Jared Martin Interview
Dusty Farlow talks Sue Ellen, “Who Shot J.R.?”, life on set, and his work helping kids make films
“Working on Dallas was like getting on a rocket ship… I became known as Dusty Farlow.” — Jared Martin
Jared Martin interview summary
Jared Martin has since passed away. This Q&A preserves his humour and insight — from the realities of television fame to the purpose he found in helping young people tell their own stories.
Intro
Dusty Farlow arrived on Dallas like a gust of fresh air — a rodeo-star outsider with warmth, charm, and just enough mystery to make Sue Ellen’s world feel briefly bigger than the endless gravity of Ewing Oil. Jared Martin was initially hired for a short run, but fans latched onto Dusty immediately, and the character’s arc became part of the show’s most feverish period: the international frenzy around “Who Shot J.R.?” and the idea that anyone could be the answer.
In this exclusive fan Q&A (first published on Ultimate Dallas, now DallasTVshow.com), Martin speaks openly about how quickly Dallas changed his visibility, why the set felt like a “national institution,” and what it meant to work opposite Linda Gray — not as a real-life romance, but as trusted partners trying to keep scenes alive over years of television repetition. He also shares a different side of his life beyond acting: his nonprofit Big Picture Alliance, which helped inner-city kids learn by making films, turning production into a classroom where focus, teamwork, and confidence could grow.
Jared Martin has since passed away, making this conversation an especially meaningful record of his voice — funny, reflective, and honest about the trade-offs of fame, typecasting, and choosing a more purpose-driven path after Hollywood.
Interview
DallasTVshow.com: Hi Jared. Thanks so much for talking to us. We have questions from the fans of Dallas and of course we will talk about the charity event that is coming up. I hope we stay connected, we are trying out our new Skype phone.
Jared Martin: Ok fire away and I will tell you what I can from my beginning to disappear memory bank.
DallasTVshow.com: So lets kick off with the event that's coming up. Could you tell us about that?
Jared Martin: Well Jeanne Jackson called me up and asked me to come down to this event. I said I have nothing against these events but I just don't do them, I'm in a different kind of walk of life and bless her, she kept on hammering away.
Jared Martin: I run a non profit organization that helps inner city kids learn how to make films and she said 'bring em down', at which point it sounds like a pretty good idea to me. From my stand point I'm going to be bring three teenage students, one of our teachers from the organization that I run called the Big Picture Alliance and my wife, if she'll put up with me.
Jared Martin: While I'm trotting out my Dallas wares and try and make the people who spend a lot of money happy, the students will be filming a documentary which we will make into a film and hopefully raise even more money for the J. Timothy Hogan Foundation and maybe a little for the Big Picture Alliance.
DallasTVshow.com: How did that move come about, from acting to the director of the Big Picture Alliance?
Jared Martin: A life change, possibly a mid life crisis, who knows. I was in Hollywood for almost 25 years, I had a wonderful career. I can't ever imagine having those experiences again with those people, it was a magical time but began to wear down.
Jared Martin: Possibly due to age, possibly due to the fact it was getting repetitive after a while. You pass certain high points, like Dallas was a high point, living in Europe and doing foreign films was a high point. I wanted to do something different and I kind blundered into this chance through a friend of mine I run into in Philadelphia. So we got together and ran the Big Picture Alliance.
Jared Martin: Based on the very simple idea that kids have a very hard time sitting in the class room and learning anything. I was one of them. When you put them on a film set they pay attention and they learn. They really learn some life lessons as well as producing a pretty amazing product. We have over made over 300 films and getting close to have influencing 2000 kids
DallasTVshow.com: Kim in Washington asks: You once compared working on Dallas to getting on a rocket ship. What did you mean and have you finally landed?
Jared Martin: (laughs) I'll take the last first. You land when you get cancelled from the series Kim. They write your character out, they call you up and say good luck. The rocket ship aspect for me was I had some successes before Dallas, I don't know who is still alive that remembers this, but I came on the show in a three episode contract, they brought Dusty Farlow on to make goo goo eyes at Sue Ellen, become moderately involved with her, tempt her and then she basically remembered who she was and went back to JR.
Jared Martin: As a matter of fact they killed me off. Then the whole 'who shot JR' thing started, it was England who was actually responsible for this, because in England everybody was convinced that this cowboy who had been incinerated in a private plane crash was the person who had somehow managed to shoot JR.
Jared Martin: My agent said get ready, they are going to bring you back and I said 'how? I'm dead' and the agent says "oh this is Hollywood, they will think of something'.
Jared Martin: Indeed they did, I came back and the character was wildly successful. He was a handsome guy, who was impotent and in a wheelchair and was being nursed back to health by an extremely beautiful woman. That was something America kind of wanted to see at the time, don't ask me why but they did.
Jared Martin: So I came from being very much of an episodic television actor to being part of the most successful and fabulous series ever to have known to human kind. That's where the rocket ship was. It took a lot to remember that this was actually happening because it just seemed make believe at the time but it really changed my life, it changed my situation, it changed my visibility. I became known as Dusty Farlow, I am still known as Dusty Farlow. That was the rocket ship.
DallasTVshow.com: Jake in Washington asks: What memories do you have of your screen test for Dallas?
Jared Martin: Jake I didn't have a screen test. Lenny Katzman was Dallas, he was the producer, he knew me. He called me in for that three episode part. Lenny and Bruce Lansbury, the brother of Angela Lansbury, produced a very short lived series called Fantastic Journey - we walked through time zones and our time zones ran out after the ninth episode. I became the star of that, if anyone can be the star of something that lasts for nine episodes, but he remembered me and brought me back to Dallas. I thank him for it.
DallasTVshow.com: Kelsy in Israel asks: According to other actors on Dallas Leonard Katzman did allow any input from the cast. Was this your experience on Logan's Run and The Fantastic Journey? Was this frustrating as an actor?
Jared Martin: No, it was not my experience on Fantastic Journey. Lenny Katzman was very open to cast input, he didn't totally lay himself out for it but if I had something to say about my character he was always approachable, he was always on the set, he was a real working producer.
Jared Martin: Now I didn't have that kind of contact with him on Dallas, I wasn't the star of Dallas, JR and all the first year people were. I was basically a role player on Dallas, I didn't even consider talking to Lenny about my character but in Fantastic Journey we had several long talks about developing the character of a man from the future, what costumes he would wear, what kind of weapons he would use, etc etc. He was very open. He was very two way about that.
DallasTVshow.com: Joey in Ohio asks: Dusty was a major suspect in the shooting of JR. What are your memories of that time and who did you think shot him?
Jared Martin: Last first. I didn't. Remember I had left the show, I had been killed, I never thought in a million years I would be coming back on the show.
Jared Martin: I was working with Lee Strasberg, the famous acting teacher, I was in his masterclass, and I was working on a project with him. That was a very serious phase of my acting… I remember walking into Central Park by the skating rink and People magazine had come out and I had bought a copy because I was in it.
Jared Martin: I looked at this and there I was and there was a whole lot of conjecture about my coming back to Dallas and I began to think about the whole thing in an entirely different way, in a commercial way. Then the uproar in England came and the agent called and sure enough… there came an offer to be on thirteen shows. I was amused when Mary Crosby was revealed, I knew I didn't shoot him, so I was free as a bird.
DallasTVshow.com: Kamberly in Denmark asks: You have said that you have great admiration for Linda Gray… Can you give an example of this?
Jared Martin: Linda is a great lady and was a true friend and there was really nothing romantic between us… I just liked her mind, I liked her curiosity, I liked the things she was interested in.
Jared Martin: You got to realize especially when you are doing love scenes, if you get stuck with somebody who is boring to you it's agony… With Linda we struck a level, we could joke our way through the scenes, we always had a way of supporting each other, helping each other out.
DallasTVshow.com: Jenny asks: Was Dallas a wise career move, a mistake or did you feel type cast?
Jared Martin: I don't look on things as a mistake anymore… I became very well know for a type of character… I was kind of looked at as a love stud muffin type guy… It may have slowed me down in some aspects on the other hand its very hard to go back and relive your life again.
DallasTVshow.com: Many thanks to Jared Martin for taking time out to talk to us and thanks to all the fans who sent in questions.
