If you remember the evening drama show, Dallas, then you no doubt remember the rivalry between JR and Ken Kercheval. He played the role of Cliff Barnes, an oil tycoon that continued to get busted over and over by JR Ewing. Unfortunately, it is now being reported that Ken Kercheval has passed away at the age of 83.
The news came out of the actor’s hometown of Clinton, Indiana. A spokeswoman for the Frist Funeral Home passed along the information to the Hollywood Reporter. The news has also been confirmed by his talent agent although an official statement on his death has not yet been released. The date of his death was apparently the evening of Easter Sunday.
Kercheval was born on July 15, 1935. He started with stage plays in the 60s, including Broadway productions of The Appletree and Cabaret. He was also in a production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Aside from the fact that he played the lead role in Dallas, he also starred in a number of other films including Pretty Poison, Rabbit Run, Network and F.I.S.T.
It is also noteworthy that his role, along with the role of Hagman were the only two characters that stayed on Dallas for the entire run. He also made a reappearance as Cliff Barnes in a Dallas reboot in 2012.
Kercheval had the following to say about his character: “From the very beginning, Cliff would always get defeated by J.R. Finally, I went to [writer-producer] Leonard Katzman and said, ‘I’m not sure exactly how to play this, because for this guy to keep coming back again and again, he’d have to have gotten a lobotomy.’”
I thought as an actor, ‘How am I going to have an audience believe that this guy is not some imbecile who keeps coming back, [only] to get whipped? I thought the only way is to add some humor to it, just to say, ‘Dust yourself off, get up and start all over again.’ ”
This is one actor who is going to be dearly missed but we still have his appearances on Dallas to remember him by.
