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Larry Hagman - RIP


RPSharman

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Worked with Mr. Hagman briefly almost 20 years ago, after his liver transplant. He was pleasant and charismatic. It was a real thrill.

I grew up watching "Dallas" in the UK, and remember my step-siblings and I randomly calling numbers in the US, at some expense to my dad I imagine, asking strangers if they knew who shot JR. We just had to know before anyone else!

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I took pictures of him a few times and he was always a gentleman and very easy to work with. First time out I made the mistake of, um, not having a roll of film in the camera... I shot a number of "frames" and them noticed my mistake. I told him what had happened and even though he was on a pretty tight schedule he just laughed and said, "Don't worry kid, it happens to all of us, take your time and let's do it again."

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"One night, when they were in Las Vegas to attend a performance by their mutual friend Joel Grey, Larry Hagman and his mother, Mary Martin, and her traveling companion left their hotel to go to the theater. There was only one cab at the taxi stand, so Hagman offered to let her and her friend take it. Martin demurred, and the cabbie settled the debate by proclaiming "I don't want the lady. I want J.R." As the taxi pulled away, Hagman rolled down the window and grinned. "That's show business, Mom."

Midway through his performance, Grey informed the audience that there were two special guests in attendance. First he introduced 'my dear friend Larry Hagman, who plays J.R. Ewing on the number-one-rated show Dallas.' The crowd cheered enthusiastically. Then Grey introduced [Mary] Martin as 'a woman who's better known as Peter Pan.'

'People went completely nuts,' Hagman recalls. 'They all stood up, with some of them climbing on their chairs for a better look, and clapped so long the house lights went up. It was literally a showstopper.' When the crowd finally quieted, Martin leaned over, tapping her son on the knee and said, 'That's show business too baby!'"

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Great story, Robert. My old pal Mark Evanier has a very funny story about working with Mr. Hagman when he was still on Dallas and did a guest stint on a variety show:

http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/11/24/my-larry-hagman-story/

The story is a little long, but the punch line is great -- and also illuminates a terrific show business legend.

larryhagman04.jpg

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I worked with him on the new show and mixed his final scene the Friday night before Thanksgiving. In person he was the anti-JR, super nice. He never complained and was very happy to be back working with his friends Patrick and Linda. It was a shock to all of us but not him. At his memorial this weekend his daughter said he had summoned his family to Dallas for Thanksgiving and had the visit planed for a while. She wanted to postpone the meeting until Christmas and Larry told her that wasn't going to happen. He knew something.

His last scene was in a restroom saying his lines to another actor with his evil JR look while straightening his hat in the mirror (we had asked him not to straighten his tie because of the mic). The last take he did he completed his lines, paused a second, then smiled and said to himself in the mirror "I love you Larry" we laughed and cut camera.

We love you too Larry.

Darrell

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