20 URBAN LEGENDS

Although the plots of our favorite soaps already were quite melodramatic back in the 80´s, rumors also provided a long number of what we now call "urban legends" regarding the behind-the-scenes of the four major soaps. In this our third summer special, we will remember these rumors, some of which turned out to be true, and some of them not, as well as a few unusual, candid pics of the main stars.

The publicity machine of US supersoaps took care of spicing the stories of their dysfunctional families with much more shocking (and very often invented) "inside reports" of what was going on before and after the director yelled: "Cut!!!!" In this page we will sum up a few of them. So let´s start off!

Please notice the blue-highlighted links, that will take you to the original source in case you want to check the subject out or read more about it.

1. WAS LINDA EVANS THE FIRST CANDIDATE TO PLAY PAMELA EWING ON “DALLAS”?

There are many stories out there assuring that Linda Evans was the first candidate to play Pamela Ewing on "Dallas". Actually, she wasn´t. However, it´s true that the whole project that ended up being "Dallas" started as a showcase for a pre-"Dynasty" Linda Evans, who at the time was under contract with CBS. This project was in fact known as "Untitled Linda Evans Project".

When writer-producer David Jacobs gave them the script for the first 5 episodes (aka the Pilot Miniseries, aka the First Season), the bosses realized it was more an ensemble work than a showcase for a single actress and the concept was dropped to embrace a family saga instead, which was the original suggestion from CBS anyway.

Nevertheless, as everybody knows now, Linda Evans went on to star on her own family saga, "Dynasty", as mellifluous, simple-minded Krystle, for one season, that is. Because the average ratings demanded for a stronger female presence who, as we all know too, came in the form of British Joan Collins in the first scene of the Second Season.

Before Victoria Principal was definitely cast as Pam, there was another actress who went for the role: Judith Chapman, who replaced Joan Van Ark in 2006 as Gloria Abbott in the daytime soap "The Young and the Restless". Victoria´s audition with Patrick Duffy convinced the producers and she won the role. Said Chapman about that the daytime subgenre: "Soap operas have always been about (...) family, love, sex, illegitimate children, divorces and adultery. (Now) they have gotten into these strange storylines about bringing people back from the dead and supernatural phenomena." Lucky for Chapman that she didn´t have to endure with the infamous Dream solution...

Legend Status: Untrue. Photo: Linda Evans in a "Charlie´s Angels" pose for the movie "Avalanche Express", two years prior to her "Dynasty" massive success.

2. WAS A DALLAS-DYNASTY CROSSOVER EVER PLANNED?

After the 1985-86 season finished and primetime supersoaps slightly began to turn towards Science Fiction ("Dallas"´ Dream Season, "The Colbys"´ Fallon abducted by a UFO), the audience ratings started their slow but inevitable decline and the networks had to use a lot of fake stories (more or less leaked to trashy mags and papers) as an attempt at getting the viewers interested in those shows again. Other times they were just inventions of the press people, who took journalism for fiction writing.

One of the most over-the-top articles had "Dallas"´ J.R. wheeling and dealing with the Queen of "Dynasty" herself, Alexis. Though the two shows were aired by competitor networks and produced by different companies (Spelling and Lorimar), there seemed to be an intention out there to make a crossover and unite these two parallel worlds, even for a brief storyline, though it was never confirmed or denied by TPTB. Factually, the only crossovers that ever happened were related to their own spin-offs ("Dallas" and "Knots Landing", and "Dynasty" and "The Colbys").

Later in the decade, when the decline was almost irreversible for all the soaps with the exception of Lorimar´s oldest shows, rumors hinted that the crossover might happen between "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest", therefore featuring both villains (J.R. and Angela Channing) scheming to obtain even more power. But "Falcon Crest" ended in 1990 and "Dallas" just one year later, thus leaving "Knots Landing" as the only surviving supersoap for the next two years until its own end arrived in 1993.

Anecdotically, Larry Hagman and Joan Collins dated in the early 50´s, after he appeared on the London stage with his mother Mary Martin in "South Pacific". He said about Joan that she was "so breathtakingly beautiful that she made Elizabeth Taylor look like a boy. (...) I was a lark for her, since she normally dated older men in their 20´s and 30´s. But we had some fun. I also went out with her sister Jackie, who was just as stunning. I never got anywhere with them, but boy, they were lots of fun." When Larry Hagman passed away in November 23, 2012, Joan Collins tweeted: "He was magnificent as J.R. and inspired me to play Alexis."

Legend Status: Untrue (but funny to think about!). Photo: Joan Collins and Larry Hagman after receiving their respective Golden Camera awards in February 1999 in the category of "Millennium Cult Figures".

3. IS TRUE THAT VICTORIA PRINCIPAL´S AGE IS UNKNOWN?

The real age of the soaps´ stars (male or female, but especially female) was a reason to speculate not only 35 years ago, but even when movies became a popular entertainment, at the beginning of Twentieth Century. Gossip was one of the elements that attracted the public to the earlier stars, if also the most reprehensible of all. Gossip also was part of what put the faces of TV stars on the covers of all the magazines in the 80´s and even now. No matter how talented he or she may be: a percentage of audiences will always be interested in other things aside from their talent, e.g. their true age.

Victoria Principal became the center of controversy when internet established itself as a phenomenon, and two birth dates (five years distant one from the other) used to appear together, if not only the furthest (1945). Partly this happened because Principal had previously said that she was the first American baby born in Fukuoka (Japan) since War World II ended (1945). Given that her birth year was 1950, her remark raised a lot of eyebrows.

The most devoted fans of the actress alleged she was born in 1950. In both cases, the birth day was right, January 3. However, since the retired actress and now business woman Principal wanted to set the record straight (especially on Imdb, one of the most oft-used, most-discussed data bases on the net), she did so when the people at UltimateDallas.com interviewed her in 2008.

Quoting her: "I was born January 3rd 1950. (...) (Making my passport available to Imdb) was the only way to clear this up once and for all. (...) Someone on the internet, years ago, printed a different age than I am and I´m in the process legally of clearing that up, because I have never lied about my age."

Legend Status: (Absolutely) untrue. Photo: Victoria Principal in the dvd cover of "Greatest Heroes of the Bible: The Story of Esther", one of 17 50-minute episodes filmed in 1979 for NBC and edited on video in 1985.

4. WERE LORENZO LAMAS AND ANA-ALICIA ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED DURING THEIR TIME ON “FALCON CREST”?

Another tricky strategy from tabloids / producers / publishers was pairing up two apparently (but not necessarily) single people (who were an item on the screen) and sell them as if they really were a couple in real life too. This is sadly even more usual, despicable in the current days with "celebrities" than back then with actors. Good chemistry was something very useful to make this happen and, as they say, "it happened in the best families", in this case, in the best soaps, with no exception.

In the case of "Falcon Crest", both Lamas and Ana were good-looking, played seductive characters and looked undeniable Latin (="hot" upon the Hollywood standards), though he was half-Argentinian, half-Norwegian (Ana-Alicia was Mexican but, funnily enough, she played an Italian woman). The on/off destructive love-hate relationship of the Lance-Melissa couple didn´t transfer to their personal lives though (fortunately for her, especially: poor Melissa!).

During their "Falcon Crest" years, Lamas was married or engaged most time. He was married to actress Victoria Hilbert (briefly seen in one episode of the initial Season), then to publicist Michelle Smith and, after that, to Kathleen Kinmont, ironicly daughter of his onscreen mother Abby Dalton and his future co-star in the "Renegade" series.

Given that Lamas seemed to like women of his own profession (he also "shared" with Lance other girlfriends, like Robin Greer, Daphne Ashbrook or Apollonia Kotero - yes, THAT Apollonia!), one could say that it was a miracle that the two actors didn´t end up getting married too. Ana-Alicia remained single until she married her current husband, TV exec Gary Benz, in 1994.

She´s also good friends with her two "Falcon Crest" husbands, Lamas and William R. Moses, and even attended their weddings (not all of them!): "When you have to play scenes and expose yourselves in ways sexually and emotionally - and yet we never went in that direction - it was like being married to Lorenzo - said Ana-Alicia to Hill Place blogger in 2013 - I feel like Lorenzo´s my ex-husband. And I love him dearly and genuinely, and I would protect him or be there for him in any way if I could".

Legend Status: (Probably) untrue. Photo: Ana-Alicia and Lorenzo Lamas during a break in the filming of "Falcon Crest", at the time their characters were still married to each other.

5. WAS PAMELA SUE MARTIN TEMPTED TO RETURN TO “DYNASTY” AFTER SHE LEFT?

After spending four years playing rich brat (and quite nymphomaniac) Fallon Carrington Colby, Pamela Sue Martin decided she wanted to quit her role in "Dynasty". However, there was no single reason but several of them. She didn´t like the character at all (she allegedly hated "that kind of people" in real life), she missed her interaction with her onscreen brother Al Corley (now replaced by Jack Coleman) and she wanted to go back to movies. She had debuted in that medium at only 19 co-starring in "To Find a Man".

Above all this, Martin had been suffering serious health problems for years: stress led her to partial hair loss, pneumonia and cystitis. This combination of diseases prevented her from continuing her career regularly for years, though the show´s producers did indeed tempt her to return a few times after she exited the series, in a mysterious fade-to-black previous to a car accident.

Spelling and Esther Shapiro cast another actress, who was acting in the daytime soap "General Hospital", as the new Fallon, by suggestion of Spelling´s daughter Tori. Emma Samms debuted almost a year after Martin left, but she wasn´t playing the same character (she was just "amnesic") because nobody seemed to believe in her acting chops. Besides, she didn´t only look more curvier but also spoke using a British accent.

Even after re-casting the role, Spelling wanted Martin back. First, the Shapiros wanted her and Jeff to run a hotel (but Spelling had the rights over the adaptation of Arthur Hailey´s "Hotel", and they suited him: eventually they settled and this idea was dropped). When they were working on the "Dynasty" spin-off, "The Colbys", they tried to lure her again, unsuccessfully. Eventually, when "Dynasty" was given a last season (unofficially), one of "Dallas"´ most outstanding writers, David Paulsen, was hired to re-tool the mother series.

As he told to UltimateDallas.com in 2008, he had the crazy idea of bringing back Martin to play Fallon assuming that Samms couldn´t act. Her estranged ex Jeff went to bed in the dark and found there a woman...who turned out to be Pamela Sue´s Fallon! But Paulsen met Samms in person and considered her bright and funny, and decided to change Fallon to her former self, keeping Samms in the cast. Martin´s health problems improved slowly and she devoted herself to her son and mostly stage acting since then.

Legend Status: True. Photo: The mutant portrait. In one Season 5 episode, Blake receives the first portrait with Pamela Sue´s traits. At the end of that season, the picture´s face has transformed magically into Emma Samms´ face, as a way to tell the viewer: "Finally, we found a replacement!".

6. IS TRUE THAT GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA WAS FIRED DUE TO A DISPUTE OVER RED-COLORED CLOTHES?

When Gina Lollobrigida joined the "Falcon Crest" cast in 1984 to play Angela´s illegitimate stepsister Francesca Gioberti, rumors began to spread through the yellow press that Gina and Jane Wyman had a clash regarding red color, because it was the favorite of both of them. They even said that Gina was fired because she had insisted in wearing red gowns no matter what Wyman ordered.

The truth is that Gina was hired to appear in 5 episodes only, and she coincidentally wore red dresses quite often. La "Lollo" hadn't only brought her usual baggage with her but also a number of clothes and shoes for the show. Lorimar had previously bought for her an expensive wardrobe, though. This last information and what follows below belongs to our friends at the comprehensive German-based falconcrest.org site.

The role of the never-before-seen-or-heard-about stepsister from Tuscany, Italy, was intended since the beginning to be a limited role, which the writers used to made the plot advance and provide a new focus to the series. By making Francesca sell to Richard Channing (who had become her lover) her newly-found share of Falcon Crest, they divided the power into three characters: Angela, Chase and now Richard, who at that time, only was acknowledged as Chase´s bastard brother.

Before news became official about Gina´s addition to the show, the name of another Italian superstar had been mentioned in the press: Sophia Loren, who not only had been the first choice to play Alexis on "Dynasty" but also was in talks with Lorimar to guest-star as one of J.R.´s lovers on "Dallas". She also seemed to be headed to Tuscany Valley, but at the end, none of that really happened. True or untrue, but definitely funny, is the fact that, in the future, Lollobrigida used her (lack of a proper) wardrobe as an excuse to pass on certain film events...

Legend Status: Untrue. Photo: Then 56-year-old Gina Lollobrigida (dressed in red, of course) in one of the publicity shots for "Falcon Crest".

7. DID CHARLENE TILTON ASK FOR HER CHARACTER LUCY TO HAVE AN ABORTION AFTER BEING RAPED?

While Lucy separated from her stiffy husband Mitch Cooper just a few months after their wedding, in 1981, and moved back into the Southfork Ranch, in real life Charlene had been dating country singer Johnny Lee and had got pregnant by him from their daughter Cherish. The couple married right away but his long music tours and lack of communication led to their divorce in June 1984. Charlene´s pregnancy became too obvious at late Season 4 of "Dallas" in early 1982.

Writers assumed her character might need being absent for awhile, and made up a whole storyline about a demented photographer who became obsessed with her and ended up kidnapping her. But Lucy had been raped (offscreen) by the wicked photographer and, after being rescued by Bobby and Pam, she learnt, in the following season, that she was pregnant too and had a legal abortion because she "would see her rapist every time she looked at the baby".

She had filmed interior scenes for the first two episodes of Season 5 in summer´82 with the help of cushions, armchairs and close-ups. But at the end, she only had a one-week postpartum break, upon Charlene´s words. Anyway, she was able to film Lucy´s scenes for the rest of the season after giving birth to her own baby, though she was hardly seen on location, not even for J.R. and Sue Ellen´s wedding.

The actress stated recently that it was hard playing those scenes with Lucy at the hospital, because she had just given birth to Cherish and couldn´t understand how a woman could do that. Though Charlene belonged to the Born Again Christians at the time, most actors didn´t have any input regarding the fates of their characters, though some tabloids did publish that she had pressured the writers to avoid the abortion storyline and let Lucy have a baby too.

There is also another aspect of this story that sometimes is overlooked: Lucy had been sleeping (while separated from Mitch) with Roger the Psycho for a few weeks before the kidnap. If he indeed raped Lucy (the writers only showed a scene with him slapping her), wasn´t Lucy also responsible for being pregnant? Luckily for Charlene and us viewers, the abortion plot was developed with good taste as well as the necessary evolution of the character, who rejected other men after the abortion and only let her trauma behind when she fell in love with a young man who respected her (Ray´s cousin Mickey Trotter) though that didn´t last long either.

Legend Status: Untrue. Photo: Charlene disguised as the Wicked Queen from "A Snow White Christmas", which co-starred Neil Patrick Harris and Ariana Grande in Pasadena, California, in December 2012.

8. WAS “KNOTS LANDING” AN ADAPTATION OF INGMAR BERGMAN´S “SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE”?

Another of the urban legends of early internet era regarding "Dallas" was that it was an adaptation of Swedish director´s movie "Scenes from a Marriage" (later also a TV series as a sort of "expanded edition"). The film narrated ten years in the life of a couple whose on/off relationship led to a number of intense argument scenes, played by Liv Ullmann and Ehrland Josephson. Actually, this work did influence and inspire the "Dallas" creator David Jacobs to write the basis of what later would be "Knots Landing", the spin-off of the Ewing saga.

This project was prior to the "Dallas" story, and was co-penned by Jacobs and producer-writer Michael Filerman. In a 2002 interview for UltimateDallas.com conducted by Colin Hunter, Jacobs defined his initial idea for the show as "Scenes from a Marriage Times Four", a "dramatic exploration of the way people related in the post-sexual revolution world and how they kept their marriages together if they could".

On the other side, Michael Filerman wanted to emphasize the soapy, lighter side and showed Jacobs a 1957 movie titled "No Down Payment" which, surprise, also told the marital difficulties of four couples living in a Southern California suburban development. Among the cast, there were such well-known names as Joanne Woodward, Tony Randall, Barbara Rush and Jeffrey Hunter. For the record, "Scenes" won a Golden Globe as Best Film and "No Down", an NBR Best Actress award for Woodward.

The Jacobs-Filerman creative duo usually explain very cordially that the result of their collaboration was 50% "Scenes" and 50% "No Down", adding that one wanted "to produce art" and the other wanted "to create trash". Ingmar Bergman expressed his own opinion about the American saga in an interview with "Cinema Canada" magazine: ""Dallas" is written badly, directed badly, acted badly and filmed badly. (...) has no limits in its tastelessness, lack of talent and completely cynical way of handling people. All of it makes "Dallas" so incredibly fascinating".

Legend Status: True (re "Knots Landing"). Photo: Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark as Gary and Valene Ewing in the Pilot of their own series, just when they decide they will stay in that cul-de-sac, no matter how crazy some of the neighbors may seem.

9. IS TRUE THAT BARBARA STANWYCK SAID THAT “THE COLBYS” WAS THE “BIGGEST PILE OF GARBAGE I EVER DID”?

Legendary star Barbara Stanwyck, who was at the time 76 years old, became the main star of "Dynasty"´s spin-off in July 19th 1985, when she accepted the role of (sort of) matriarch Constance Colby Patterson in "The Colbys". Charlton Heston, who was 16 years younger than her, played her brother in the series, Jason, and John James remained as the original Jeff Colby, who had lost his wife Fallon mysteriously in "Dynasty" one year earlier and had survived the infamous Moldavian massacre a few weeks before.

Stanwyck had already worked with Spelling and demanded to work two days per week only. Her interaction with Heston was good onscreen but they were not close in real life: she nicknamed him "Moses" and commented: "He still thinks he´s parting the Red Sea". Stanwyck also used to complain about the younger stars´ delay...and about the quality of the scripts. She reportedly said about them: "It´s the biggest pile of garbage I ever did", after freeing herself from her contract in April 1986.

Upon Alex Madsen´s Biography of Stanwyck, she called the show "a turkey", and added: "It´s one thing to know you´re making a lot of money off vulgarity, but when you don´t know it´s vulgar, it´s plain stupid". The writers used the clichéd "trip around around the world" in the first cliffhanger episode, to get rid of the character, who sort of eloped with her cowboy boyfriend played by Joseph Campanella.

Stanwyck´s character in "The Colbys" was officially "killed" in the 12th episode of the second Season, "Reaching Out", through the even more clichéd plot device of the plane accident. Rumors also hinted that Constance might be alive and re-cast, but it never happened. The series was canceled by ABC in Spring´87 (as Stanwyck had predicted) after Fallon´s surreal UFO abduction, and finished in 76th place in the ratings, just 51 places under its mother series "Dynasty", which only surpassed one supersoap, "Knots Landing", in that season.

Legend Status: (Biblically) true. Photo: Barbara Stanwyck in a very expressive close-up in Spelling-produced TVM "A Taste of Evil".

10. DID LARRY HAGMAN AND VICTORIA PRINCIPAL ACTUALLY HATE EACH OTHER?

"Welcome to my show". That´s how the internet legend defines the first encounter between Victoria Principal and Larry Hagman, only that it´s her who was supposedly welcoming her co-star. This fits in to the diva-esque attittude that some non-fans of the American actress have assigned to her, no matter what other actor fellows said about her during decades. Rivalries between the soaps´ stars also were very usual in the covers of cheap magazines and press in the 80´s. Some times, it was all a product of the imagination of the writers, but other times, there was a bit of true in it, though it needed to be put into context. That is the case of the relationship between Victoria Principal and Larry Hagman.

Since he played the devil in disguise J.R. Ewing (at least, upon that time´s standards) and she was his nemesis as virtuous two-goody shoes Pam Barnes Ewing, it was inevitable that those two highly charismatic, skilful actors were labelled as "enemies". Larry Hagman was the only TV veteran in the original cast, though Jim Davis had spent his life playing in westerns for big and small screen. Victoria had co-starred in a few movies prior to "Dallas" but almost quit her profession due to the course her career was taking. She was determined to succeed in her portrayal of Pamela Ewing so she decided to isolate herself from the rest of the group when they began to film the Pilot-Miniseries in Dallas, in winter of 1978. She didn´t have lunch or dinner with them until Patrick Duffy insisted in having her join them.

Hagman explained in a 2003 interview with UltimateDallas.com that "when she first came to the show, she didn't have much experience (...) and she learned fast (...). She was much more of an equipped actress when she left show from when she got on there, she was a nice girl." There is one thing most of the post-Who Shot J.R. guest stars have agreed about: The main cast of the show had shared so many things in real life on the set (births, deaths, weddings and fabricated stories included) that almost every other actor who came after that (from Leigh McCloskey to John Beck) felt they couldn´t really get into that closed circle of actors.

The filming of "Dallas" created a clique of friends who used to socialize very often, even decades after its cancellation: among them were Larry, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Steve Kanaly, and Mary Crosby. They used to meet in Hollywood events but also in personal celebrations and outings. Patrick Duffy explained in 2009 to UltimateDallas.com: "She is enigmatic but (...) she did this on purpose. The choice she made as an actress was in playing the outsider in the Ewing family, she actually maintained somewhat of an outsider position with the cast as social equals. She didn´t do a lot of the hanging out social activities that a lot of us did because we (Victoria and I) were together so much (on the set). But (then) it was nothing but convivial." TO BE CONTINUED.

Legend Status: (Absolutely) untrue. Photo: Victoria and Larry in the last scene of episode "The Long Goodbye".

11. WERE JOAN COLLINS AND LINDA EVANS FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE?

CONTINUED FROM LEGEND #10. If Larry and Victoria represented the fight of Evil vs. Good during the first nine years of "Dallas", so did the characters played by Joan Collins and Linda Evans since the moment Season One reached its end with the arrival of Alexis Morrell Carrington, who (arguably) saved the show from cancellation (it actually had finished as 28th in the ratings and the season opener entered the Top 20).

"There was a definite chemistry between Linda and me - assured Collins to Larry King in September 2006 - . First of all, we´re so opposite in physicality (...). And we were like, I was like the Wicked Witch of the West and she was like Glinda, the Good Witch. The ying and the yang, (...) and it really worked." She and Evans were together in that show to promote their play "Legends". Linda Evans added: "I personally was thrilled that (...) at that time to even be over 40 (...) and to be given these parts was just miraculous."

About the part the "Dynasty" producers played in the game of publicizing it, Collins said: "We did have (...) one of the producers who had a direct line to (tabloids) and (...) they would like the public (...) to think that Linda and I hated each other. And so they would feed these ridiculous items." Both actresses revealed they had met socially before AND after "Dynasty", when Evans was still married to John Derek. And, like Principal in "Dallas", Linda decided to keep a distance with her so she could play better Krystle´s feelings and arguments with Alexis.

Anyway, when "Legends" was cancelled due to Collins´ health problems, she complained publicly that she had been "bruised and beaten" by her co-star on several occasions. She seemingly ended the tour "with a sprained knee, a scar on her hand and almost choked to death. (...) She spent 5 weeks in therapy when Evans allegedly pushed her off the stage". To make things even worse, Collins´ diary during the "Legends" tour was leaked by Daily Mail. Among other "nice" things, she commented on Evans:

"She treats me with comtempt because I refuse to get physical with her. She´s always talking about "motivation" (...) as if she´s Dame Edith Evans and the play is Tolstoy. (I) couldn´t agree more (with director Jerry Zaks when he told me) Linda´s weak. God, I regret being talked into allowing them to cast Linda. Everyone thinks we´re just cashing in on "Dynasty", and they´re right."

Legend: (Chi lo sa?, or maybe half-) true. Photo: Pre-"Legends" Linda and Joan in a publicity pic for the 2006 Special "Dynasty Reunion: Catfight & Caviar".

12. IS TRUE THAT PRODUCER MICHAEL FILERMAN DIDN´T BELIEVE IN LINDA GRAY´S ACTING TALENT?

When "Dallas" started its TV life in Spring of 1978, Linda Gray´s name didn´t appear in the Opening Titles, as was the case of Ken Kercheval or Steve Kanaly. Her role was much smaller than what later became and the script only required an actress believable as former Beauty Queen. Gray had only played a regular part in a short-lived sitcom titled "All That Glitters", where she played a transsexual.

In 2006, "Dallas"´ former executive supervisor Michael Filerman revealed in an interview with knotslanding.net that he was against casting Linda Gray as Sue Ellen. Upon his words, he preferred the other finalist to the role, Mary Frann, "cause she could act". He went on explaining that Gray had "got the part because her husband (Ed Trasher) and she were friends with (Lorimar producer) Merv Adelson and his wife." On the other side, Filerman did love the acting ability of Hagman and Principal.

Linda Gray told her version of the story that same year to the UltimateDallas.com site: "The woman who cast me in "All That Glitters" (Ruth Conforte) (...) was in charge of casting the minor characters on "Dallas" and they had already cast Mary Frann in the role. (...) Finally I came in and read this scene which was a conversation with J.R. who tells me yet again that he isn´t coming home for our child´s birthday party (...) I did it beautifully and I knew the minute I walked out of that door that I had that part."

She reminisced about her lack of "plot relevance" in those early episodes: "I was the only one without any dialogue. (...) Everybody had something to say but me. As J.R. was going on and on, I stared at him and all this stuff started going on behind my eyes. It was like: "Who are you and why are you carrying on like this? You are the most idiotic pain-in-the-ass kind of man on the planet. Why would I be married to you?". So when it came to my close-up, I just projected that. Then CBS saw the chemistry between Larry and I and said: "Whoa, what´s going on here? Let´s investigate".

During her 11-year run on "Dallas", Linda Gray was nominated for an Emmy award, twice for a Golden Globe, and four times for a Soap Opera Digest Award (aka SODA). Besides, along with Hagman, Duffy and Kercheval, she was the only "Dallas" actor to also direct and resume their original roles in TNT´s "Dallas" continuation. She´s also led a stage career that includes such popular plays as "The Graduate", "Terms of Endearment", "Love Letters" and "Agnes of God".

Legend Status: True. Photo: Michael Filerman in the 80´s. He produced supersoaps like "Knots Landing", "Falcon Crest", "Flamingo Road" and "Emerald Point, NAS".

13. DID JOHN FORSYTHE BASH JOAN COLLINS FOR POSING FOR PLAYBOY?

As the resident "bitch on wheels" Alexis Colby, Joan Collins raised all kind of strong emotions among the "Dynasty" characters. But, as we have already seen, she also did so on the set. In December 1983, she accepted an offer to pose nude on "Playboy" at the age of 50. As if starring in such sexploitative movies like "The Stud" and "The Bitch" wasn´t enough to make some of her co-stars blush, the "Playboy" nude photos led John Forsythe (her ex-husband on the soap) to angrily say to Aaron Spelling: "She´s a disgrace to our show and bringing down the reputation of this series", as Collins herself explained in her book "Passion for Life".

The ratings increased relentlessly until the infamous Moldavian massacre, when the overall audience numbers of "Dynasty" surpassed the respective "Dallas" season, which had ended with Bobby´s "presumed" death, and finally reached the number One. In the previous seasons, the three main stars had achieved Golden Globe and SODA awards, Emmy nominations and, in the case of both women, also People´s Choice awards as Favorite TV performers.

When the "Dynasty" actors won the People´s Choice for best ensemble cast, the ten of them present there walked up onto the stage and the British star thanked for it before handing the award to Forsythe and saying: "Now I turn it over to our fearless leader." He accepted it and snarled: "She´s said enough". Collins complained that he barely spoke to her the rest of the season and insisted in using her body double Sandy for the very last scene with Blake trying to strangle Alexis (see photo above).

Also, she conceded that, as years went by, Forsythe mellowed towards her and seemed to be sincerely glad to see her in the 2005 Reunion Special. The truth was that John and Linda had developed a strong friendship since the beginning and they were "extremely close, and she relied on him totally." Once Evans left the show voluntarily, Collins´ salary became TV´s highest for an actress, reaching $110.000 per episode (instead of her initial $15.000). Not a bad way to end one of the climactic points of her career.

Legend Status: True. Photo: A publicity still of Season 6 cliffhanger of "Dynasty" with Blake trying to kill his ex-wife Alexis when she tells him and Krystle that she owns their mansion and has ruined him for good.

14. WAS LARRY HAGMAN RESPONSIBLE FOR PHIL CAPICE´S FIRING AT THE END OF “DALLAS”´ DREAM SEASON?

Patrick Duffy´s decision to leave the show that had given him fame and fortune included the fact of wanting his Bobby role to have a heroic death. Therefore the writers concocted a last, longer episode where Bobby, who had been watched closely by his crazy ex-sister-in-law Katherine, was hit and run by the latter, who actually tried to to kill her sweet sister Pam off, and Bobby flatlined in the last minute of that season. The episode had a huge audience but Duffy´s decision soon turned out to be a wrong one, because Bobby was a truly fan favorite.

The remaining producer, Phil Capice (known as the "business man" and the "brains" behind the series) hired a new team of writers who had been working on "Knots Landing"´s Sixth Season (among them, Peter Dunne, who (sort of) swapped jobs with David Paulsen as the latter explained in his interview with UltimateDallas.com: when Jacobs & Filerman knew about Dunne, they insisted in hiring Paulsen as "Supervising Producer" on "Knots"). Capice had been wanting to bring "Dynasty" down and put "Dallas" back on top with its own weapons, so he hired costume designer Travilla, used movie actors as guest stars, and emphasized the luxury in the clothes and sets, as well as including issue-oriented plots (alcoholism rehab, Down Syndrome babies) and showing the human side of all characters, even J.R., two things "Dynasty" writers seemed uncapable (or unwilling) to do.

The "Dallas"´ co-producer, co-writer, co-director and alma mater Leonard Katzman, had also left (partly because of his problems with Capice) to produce another show, but kept his "creative consultant" status and was even responsible for the basic story of one of the most heavily criticized plots of that year, the one involving guest star Barbara Carrera. Larry Hagman explained in his interview with Larry King in June 2000: "What was happening to "Dallas" in that year, as one of our producers, (...) had left (...) it was becoming kind of a "Dynasty". Glitzy, too glitzy. (...). And I couldn´t stand it. And I said, Larry, you got to (...) get our producer back, and they did finally." Always a gentleman, Hagman never mentioned Capice´s name out of respect. What he didn´t specify in that interview is that he turned to Lorimar and CBS, and offered two million of his own salary in order to let Capice go and bring Katzman back.

At the same time, Hagman asked (maybe even begged?) his pal Duffy to come back, because the filming "was not fun any more". He wanted to reunite the Ewing family all over again, and this included Lucy too, though Tilton´s return didn´t materialize until two years later. When Duffy told his wife about Hagman´s invitation, she said that the only way would be making Bobby´s death a dream. Coincidentally, that was what Katzman had in store for him when he returned: he got an anonymous crew and set, and filmed the infamous "shower scene" with Bobby saying "Good morning" to his widow...though it looked as if they were filming a commercial for Irish Spring.

The making of this cliffhanger scene was top secret then, and not even Victoria Principal knew who was in the shower. Rumors said that John Beck and she had filmed a scene with Pam finding Mark (whose leukemia was only in remission) dead in the shower. Victoria was called back to the studio in the last minute and even took a nightgown of her own to film the scene. But the truth is that Hagman and Duffy were the two only actors who knew that he was returning as Bobby Ewing himself (not as a long-lost twin, or as a disfigured Bobby who had been hidden for one year, or an evil dead ringer, as the publicity machine at CBS hinted in its promos for the Season 9 premiere). Capice never confirmed Duffy´s return and discreetly left after the wrap-up of the previous season.

Thirty seconds after Bobby "resurrected" in Pam´s shower, an excited Principal call Duffy home...and the rating numbers of "Dallas" went back to the Top Five...even if too briefly, though that season hadn´t been placed lower than 16th (but too low for this show, anyway). David Paulsen commented about what now is known as the Dream Solution: "It was perfect. (...) We all have dreams. So what if you dream a whole year? (...) Some people hated it, others thought it was brilliant. In my view it (...) allowed us to go back to where the prior year, which was a good one. (...) I strongly feel it was psychologically honest. (...) (Pam) was sleeping, she came to and boom! She´s coming out of a dream."

Legend Status: True. Photo: Larry Hagman in one of the promos for TNT´s "Dallas": "Scheming never felt so good". Probably, so he thought in 1986 too. Read more about what implied the Dream Solution here.

15. DID JOAN COLLINS REFUSE TO APPEAR IN “THE COLBYS”?

"Dynasty"´s spin-off "The Colbys" debuted in the the 1985-86 season in the same network than the original series, ABC. The main characters were previously introduced in a couple of episodes of "Dynasty", and, once "The Colbys" started off, the producers also planned the stars of both shows to do crossovers between both series. Therefore, Diahann Carroll guest-starred in 7 episodes, John Forsythe in 4, Gordon Thomson in 3, and Jack Coleman in one. However, neither Joan Collins nor Linda Evans wanted to participate in anything Colbys-related, aside from the "Dynasty" episodes than introduced them.

Collins wrote in her autobiography "Passion for Life": "The producers were extremely anxious for me to guest-star in "The Colbys" but I refused, believing that would confuse viewers even more. I wanted to remain loyal to the show that had done so much for me. (...) "The Colbys" was a hugely expensive show and not very good - a pale imitation. The disastrous result was massive confusion between the two shows which caused "Dynasty" to lose millions of viewers."

Though Collins mistakenly assumes in her book that Linda Evans did appear in "The Colbys", that was not the case. Unlike Collins, Evans had been thinking about leaving the show, though she didn´t until half-way its last season. Apparently, it was Collins who talked her out of doing crossovers because she was convinced that their own series was being neglected on behalf of the spin-off (which probably was true). That season of "Dynasty", its Sixth Year, had to be re-tooled at some point because of the declining ratings. The disappointment caused by the Moldavian massacre resolution is considered as one of the show´s first fatal blows.

Despite the ridiculous series finale of "The Colbys" (with Emma Samms´ Fallon being abducted by a UFO!) , the show eventually gained a cult status, especially thanks to the acting craft and charisma of Stephanie Beacham in her role of Sable Colby. Ironicly, although audiences seemed to leave in hundreds as the show progressed, its popularity did remain strong, as proved its Golden Globe as "Favorite TV New Program" and its 11 SODA nominations (including one for each main star). And, of course, "The Colbys" always resurfaces in every Top List of TV Cliffhangers, for good or bad, as best or worst, and undoubtedly, it´s always due to Fallon's Alien abduction.

Legend Status: (Totally) true. Photo: Though Collins´ Alexis did not do a "real" crossover into "The Colbys", she did visit John James´ Jeff in California, in the episode "The Test". This was the closest she ever came to Colby territory.

16. DID LINDA GRAY POSE FOR THE POSTER OF "THE GRADUATE"?

Dustin Hoffman´s big breakthrough came as the role of virginal Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols´ "The Graduate", which also was groundbreaking in the way it tackled intergenerational relationships with Ben´s affair with Mrs. Robinson, wonderfully played by Anne Bancroft. The movie earned 6 Oscar nominations and Nichols won in the Best Director category. It also got 5 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTA´s, and one Grammy, among other awards. The poster for the movie (see above) featured an image that didn´t exactly fit in the scene performed by Hoffman and Bancroft. In other words, THAT wasn´t her leg and arm.

The story got a stage treatment in 2000 by Terry Johnson and this version was represented in both West End and Broadway theaters, as well as in numerous countrywide tours. Kathleen Turner originated the Mrs. Robinson part on stage in 2000, and subsequently, several middle-aged actresses starred in different countries and cities. One of them, probably the better-known by TV audiences, happened to be Linda Gray. By chance, she had been hired as a model back in 1967 for a photo session to promote "The Graduate". And yes, that was her leg. Gray was paid $25 for the session. "For one leg, that was good", she humorously said in a 2013 TV interview.

The stage version, that followed closely the novel adapted by Nichols, became one of the biggest acting challenges of Gray herself in 2003, when she accepted to replace Jerry Hall first in London and then in the American tour. She didn´t only have to play a strong, sexual and mature woman in a medium she wasn´t too experienced in: she also had to face the much-publicized (though very brief) nude scene in it: "They have that saying that public speaking is the No. 1 stress producer - she confessed to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Well, forget about it. Tell those guys to drop the towel. That´s the No. 1 stress producer."

Her "Dallas" husband also went to see the play, which added extra excitement for Gray. "One of the cast members said: "You realize you´re going to be standing there naked in front of Mr. Hagman." My eyes crossed. I hadn´t thought about that. Afterwards, all the press were clamoring and Larry, being the little press hound he is, said: "It´s taken 25 years to see Sue Ellen naked!""

Legend Status: True. Photo: The official poster of "The Graduate". Starring, Miss Gray´s leg.

17. IS TRUE THAT JOAN VAN ARK DIDN´T WANT LUCY IN “KNOTS LANDING” SO SHE WOULDN´T LOOK TOO OLD?

In real world, if the parents of a teenager who had been separated for a long time, remarried, they´d probably do their best to bring her back home. In Soapland (and especially, in "Knots" world, which was the most realistic world in Soapland), Gary and Val only invited their estranged daughter Lucy to her Knots Landing home for one week. No matter how beautifully subtle the episode might have been, or how nuanced their performances were, or how stubborn the girl was in the mother series ("Dallas").

"Home for the Healing", the Season One entry with Charlene Tilton as guest star, features one of the most unbelievable plots of the whole show. And partly, because we had come to know Lucy and Valene so deeply in "Dallas", that we realize that, if the girl left at the end and went back to Southfork, was strictly for business. No logical narrative was used here. She belonged at the "larger-than-life" saga, not to the minimalistic spin-off. Rumors said that it was Joan Van Ark who didn´t want to play a woman with a teenage daughter (though Valene was barely sixteen when she gave birth to Lucy).

Charlene Tilton gave her own input on the subject in another of those great UltimateDallas.com interviews: "I would of liked (appearing in more episodes) but "Knots Landing" took on a life of its own and they moved forward, if you know what I mean (did you catch this sentence...?) but it was fun when I did it." The actress even admitted that she had never watched one episode of the spin-off. Ted Shackelford, who played her father Gary in both shows, also commented the possibility himself: "Having her (Lucy) there would just be lomming up the story. There really wasn´t talk about bringing her over from "Dallas"."

"You have to remember that these were two very separate shows - he continued - We shot on the same lot but we had separate soundstages and everything else. In a case like Lucy´s, it´s not about show art, it´s show business. The story would´ve gotten bogged down." Shackelford´s words become especially true if we remember that, at one point, both shows took different paths: "Dallas" erased a whole season in order to bring Bobby back, but "Knots Landing" had written in a miniplot regarding Gary´s reaction and, what was worse, one of their babies had been named after their "deceased" uncle Bobby.

In a show with several excellent, beautiful actresses over 40, Joan Van Ark probably was the most self-conscious, self-critical of all: "Having baby twins for most of "Knots" was just fine with this diva. I love Charlene and it was totally right we were together on "Dallas". But "Knots" became more of stand-alone show, aside from the vanity, I think it was right."

Legend Status: Untrue (...). Photo: Joan Van Ark and Charlene Tilton in a picture taken in a Beverly Hills gala in 2012.

18. WAS PAMELA BELLWOOD FIRED BY SPELLING FOR BEING PREGNANT?

Pamela Bellwood played one of the few "Dynasty" characters who seemed to evolve with time in the very static universe of the ABC supersoap. Claudia Blaisdel was part of the show since Day One, though she had to spend some time in a mental clinical to recover from the loss of her husband and daughter. However, when she returned as a regular character in Season 4, not all her actions seemed to be sensible, e.g. marrying a man she knew was gay (ok, maybe he was straight-curious), believing her late husband was alive (eventually he would be!), or divorcing Steven to marry his twisted brother Adam.

In the midst of the Carrington misadventures, it was Claudia who looked like the most sane, sensitive of the whole clan. But there was one clause that the powerful producer Aaron Spelling put in the contracts of her actresses: they couldn´t get pregnant during the running of the show, otherwise they´d be fired. Bellwood got pregnant with her only son in 1985 and tried to leave the series. They tried to hide her pregnancy (not too well, as you can see in the photo above) and her character was absent for a few episodes. Gordon Thomson, her onscreen husband, told about this time: "(Pamela gave birth to her baby,) that took up the first part of the season. That´s why you saw so few full-length shots of her, or she was holding towels in front of him".

When she came back, she was still feeling a lot of pressure regarding her looks, and was outspoken about it, and about the decline of the series: "I´d heard before that that successful shows develop a death wish after a while, and now I have seen it with my own eyes." Costume designer Nolan Miller revealed that TPTB were "happy to let her go", while the writing team decided to use her exit to create a spectacular cliffhanger: a depressed Claudia, disdained and abused by all including Blake, accidentally set fire to the room of the hotel where she worked, and the fire quickly spread through the bulding.

Decades later, Pamela Bellwood stated that "there were reasons behind the scenes that that happened". The filming of her scene was complicated too: "When furniture around her was set alight, flames leapt 50 ft., knocking out all the studio lights. Two studio firemen with extinguishers and fire blankets ran to her rescue but collided with each other in the darkness, sending a heavy lightning pole flying. It hit Pamela, who was knocked screaming to the floor as the fire raged around her."

Next season, when the show returned, she was hardly mentioned and there was no memorial service for her. Bellwood wasn't the only victim of Aaron Spelling´s wrath against pregnant actresses: in 1996, actress Hunter Tylo was fired by him after revealing she was pregnant. Tylo was replaced by Lisa Rinna in the role of man-eater Taylor McBride, but she suited Spelling for "wrongful dismissal and pregnancy discrimination" and got a $4.89 million settlement. "Your pregnancy - had said Spelling through his lawyers - is incompatible with this role".

Legend Status: True. Photo: An obviously pregnant Pamela Bellwood and Gordon Thomson as Adam in a scene of the Season 6 episode "The Subpoenas".

19. IS TRUE THAT SUSAN SULLIVAN SUGGESTED HER CHARACTER SHOULD FALL IN LOVE WITH RICHARD ON "FALCON CREST"?

Eternally optimistic Maggie Gioberti was one of the most endearing characters in the Lorimar soap "Falcon Crest". Played gracefully by Susan Sullivan, she remained at the center of most storylines until her abrupt, unexpected death in the Season 9 premiere. Not too long after filming that episode, the N.Y. born actress visited Barcelona and was interviewed by TV host Àngel Casas in November 1990, for his talk show "Un día es un día".

The communicative, sparkly actress talked about her shorter new hairdo, her wish to do comedy, her exit from "Falcon Crest" and also, about how Maggie´s relationship with her brother-in-law started. She said that, although actors didn´t have too much input in the plots per se, writers did listen to their suggestions and ideas. It was Susan herself who told them to investigate the undeniable chemistry that she and Richard Channing (David Selby) had on screen. The first sign of that was that unpredictable kiss between them right after she found her husband kissing his associate Connie in his winery office. She visited Richard looking for comfort and the passionate kiss seemed that could only be interrupted by...what? an explosion that blew up his whole mansion?

That was the way the season ended that year and their relationship was slowed down until Season 6. Chase left his wife out of jealousy when she read to her family a poem against abortion that Richard had given to her. At the end of the season, Maggie and Chase were divorced and she had given birth to his son, though she had eventually fallen for Richard. At the time, tabloids published that Robert Foxworth and Sullivan coudn´t stand each other because of her obsession with perfection, and they even hinted that the blossoming affair with Richard was partly a way to keep them apart.

In a 2003 interview, the series´ show-runner in Seasons 6 & 7, Jeff Freilich, explained that Foxworth was going through a hard time in his life because his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery, was suffering a serious illness and his work took second place. "His pain was often impossible to hide - he added - . (...) Despite any rumor to the contrary, the other members of the cast liked Bob (Foxworth), but he was often misunderstood. (...) I sensed he was tired of his character and wanted to spend more time at home, so I decided to remove Chase from the series. (...) I offered him the opportunity to leave the show in the most heroic way possible."

Richard´s performer explained to falconcrest.org in 1999, that Richard truly loved Maggie because she was the only good aspect in his life. He and Sullivan were already friends prior to the show, and got along quite well upon his words. Also writer-producer Howard Lakin confessed that their love story was his favorite storyline. And who didn´t love it? It was Good marrying Evil, something that no other soap would dare to do.

Legend Status: True. Photo: David Selby and Susan Sullivan in a publicity still for "Falcon Crest"´s Seventh Season.

20. DOES CONSTANCE McCASHIN HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST THE “KNOTS LANDING” PRODUCERS?

In 1986, the famous saga factory who launched "Dallas", "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest", Lorimar TV, merged with Telepictures. The newly-funded board had a different approach to certain things, especially those related with financial issues. The next TV season, they ordered to cut the budgets of all their primetime soaps, this meaning that stars like Victoria Principal and Susan Howard on "Dallas" were let go, each for opposite reasons; also Robert Foxworth, Cesar Romero and William R. Moses left "Falcon Crest"; and, finally, the same thing happened in "Knots Landing" with two true fan-favorite actresses: Julie Harris and Constance McCashin.

While the legendary Broadway actress had become a regular in Season 3, McCashin was in the show since Day One, as one half of the very troubled married couple that were Richard and Laura Avery. The news caught McCashin off-guard, especially after the producers had kindly wrote her pregnancy into the show. In her case, Laura also got pregnant and had a baby daughter Meg, played by her own daughter in real life. The cancer storyline was too rushed and out-of-the-blue, but provided the show with a few memorable episodes, like "The Gift of Life" or the two-parter "Noises Everywhere" (allegedly pseudo-improvised by the actors at David Jacobs´ house).

Her onscreen husband William Devane stated about his co-star´s firing: "That was a very strange time and it all came down to money. The network was pissing and moaning about lopping off some heads to save money." Since then, McCashin tried to keep herself as far from the show as possible. She did participate in the post-finale Special "The Block Party" briefly, where she said: "I had been doing the show for so long, I wasn´t prepared for death in real life and I wasn´t prepared for it on "Knots Landing"."

Aside from that, she only attended the homage to the series at the TV Land Gala in 2009. When the sequel miniseries was filmed in 1997, she forbad them to use her image and voice in the replay of her heartbreaking video will, as did in the 2005 Special "Together Again": "Constance was really freaked out about it all, - continued Devane about the affaire - , and that in turn ruined the Reunion when she wouldn´t let her voice be used."

Finally, in April of 2015, our friends at knotslanding.net achieved what many others couldn´t: a very complete, sincere interview with Constance McCashin, who had evidently overcome her old grudge against the Lorimar bosses. She told Jason Yates about her firing: "I think the juxtaposition of those two events (firing and pregnancy) really wreaked havoc on my inner psyche and (...) I was thrown I didn´t see this coming...I guess you just can´t assume right? (...) I was really blindsided. (...) (My daughter) was born (...) and I don't know when we shot the final stuff but I was still consumed with the idea that if this were really happening to me, and I had just had a child and I had to say goodbye to this child, because I knew that I wasn´t going to be around..."

Legend Status: True (until 2015). Photo: A very characteristic expression of Constance McCashin as Laura (big glasses and all), in one scene of her latter seasons in the show.

Our deepest gratitude to our friends at UltimateDallas.com, KnotsLanding.net and FalconCrest.org for their priceless contribution to the behind-the-scenes history of the supersoaps and for making it available for all of us fans.

This Special is dedicated to the Dynasty & The Colbys Forums at Soapchat.net. If you just knew how much I learnt about your favorite soaps by reading your posts!

© 2021 Toni Díaz for all texts.

© Interview quotes lined to originals and copyrighted by their authors.

© Photos and dialogue quotes of "Dallas", "Falcon Crest" and "Knots Landing" copyrighted by Warner, TNT and / or their authors.

© Photos of "Dynasty" and "The Colbys" copyrighted by CBS / Paramount and / or their authors.