Jim Davis (August 26, 1909 - April 26, 1981)

I have heard some of his colleague's refer to Jim Davis as a "total professional" and that statement certainly shows in every performance I've ever seen him give. On the silver screen he appeared in such movies as "The President's Lady", "The Day Time Ended", and "The Bottom of the Bottle" to name a few. As far as that small medium called television goes, that's a different story. Davis, much like other actors and actresses of his day soon found themselves guest starring on shows like "Fireside Theatre", "Playhouse 90", "The Millionaire", "Rescue 8", "Lassie", "Gunsmoke", "The Donna Reed Show", "Wagon Train", "Perry Mason", "Rawhide", "Bonanza", "Death Valley Days", "The Virginian", "The F.B.I.", "Cannon", and "Police Story." BUT....BUT.............1977 was the year that changed it all. That was when the 68-year-old actor was selected to play the role of John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. on the prime time soap opera "Dallas." As Jock Ewing he was father to J.R. (Larry Hagman), Gary (David Ackroyd then Ted Shackelford), Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and the illegitimate Ray (Steve Kanaly) and husband to Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes). He also dealt with his sexually charged granddaughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) and his sometimes troubled and unhappy daughters-in-law Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), Pamela (Victoria Principal), Valene (Joan Van Ark) and Donna (Susan Howard). Davis was perfect as the strong willed patriarch. Jock Ewing had some of the best lines... "If I ever see you around these parts again, I KILL ya!" "You did what? You jackass!" "If I did give you power then you got nothin'! Nobody give you power! Real power is something you take! "Don't you tell me what I mean boy!" The scenes between Jock and mortal enemy Digger Barnes (David Wayne then Keenan Wynn) were some of the best acting ever to be featured on the show. He also was the master at putting his scheming son in line. Davis' death in April 1981 distrupted the entire core of the show and it was never the same again. Stop and think for second what it would have been like if he hadn't gotten sick OR if the role had been recast. The entire storyline involving Bobby and J.R. fight for Ewing Oil wouldn't have happened, Miss Ellie would have never married Clayton Farlow, Cousin Jamie Ewing and Cliff Barnes couldn't have sued for control of the company, Pamela and Bobby wouldn't have seperated, Rebecca Barnes Wentworth wouldn't have died in that plane crash and I could go on and on. All these stories could have happened anyway I suppose but through different methods. Jock may have been tough but he was also somewhat...well...pussywhipped. If Miss Ellie said make it happen Jock, he did. Some examples...giving Bobby one hundred percent control of the company in writing while J.R. recovered from his gunshot wounds and accepting Pamela into the family so Bobby wouldn't move away from Southfork. Even though he appeared in only 75 episodes his legend lived on because of that incredible portrait that hung in the living room at Southfork and eventually the Ewing Oil offices. I agree with Miss Ellie when said "This portrait belongs at Ewing Oil, the company he built." Between his death in season five to the end of the series with the completion of season fourteen, Jim Davis and Jock Ewing may have been gone but they certainly were not forgotten.