Tributes after Dallas star Larry Hagman dies at 81
Tributes paid to Dallas legend Larry Hagman, who has died at 81 after losing cancer battle
Fervour for the show Dallas was intense in 1980, when Britain's Queen Mother met actor Larry Hagman and joined the global chorus asking: "Who shot JR?"
"Not even for you, ma'am," replied Hagman, who portrayed villainous oil baron JR Ewing at the centre of the popular prime-time soap from 1978 until 1991.
About 300 million viewers in 57 countries had watched JR get shot by an unseen assailant, a season-ending plot twist that is credited with popularising the cliffhanger in television series.
Hagman, who became a television star in the 1960s starring in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, died on Friday at a Dallas hospital, said a spokesman for actress Linda Gray, his longtime co-star on Dallas. He was 81.
The actor had just returned to the role of JR in a new version of Dallas, which hit television screens in the US in June.
A year ago, Hagman revealed he was fighting his second battle against cancer. He spoke about his decades of drinking that led to being diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in 1992, prompting him to go teetotal. Three years later he had a liver transplant.
"He was the pied piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew," Gray said. "He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented ... He was an original and lived life to the full."