J.R. Ewing

Introduction

As Roy Ralston of “Talktime” said, “Some call him saint, some call him sinner,” but they call him. They call from Wall Street in New York, they call from the Petroleum Club in Houston, they call from Associated Press headquarters, and they call from frontline fighting in military coups in Asia. Everyone who’s anyone in the oil business calls J. R. Ewing at least once in their life, for he is a man of ineffable power.

To be with him is to be a winner, to be against him is exciting—to say the very least—but to be without him completely can mean certain kinds of financial death. He is the eldest Ewing son, and while most of Dallas is continually slack-jawed that he could be the offspring of Ellie and Jock, J.R. just bares his brilliant smile, tips his ten-gallon hat, and strides on toward more oil, more money and, of course, more power.

Early Life

J.R. was born in 1939 on Southfork Ranch. In the beginning, he was just like any other little baby boy, except that he needed more love and affection from his parents than he ever got. Miss Ellie remembers:

“J.R. was so shy, when I took him shopping I never had to look to see where he was. He had hold of my skirt so tight. I think Jock scared him at first. But when Gary came along, Jock just took over raising him. ‘Make him a man's man,’ Jock said. I guess then I fussed over Gary too much, because Jock had J.R. . . . and Bobby. We all spoiled him. Bobby was given everything J.R. had to fight for and Gary didn't bother with.”

J. R.’s “man’s man” training included, at the age of five, going to daddy’s office at Ewing Oil and learning the business. He liked that fine. He’d watch his daddy, hang on his every word and emulate his every move. He’d do everything he could in order to please him, for to him, Jock was a perfect great big god whose boots were firmly stained with oil.

J.R. had no interest in the ranch or the Southfork way of life. He thrived on the exchanges in the business, the deals, the way his father’s eyes lit up in delight when he got his way, when he closed a deal, when the well came in, when the oil commanded the best price of the day. And it wasn't just the figures, the finances, although J.R. proved to be a wizard at them. There was also the thrill of pursuing the unspoken: if bigger was better, then biggest was best.

Jock expected J.R. to succeed and gave him little attention until he did. And if J.R. made a mistake, then God help him—Jock’d nail him.

From this relationship, J.R. learned the one word that would guide him for the rest of his life: win. To do this, J.R. took a shortcut in his early years. He relied on his lightning-fast reflexes, keen intellect, and beguiling charm to wheel and deal and bedazzle, and it worked. In later years, when he had gained all the practical knowledge concerning oil, he was, quite literally, unbeatable in most situations.

It was clear early on that J.R. also had a great flair for wheeling and dealing in another area—women. Since he was thirteen years old, J.R. had this almost spooky way with women of all ages. He charmed, flattered, and seduced women in no time, and if for some extraordinary reason he failed, then he just bought them in intricate ways that on the surface appeared to be something else. The ladies offered a great deal more attention than J.R. ever received at home.

As the eldest son, J.R. was expected to be a good big brother, but it wasn't easy. J.R. thought Gary was a wimp and bullied him in private every chance he got, not so much because he hated him, but because his mama gave Gary everything. She was always fussing over him, tending him, hugging him, taking him for rides and walks— none of which she did with J.R. And Gary did nothing to deserve it! When he wasn't having a tantrum, he was off moping somewhere.

J.R. did take his role with little Bobby seriously, though, and honestly loved the kid. Everyone did. J.R.'s parents lavished attention on Bobby, but J.R. didn't mind so much. Bobby was ten years younger—and he was cute. And cute was no threat to J.R., because he wasn't competing in that category. However, it didn't pass his notice that both parents acted differently with Bobby. They were freer with him; for one, they always touched him. No one ever touched J.R., except to spank him.

From the moment J.R. had brothers, he had a lifelong fight on his hands. Not for money, not for power, but for the love and affection and approval of his parents. It certainly wasn't too much to expect from one's parents, but it was the very thing J.R. couldn't bring himself to ask for outright. He thought his daddy would think him a sissy. And he thought he would probably be right.

In 1956, J.R. enrolled at the University of Texas and went off to Austin for four years. He was an excellent student, an extremely popular fraternity brother, and a partygoer and thrower extraordinaire. He had an enormous capacity for women, of course, and food and drink, Texas style. His drink of choice, bourbon and branch, became the illicit rage on campus.

After he graduated, Jock pushed him to do a stint in the Army as part of his “man’s man” training—and he was shipped off to South Vietnam in 1960.

Although he was a good soldier and won several medals in the field, he grew sick at heart at what he saw and was told to do, so he put his wheeling and dealing to use and got himself transferred to Japan, where he finished out the rest of his hitch.

J.R. returned home, and to Ewing Oil as a Vice President. Gary was gone—and would never ever have a head for business anyway—and Bobby, at that time, was more interested in chasing skirts and cattle than being bothered with Ewing Oil, so J.R. had the field all to himself. He plunged right in with his father's blessing. Business boomed, along with the family's personal fortune, because of his efforts.

Sue Ellen & Marriage

Still, there was a void in his life. He saw scads of women, and his parents wondered out loud if he had thought about marrying, settling down, producing some heirs. J.R. assured them that he was looking — and indeed he was — but like everything else, J.R. Ewing was determined to bring home the best. More important, and most difficult, he wanted to love and be loved.

Then, in July 1963, serving as a judge at the Miss Texas Pageant in Fort Worth, out came young Miss Dallas. As J.R. later said to Sue Ellen:

“When it came to the bathing suit contest all the rest of the girls were strutting and trying to look sexy. You didn't try, but you sure looked sexy and… something else… you looked like a lady.”

Sue Ellen Shepard won the pageant — and J.R. Ewing’s heart. It was a lengthy romance. Sue Ellen loved J.R., and he loved her, but he was hesitant about marriage. Unlike every other girl in the state, Sue Ellen refused to go to bed with him unless they were married. It made her all the more desirable, and the more he desired her, the more aloof she became.

Finally, crazy in love with her, convinced she had to be the one, he asked her to marry him. They had a huge wedding at Southfork in 1971.

The marriage was a great disappointment to J.R. He loved Sue Ellen, but he struggled in the one place he never had before — in bed. It wasn’t that Sue Ellen was cold; it was that she was so restrained, so ladylike, that J.R. was practically afraid to touch her. He believed true ladies weren’t interested in such things and shouldn’t have to be sullied that way.

So rather than debase his beautiful wife, J.R. discreetly took his desires elsewhere. He found solace with his secretary, Julie Grey, who met his appetite in bed and became a confidante who gave him affection. In many ways, Julie was more a wife to him for several years than Sue Ellen.

Another disappointment was that Sue Ellen didn’t conceive — and J.R. very much wanted children.

Rise at Ewing Oil

When Jock retired in 1977, J.R. was made President of Ewing Oil. It was a wise choice. J.R. was a man of the times, and his new ideas and ventures were highly successful — so long as he had absolute power.

His schemes were often intricate and cloak-and-dagger. Their success depended on his masterminding them without interference. Until 1978, J.R. had no such interference and the company was in blazing good health.

In late 1978, J.R.’s previously discreet sexual liaisons came home to Southfork to haunt him — and nearly kill him. J.R. and Ray Krebbs had gone on a weekend fling with Wanda Frick and Mary Lou Allen at the Tropicana Motel in Waco. Wanda’s husband and Mary Lou’s brother followed them back to Southfork and held the family hostage during the great storm that fall. Though the incident ended, J.R. was shot in the arm and the family became wise to some of his “business trips.” Sue Ellen reacted bitterly, and their marriage began to rock.

That same period brought trouble at Ewing Oil. After Bobby married Pamela Barnes, Bobby demanded a bigger executive role. J.R. was sorely tried by Bobby’s interference, and it marked the beginning of J.R.’s efforts to get him out of Ewing Oil altogether. It wasn’t that he thought Bobby was dim — he believed Bobby was better suited to Southfork — but Bobby lacked what J.R. saw as essential to oil business: divine duplicity. Bobby was too naïve, too soft.

An Heir: John Ross

In 1979, after eight years of marriage, Sue Ellen announced she was pregnant. J.R. was elated — but his happiness was short-lived. Their marriage was in chaos. J.R. discovered Sue Ellen was having an affair — and with the man he hated most: Cliff Barnes.

Sue Ellen began drinking heavily. Fearing she was doing permanent damage to the unborn child, J.R. was forced to place her in a sanatorium. Then came another blow: Julie Grey was murdered. J.R. paid her funeral expenses and tried to put her to rest in his heart.

John Ross Ewing III was born with no apparent ill effects from Sue Ellen’s drinking. That was the good news. The bad news: J.R. was told the baby was Cliff Barnes’s. Paternity tests were taken — and to J.R.’s utter joy, John Ross was truly his flesh and blood.

From that moment, J.R. could not be with his son enough. He loved him, held him, talked with him, and touched him with tenderness. No matter how bad things got, he would have this son to love.

On a dove-hunting trip with Jock, Bobby, and Ray, J.R. was accidentally shot in the leg. He recovered quickly — just in time for the biggest deal of his life, and the collapse of his marriage.

After John Ross’s birth, Sue Ellen sank into depression and seemed to ignore the baby. Then she began disappearing, staying out afternoons and nights, offering only sly smiles. J.R., tired and under immense pressure, resigned himself to the belief she was having an affair. He turned to Sue Ellen’s sister, Kristin, for comfort.

Around this time, J.R. mortgaged Southfork to finance Asian wells. Jock and Miss Ellie were outraged, and Jock stepped back in to run Ewing Oil. Even when the wells came in and made Ewing Oil, for a time, the richest independent oil company in the world, J.R. wasn’t trusted for quite a while. Sue Ellen, drinking again, openly declared her hatred and demanded a divorce.

The Shooting

Late one night in the spring of 1980, while working in his office at Ewing Oil, J.R. was shot twice. He nearly died. The bullets bruised a kidney, nicked his spleen, and left him in the condition he feared most — paralysed from the waist down.

One happiness came with the tragedy: Sue Ellen came to his side. J.R. underwent a dangerous operation and began a long recovery. Then came another betrayal: Bobby was installed as President of Ewing Oil. And Sue Ellen was arrested as the prime suspect in the shooting.

It turned out Sue Ellen was innocent — it was Kristin who had done it — but J.R. chose not to prosecute Kristin when she claimed she was pregnant with his child. He supported her financially throughout her pregnancy in California.

After intensive therapy and sheer persistence, J.R. regained the use of his legs. Back on his feet, he was back in action — with one major problem: Bobby refused to step down from Ewing Oil. J.R. was alarmed by Bobby’s leadership and pushed for a deal. Bobby finally resigned in 1980 after J.R. agreed to set him up in a business of his own.

1981 became the worst year of J.R.’s life. Sue Ellen walked out. J.R. fought for John Ross — and then lost him again. Kristin returned to Dallas on drugs and died after falling at Southfork. Cliff accused J.R. of murder, but he was cleared.

Sue Ellen was living with another man and had his son. Sitting in John Ross’s empty room one night, J.R. broke down and wept. More than oil, more than power, he wanted his child.

Desperate, he launched a dangerous plan to force Clayton Farlow’s hand by buying up oil feeding into Farlow’s refineries. The plan failed and nearly destroyed Ewing Oil. Miss Ellie stepped in and warned she would watch his every move — and vote him out when the time was right.

Sue Ellen was awarded custody, a huge settlement, and J.R. received visitation only on alternate weekends. The money didn’t matter to him. He wanted his son.

When Jock died in 1981, J.R. spiralled into a deep depression. He drank, drifted, and stopped caring. It was Bobby who pulled him back — reminding him they had a responsibility to preserve Jock’s empire for their sons.

“I let you down for a while, Daddy… I’m coming back, though, and I’m coming back strong… I’m gonna build it stronger for mine.”

Family Wars

J.R. wanted John Ross back at Southfork — but he also wanted Sue Ellen back. Their separation had restored something in her that had been lost for years, and it stirred his heart. He forgave her, and his feelings resurfaced.

They slowly made progress. Sue Ellen agreed to remarry him, but when Cliff tried to kill himself after business manipulations, Sue Ellen and Miss Ellie blamed J.R. and Miss Ellie led the family in voting him out of Ewing Oil.

J.R. became the silent Chief Executive Officer of Harwood Oil for a 25% stake, and in 1982 the family conflict continued. On November 24, 1982, J.R.’s dream came true: he and Sue Ellen remarried at Southfork. He pledged monogamy — and meant it — resisting temptation because he was completely in love with her.

In 1983, J.R. was thrown into prison during a trip to Cuba, but emerged unscathed with a huge deal. However, Holly Harwood set him up, timed so Sue Ellen would catch him in bed with her. Sue Ellen returned to drinking, and the damage between them deepened.

After a fire at Southfork, J.R. saved John Ross by leaping with him into the pool. Sue Ellen demanded a separate bedroom, and John Ross grew withdrawn. A counsellor named Peter Richards became close to John Ross, and J.R. grew suspicious — especially when he sensed Sue Ellen was drawn to Peter.

After the Oil Baron's Ball, Sue Ellen told J.R. she had only “used” him. Later, J.R. learned Sue Ellen had miscarried — and then overheard Sue Ellen and Peter discussing their affair. J.R. felt the betrayal in every vulnerable place.

J.R. framed Peter for drug possession and forced Sue Ellen back into his bedroom by threatening prison. Yet when Bobby was later shot at Ewing Oil, Sue Ellen’s coldness began to melt and they reconciled — briefly.

Jamie Ewing arrived and ignited another corporate war. J.R. faced Cliff again — and then a new lover, Mandy Winger. For a time, J.R. went public with the relationship, pushing Sue Ellen toward drinking again.

Sue Ellen built a lingerie business and engineered a scheme to remove Mandy. J.R. admired the “new Sue Ellen,” and they reconciled — but the oil world was shifting.

J.R. paid B.D. Calhoun to stir conflict in the Gulf to raise crude prices, but the Justice Department closed in. The Ewings were forced to give up everything — Ewing Oil, its name, its assets. Ewing Oil ceased to exist. J.R. started J.R.E. Industries, longing for his old power — and revenge.

He used Kimberly Cryder — daughter of a major shareholder — to try to regain control of West Star. When Sue Ellen discovered the affair, she declared the marriage over, refusing divorce at first. Eventually, Sue Ellen divorced J.R. and left Southfork.

In 1988, J.R. kidnapped John Ross and hid him at a private school. Sue Ellen’s lover Nicholas Pearce confronted J.R. Nicholas fell to his death during a fight. Sue Ellen shot J.R. in rage — but he survived and dropped the charges.

Loses All (Pre-2012)

In 1989, on a fishing trip with Bobby and their sons, J.R. met Cally Harper, a young waitress. He fell for her sweetness. After a night together, Cally’s brothers forced J.R. at gunpoint to marry her. He escaped, hoping never to see her again — until she arrived at Southfork claiming to be his wife.

Cally insisted she was pregnant, and J.R. accepted her. They remarried in a ceremony at Southfork. On their wedding night she confessed she wasn’t pregnant — and J.R. laughed, admitting he didn’t care. He had become smitten with her.

A new shock followed: a young man appeared at Southfork — James Beaumont — claiming to be J.R.’s son from an earlier affair with Vanessa Beaumont, his first love. Father and son clashed constantly, but J.R. took him in.

J.R.’s fidelity to Cally soon failed. The marriage ended, and Cally left Dallas for good — pregnant with J.R.’s child. J.R. let her go in peace, feeling he owed her that much.

Lovers’ Revenge

In 1990, Bobby’s wife April was murdered. Bobby decided to sell Ewing Oil to Leanne De La Vega. J.R. was mortified — he was about to lose his company again.

Leanne promised to sell him the company back, but revealed she had bought it to get revenge. She reminded him of their affair years earlier — and the pregnancy he told her to end, calling her “the village whore.” The abortion left her unable to have children, and she had waited years to destroy him.

Leanne handed the company to J.R.’s enemy Michelle Stevens. J.R. clawed back 50% by helping her beat a murder charge, only to learn she had sold the other 50% to Cliff Barnes.

J.R. couldn’t stand working with Cliff. He sold his share and aimed to take over West Star — but Dusty Farlow and Carter McKay outplayed him. J.R. ended with nothing.

John Ross left for England with Sue Ellen. James also left. J.R. was alone. In a desperate state, he raised a gun to end it — then changed his mind and shot the mirror instead.

“The opera ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.”

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Later Years

By the early 2010s, J.R. Ewing was no longer the indestructible oil baron he once had been. Years of betrayals, lost fortunes, broken marriages and family wars had taken their toll. Withdrawn and deeply depressed, he spent several years living in a private sanatorium, barely speaking to anyone — including his own family.

Bobby Ewing visited him regularly, hoping to reconcile after decades of rivalry, while John Ross — now a grown man with ambitions much like his father’s — tried to draw him back into the struggle over Southfork and the Ewing legacy.

“You don’t quit the game, son. The game quits you.” — J.R. Ewing

Eventually, J.R. found his fire again. He returned to Southfork and slowly re-entered the world of oil deals and power plays, secretly advising John Ross and helping him maneuver against Bobby in their latest corporate battle. Though physically weaker, his mind remained as sharp and calculating as ever.

He made peace, at least in part, with Sue Ellen and Bobby, expressing regret for the damage he had caused and acknowledging that the endless family war had cost him more than any business defeat ever could. Yet even in his final years, J.R. could not resist one last great scheme.

Unknown to most of his family, J.R. had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Facing death on his own terms, he devised a final plan designed to end the Ewing–Barnes feud once and for all. He arranged for himself to be shot in Mexico using a gun linked to Cliff Barnes, intending to frame his lifelong enemy and force the family into unity after his death.

“The only man who could ever take down J.R. Ewing… was J.R. Ewing.”

Though the truth behind the scheme was later uncovered, the act was widely regarded as J.R.’s final masterpiece — one last ruthless move from beyond the grave.

J.R. Ewing died in 2013. His funeral was held at the Dallas Petroleum Club, attended by friends, enemies, former lovers, and family members whose lives he had shaped for better or worse. Sue Ellen later revealed that he had left behind a letter expressing love for his son John Ross and hope that the Ewings would finally put their past behind them.

In death, as in life, J.R. remained a paradox: a ruthless manipulator, a wounded son, a flawed husband, and a fiercely devoted father. His legacy lived on not only in oil fortunes and family empires, but in the scars — and strength — he left behind in everyone who survived him.

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