Anyway, she was a survivor, and I think a lot of people in the '80s were going through their own problems, whatever they were, addictions of one kind or another, and they really wanted to find a way to solve the problems and get out to the other side.
Good, bad or indifferent, the shower scene was one of the first shows where people talked about it on Monday morning.
Gradually, I think because Larry and I were so wonderfully evil together and had so much fun acting off each other they beefed up my part, then out parts.
I did it beautifully and I knew the minute I walked out of that door that I had that part.
I did Salem. Yes. Yes, when cigarette commercials were on the air.
I don't think people today talk about television as much.
I don't want to add to the confusion by imposing Beverly Hills standards on my kids.
I had been to Kenya and done an environmental program for the BBC.
I made the difficult transition from print model to television model by pestering my agent to death.
I never was in the front of the show.
I remember in the first episode sitting on the couch and the camera went around and shot close-ups of everybody just to get reaction shots, but I was the only one without any dialogue.
I see Larry all the time; we have lunch a couple of times a month.
I think a lot of women could relate to Sue Ellen.
I think she was still the most interesting female on television in the '80s.
I thought this is the most dysfunctional group of people I have ever you know, encountered, and how could people possibly be enthralled by us.
I was never to be a major character at all.
I was sure I was going to be a big star overnight. In my case, overnight meant 15 years.
I won't pretend that we're all saintlike on the show.
I've had a very laughable career and what has seen me through is my sense of humor.
If anybody ever sees the first episode I was never even referred to, and never as JR's wife.
If you do it right and the writing is well done, I think people will tune in.
It just happens that part of Sue Ellen is a lot of fun.
It wasn't like I hope, I hope, I hope, it was more like I know, I know, I know. I was right, I got it.
Larry will do whatever I tell him to do, but you can't tell him that.
My first visit was to Nicaragua, and I went to visit the little villages, and you know, sat with the women and their children.
My life is just in this divine phase that I love.
No, I left at the right time. It was a perfect time, because they would have just rehashed it.
People should know about this, it was like AIDS, knowledge is power.
So I came in, there was no role. They had to create a role for me to read.
So you may see a shabby dressing room and outdoor johns in a wind tunnel. I see my dreams come true.
Sue Ellen was the original desperate housewife.
That's lovely, that you know you've entertained people around world for all those years.
The campaign is called Face to Face and that is what we do, we go to these countries and talk to women face to face about their problems and what they can do.
The fun part of my working life, of course, is the celebrity stuff.
The modeling was so easy. But no one bothered to tell me that it didn't necessarily mean that my life script had Runaway Success written all over it.
Then I did about 400 commercials.
Those finales were always used to tease some of us, to put the fear of God into us in case we asked for more money during a negotiation year.
We never knew what a phenomenon the show was going to be.
We really had no idea what it would turn into, I mean, JR got shot, big deal.
We were on Saturday nights, Sunday night, and then when we found the Friday night slot, that was our home.
Well, I started out as a model and went into commercials, got married.
When I said I'd like to help, I thought they'd say that I could make coffee on the set but they asked if I would be the goodwill ambassador to the United Nations.
When you are educated then you know what you can do.
Yes, because you're very recognizable as that particular character, and that's the good news, bad news, because Sue Ellen and J.R. will stay with us forever, and that's the good news.
You can only take it so far. What are you going to do after that?
You know, I think people just - it's like the films in the '40s, you know, it was all about relationships, and that can continue forever.
You make a mistake, you keep going.
Did her first ever nude scene in 2001 when appearing in the London version of the play 'The Graduate.'
Linda Gray was a guest on The Mac Davis Christmas Special, December 1978. It was during this TV special she sang the song "Hello Hollywood - Here I Am."
Daughter, Kehly Sloane, appeared on "Dallas" and was Miss Golden Globe 1997.
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