Deborah Rennard Interview

DallasTVshow.com: Deborah Rennard, who played J.R.’s infamous secretary Sly, took time out to answer questions from Dallas fans.

DallasTVshow.com: How did you get into acting? How did you get the role of Sly, and did you expect to be with the show for so many years?

Deborah Rennard: I started acting in High School doing musicals and fell in love with it. I auditioned for the executive producer Leonard Katzman to get the role of Sly. I had no idea the show would run for so long or I would get to be on it for so many years.

DallasTVshow.com: Were you told how to play Sly? What information were you given about her as far as a back story?

Deborah Rennard: No. I was never told how to play Sly and I wasn’t told anything about a back story.

DallasTVshow.com: Do you recall your first scene with Larry Hagman?

Deborah Rennard: Yes, very well. I think he was surprised they cast someone like me. He called me “the milkmaid” because I was so young and innocent looking. It was a scene where Sly was interviewing for the job of JR’s secretary.

DallasTVshow.com: Deborah Tranelli once described the difference between Sly’s relationship with J.R. and Phyllis’ with Bobby as: “She was working for JR… her job was at stake… whereas Bobby would never have asked Phyllis to do something illegal.” Do you think that’s accurate?

Deborah Rennard: Yes.

DallasTVshow.com: What was your favorite episode of Dallas for you to shoot?

Deborah Rennard: It’s hard to say, I loved being on the show so much. One of my favorites was when Cliff Barnes came to blackmail me poolside at my apt. It was the first time I was brought out of the office and got to go to Dallas to shoot so it was very exciting to me.

DallasTVshow.com: What was it like to work with Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Ken Kercheval, Linda Gray, Victoria Principal, Barbara Bel Geddes, Howard Keel, George Kennedy & William Smithers?

Deborah Rennard: I worked mostly with Larry and Patrick. They were such fun because they both have such great senses of humor and would constantly be playing practical jokes on each other and coming up with ways to top each other. I worked with Ken Kercheval when Cliff Barnes was blackmailing Sly. Ken wasn’t into playing practical jokes like Larry and Patrick but he was very professional and lovely to work with as well.

DallasTVshow.com: Were you ever witness to, part of, or a victim of Larry & Patrick’s practical jokes?

Deborah Rennard: I was never the recipient of one of their practical jokes that I can remember. But even if I wouldn’t have felt bad because they were always done in good humor… I witnessed so many because I worked mostly with the two of them. They were a delight.

DallasTVshow.com: What were Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval & Linda Gray like as directors?

Deborah Rennard: All of them were really wonderful. Being actors they were very in tune with what an actor needs and so were extremely helpful and patient… They also knew the show so well… which created a really good working environment.

DallasTVshow.com: Roseanna Christenson said she was sometimes treated rather offhand by crew and a certain director (not the cast). Did you ever experience anything like this?

Deborah Rennard: That is unfortunate. No, I never experienced anything like that.

DallasTVshow.com: If the secretaries got together with Raul and Theresa they could write a scandalous tell-all about the Ewings. Any idea what it should be called?

Deborah Rennard: Oh my gosh, I have no idea.

DallasTVshow.com: What was your shooting schedule like? Did you film many scenes in the same day/week, and did you still get paid for voice-over (intercom) work?

Deborah Rennard: I typically worked one or two days a week. My call time varied… Sometimes it would be first call which meant I had to be on the set at 5:00 or 5:30 to go to make-up and hair. Yes, if we just had a voice over in an episode we would still get paid.

DallasTVshow.com: The secretaries were named after Lorimar secretaries. Did you ever meet the real Sylvia Lovegren?

Deborah Rennard: Yes, I did meet her. She was a lovely woman who worked as a secretary in Leonard’s office.

DallasTVshow.com: What did you think of the “dream season”?

Deborah Rennard: They got a lot of flack for the dream sequence but I thought it was a good solution to the problem of needing to erase so many characters and also bring back Bobby. It wasn’t an easy problem to solve.

DallasTVshow.com: If you could play any part on Dallas, which character would you have liked to play?

Deborah Rennard: I never looked at anyone else’s part and wished I could play it. I was always happy to be playing my part.

DallasTVshow.com: Leigh McCloskey said the feeling on the show became more hostile over the years. Did you notice that?

Deborah Rennard: No, I never noticed that. My experience was always positive on the show.

DallasTVshow.com: Who was your favorite other secretary to work with?

Deborah Rennard: Deborah Tranelli. She and I spent a lot of time in the Ewing offices together… Our favorite hairdresser Jerry Gugliomotto… Deborah is a fantastic singer and I also am a singer and I greatly admired her work as a singer.

DallasTVshow.com: The BBQ episodes looked huge. How long did those take to shoot?

Deborah Rennard: Actually I was only at one or two of the BBQ’s. I do remember the last one was really huge and it took several days to shoot the scenes there, which for television is a really long time.

DallasTVshow.com: Why did Sly take a leave of absence in Season 7?

Deborah Rennard: I was offered a movie and needed to go to Turkey for several months to shoot. Leonard Katzman was kind enough to tell me I could go do the movie and when I came back I would still have my job and they would write around my being gone.

DallasTVshow.com: Did you like that Sly remained loyal to J.R.? Was it loyalty to him, or partly because she was Harry McSween’s niece?

Deborah Rennard: Yes, I think Sly genuinely looked up to JR and he was a good boss to her… She rationalized that… to be in his position… required him to act the way he did… and for many years [she was] a bit blind to how unscrupulous he really was.

DallasTVshow.com: Did Dallas increasingly turn women into sexual objects?

Deborah Rennard: Like all shows, Dallas was under pressure to keep up the ratings and I think the producers/writers thought that having more sex on the show would do that.

DallasTVshow.com: Why was it hard to find subplots for the secretaries? Any unused ideas for Sly?

Deborah Rennard: The secretaries were minor characters and there were so many main characters with so many plots, I don’t think it was uppermost in anyone’s mind to create story lines for the secretaries.

Deborah Rennard: I wouldn’t know… we weren’t privy to what the story ideas… were until they were written into a script. Thanks re “Crash”, I’m very proud of him!

DallasTVshow.com: Sly quitting her job was a great scene, but then she returned in J.R. Returns. Did you have any input in that storyline?

Deborah Rennard: No… I was never consulted about the story line of my character.

DallasTVshow.com: Late in the series, Sly finally slept with J.R. What did you think of that?

Deborah Rennard: Having gone all those years without ever sleeping with JR, I was shocked when I read the script. But I thought it was fun because it was so unlike my character.

Deborah Rennard: Leonard Katzman… told me to think of Sly like Florence Nightingale… everyone had abandoned JR and I was the last loyal person he could come to.

DallasTVshow.com: Do you remember how news of the cancellation was delivered and received? Do you remember your last scene?

Deborah Rennard: We ended season 13 not knowing if we were picked up or not… I was sitting in my dressing room for “Days” when I found out “Dallas” was cancelled. I had gotten word and called. I was very sad that there wasn’t an opportunity to give a final goodbye to everyone.

DallasTVshow.com: What was your most memorable/favorite moment on the show?

Deborah Rennard: The episode where JR discovers I am spying on him for Cliff Barnes… I was very nervous… Larry… was directing… He was so lovely… and rehearse[d] extra with me. I will never forget that.

DallasTVshow.com: Dallas employed a stable cast of recurring characters that gave the show continuity. Thanks for being part of that fabric.

Deborah Rennard: Thank you for saying that… that’s lovely. I actually felt honored to be a part of “Dallas”… I knew it was television history.

DallasTVshow.com: Do you have any Dallas memorabilia?

Deborah Rennard: I have a Southfork watch and the chair from the set with my name on it.

DallasTVshow.com: What was it like getting back together in 1995 to shoot J.R. Returns?

Deborah Rennard: I loved doing JR Returns because it gave me a chance to work with everyone again… It was especially great to see Larry… He was quite weak… but he has such a strong spirit… you could tell he was so happy to be playing JR again.

DallasTVshow.com: What have you been doing since Dallas?

Deborah Rennard: I did a movie with Jean Claude Van Damme… I started working with my husband… as a producer… I was a co-producer on… “EZ STREETS”… co-produced… “In the Valley of Elah”… I also had a son… and gained three step-daughters… A few years ago I started doing some writing… I am writing a full length play… I am still working on it.

DallasTVshow.com: Were you sorry to leave Dallas?

Deborah Rennard: I didn’t leave Dallas, I could never have left it… But I was very sad when it ended.

DallasTVshow.com: What was it like working on Due South and what role did you play?

Deborah Rennard: That was such a different character for me… I went to the local morgue… I played the coroner… My character was also dating the police chief.

DallasTVshow.com: How was working on daytime TV compared to primetime?

Deborah Rennard: I can really understand why actors never want to leave daytime… It is a much faster pace… [it] develops your ability to go with your impulses… and your spontaneity as an actor.

DallasTVshow.com: How did you decide to leave acting?

Deborah Rennard: It wasn’t like I just woke up… I gradually became less interested in the parts… and more interested in producing… When I had my son I really didn’t want to spend all that time sitting on a set. However, I may yet be acting again…

DallasTVshow.com: Would you reprise Sly if there were another Dallas movie?

Deborah Rennard: In a heartbeat!

DallasTVshow.com: Do you keep in contact with the other Ewing secretaries?

Deborah Rennard: No, I used to keep in touch with Deborah Tranelli but… I lost contact with her. I would love to see her again.

DallasTVshow.com: Sherill Lynn Rettino sadly passed away young. What was it like working with her, and with Leonard Katzman?

Deborah Rennard: That is so sad. I didn’t even know that she had passed away… I went to Leonard’s memorial service… I admired him so much… When he directed he was so calm and gentle and had such a great love of the actors and a humor about it all.

DallasTVshow.com: How was it reuniting with cast members and meeting fans at events?

Deborah Rennard: It was so great to see the other cast members… I loved meeting the fans. I was so amazed to know Dallas fans still existed!… And so devoted… I couldn’t believe it.

DallasTVshow.com: Any final words for the fans?

Deborah Rennard: Thank you all for your questions and your continued interest… Best wishes to you all.

DallasTVshow.com: Thank you again for taking the time to do the interview.

Deborah Rennard: Thanks Josh, I will. And I would love to come to another Dallas fan event.