have a wheelchair like Grandpa.”
She was raised in Culver City, California. Her father had a watchmaker shop in there. She always had an interest towards acting, as she attended to the Notre Dame Academy in Los Angeles. She was the Cindrella, in the one production of Cindirella.
As her father was there for his family with financial stuff, he was not there emotionally, as Linda and her sister, Betty expected from him. Linda stated, “He didn’t offer emotional support though,” and added, “He was just kind of there, like a piece of furniture, but then this was a different time.”
“You didn’t go to Dad with boyfriend problems. God forbid. But he was supportive of my career.”
“She wasn’t falling down drunk, there was never any yelling,” Gray said about her former ballerina mother, Marge. “She wasn’t mean – she was just blurred, in her own world, she would forget to buy food so I started doing the cooking. My sister and I didn’t like her.”
As Marge was struggling with alcoholism, she went to Alcoholics Anonymous for help, which she quit drinking eventually. Gray was sure that what led her mother to alcoholism was limiting herself, as she was disappointed with her life. “I felt that if I didn’t pursue my career the same thing could happen to me,” Gray said in her memoir.
She was living in the center of the entertainment industry, and with her friends, they would constantly hang around the studios. They would get autographs from many big names as, Tyrone Powers and Spencer Tracy.
As she was interested with studying medicine in her youth, as she was raised close to the industry, she started to grow interest and wanted to become an actress. She then worked as a model in her teen years.
At the age of 21, she married with Edward Lee Trasher, but that marriage was a nightmare for Linda Gray. As her career and interest towards acting stopped, she was the wife and the mother of the house. She had her son, Jeff Trasher in the 1960, and her daughter Kehly, in 1966.
“It tore me apart but I just thought, ‘Well, I can make this work somehow,’” Linda said, “It took me 21 years to leave my marriage.”
Edward wanted his wife to stay at home and live a luxurious life, as he didn’t want her to work. But Linda wanted to be on the stages, and in front of the cameras.
In 1963, she appeared in the movies, Under the Yum Yum Tree and Palm Springs Weekend, which were uncredited, and at the age of 27, she became the body double of Anne Bancroft for $25, for the 1967 movie, The Graduate movie poster.
She had explained in her memoir that she received a rejection letter from Glamour Magazine, in the 60s, as she didn’t put too much thought on it. “It was so funny that I kept that letter,” Gray said. “I kept the letter because I realized that we all have rejections, and it was her opinion when I was 20 years old. I could have had it devastate my life. But, I didn’t. This feisty streak came out – ‘Oh, yeah? I’m gonna show you!’ With great love and a lot of humor, I kept that letter. It kicked me from behind, and made me want to go and do something.”
As she loved her life as a mother, she wanted to continue on her career too. But her husband had another ideas, as he didn’t wanted her to work. “He said, ‘Why don’t you become an actress when the children are in college’.”
She was 37, when she started to take acting classes. Dennis Weaver had seen the talent Linda had, and through the help of Dennis, she starred as a guest on Marcus Welby M.D in 1974.
And in 1978, she had her breakthrough with Dallas, where she gave life to Sue Ellen Ewing. At first, her role was planned for five episodes, but then, she became a cast member of the show with her spectacular performance.
She had acted along with stars, Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy.
For her chemistry with Larry Hagman, Gray stated, “He was the bad big brother that I never had,” and continued as, “He was always doing something in my mind wrong – he was drinking too much, or whatever, and I would reprimand him, he loved that, he loved to do something just to make me crazy. I’d say ‘Don’t eat that. You don’t need that much sugar, and stop drinking.’”
“I was a pain in the neck – and he loved it,” she said, “He would do things purposely to get me fired up. The directors were just in awe. They thought we were crazy teenagers, but when they said action, we would become J.R. and Sue Ellen. It was seamless. We don’t know what happened. It was absolute magic. We felt blessed, and we were.”
As Gray was successful with the show, she divorced from her husband, Edward Trasher in 1983, and her son, Jeff had followed his mother, and became a director in the industry.
When it was 2018, Jeff had received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Multiple Camera Lifestyle, Culinary or Educational and Informational Program for “Furze World Wonders.”
And in 2015, with his show, Mission Asteroid, he received, Canadian Screen Award for Best Science or Nature Documentary Program or Series.
Sadly, Jeff passed away in 2020, after his long battle with leukemia. Linda had paid tribute to her son, from her social media account as she stated, “A celebration of my son Jeff’s life. He was the kindest, funniest, sweetest human being….. he brought the world such love and was loved by everyone! May his journey be a magical one.”
When it was 2012, Gray returned to her role, Sue Ellen Ewing for two seasons of renewed Dallas. She received Special Award in the 2014 USA Film Festival Award.
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