Linda Gray biography

Synopsis

Eary Career

Actress Linda Ann Gray, born in Santa Monica, California, on September 12, 1940, is best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on Dallas, the popular CBS show that ran from 1978 to 1991. Long before her Dallas days, Gray got her start in the entertainment industry by working as a model and commercial actress. By the mid-1960s, she had begun landing small roles in films, and by the next decade, she was earning bigger film roles and small parts on several television series.

Among her early film and TV appearances, Gray played Patsy Grey on the TV series Marcus Welby, M.D. in 1974; Miss Engle in the 1976 film Dogs; Linda Murkland on the show All That Glitters in 1977; and Nan in the TV movie Haywire in 1980.

'Dallas'

In 1978, Gray debuted in what would be credited as her most acclaimed acting role: As Sue Ellen Ewing, the alcoholic wife of J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) on the popular TV show Dallas. The series details the lives of the Ewing family supported by J.R. Ewing, an oil magnate in Dallas, Texas. For her performance on Dallas, Gray earned an Emmy Award nomination, the Bambi Award and the Il Gato Award, among other honors. Gray starred in every season of the original series (1978-1981) and reunited with cast members two decades later, when the new Dallas series premiered on TNT in 2012. In addition to acting, Gray serves as director of the new series, which astars Jesse Metcalf as Christopher Ewing.

Following its 11 years on television in the United States, the original series of Dallas is still in syndication worldwide.

In Recent Years

Gray went on to appear on other popular shows, including Melrose Place and Models Inc. in the mid-1990s, as well as in several films, television movies and stage productions. In 1994, she starred in the TV movies To My Daughter with Love,  Moment of Truth: Broken Pledges and Accidental Meeting, among several other appearances. In 2002, Gray performed as Mrs. Robinson in the Broadway production of The Graduate, filling in for Kathleen Turner for a brief time. She also performed on stage in Terms of Endearment.

Among her roles on the big screen, Gray played Darnella in 2010's Expecting Mary and Alexi's mother in 2011's The Flight of the Swan. Also in 2011, she starred in the TV movie A Very Mary Christmas and began filming the TV drama Hidden Moon.