Classic Hollywood Actors/Actresses - who would you have liked to see join the cast?

[Swellin]

Besides Alexis Smith, Martha Scott, BBG and Howard Keel what other classic Hollywood actors/actresses would you like to see join the cast?

I would have like to see Gene Tierney or Hedy Lamarr as wealthy Oil Heiresses that JR tries to seduce or Katharine Hepburn as Ellie's long lost sister who tried to claim Southfork.

Your thoughts?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

DALLAS mostly avoided such "stunt casting" -- and that seems appropriate for a show which tended to avoid birthdays and holidays.

FALCON CREST and THE COLBYS did it, and DYNASTY thought it was doing it (and should have done it much more) while mostly KNOTS didn't, Ava Gardner notwithstanding.

The few stars DALLAS used weren't in the same high-profile league as, say, Katharine Hepburn of Gene Tierney. That's too self-conscious, I think, for DALLAS.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I would’ve liked to have seen Elizabeth Taylor join the cast circa mid-80s.

 

[Swellin]

I would’ve liked to have seen Elizabeth Taylor join the cast circa mid-80s.

Katharine after plastic surgery. They had similar eyes

 

[the-lost-son]

There is a maximum number of high-profile actors a show can handle, age also being an issue.

Dallas found the right balance with Keel/Bel Geddes. A saga needs returning characters or at least the possibility that they might show up one more time.

Falcon Crest had a character played by Mrs. Lollobrigida - I remember she played the sister of Angela Channing. She showed up for a few episodes, left to never come back, never to be spoken about. I don't know if money was the issue or the actress did not want/was never asked to return, but that's the opposite of a long lasting saga.

So no more high profile actors for me.

 

[stevew]

DALLAS mostly avoided such "stunt casting" -- and that seems appropriate for a show which tended to avoid birthdays and holidays.

FALCON CREST and THE COLBYS did it, and DYNASTY thought it was doing it (and should have done it much more) while mostly KNOTS didn't, Ava Gardner notwithstanding.

The few stars DALLAS used weren't in the same high-profile league as, say, Katharine Hepburn of Gene Tierney. That's too self-conscious, I think, for DALLAS.

I don’t know about the Colby’s, but it certainly was the stick for Falcon Crest and not Dallas, Knots Landing or Dynasty, with rare exception. But rare exception could be fun.

Maybe not the same thing, but I always wanted to see Falcon Crest and Dallas brought into the same universe through at least one story line, maybe just a shared character between them, though the death toll in Falcon Crest makes that difficult. Roscoe Lee Browne playing Rosemont. Ursula Andress playing Madame Malec.

 

[James from London]

Dallas found the right balance with Keel/Bel Geddes.

Yes, they were Hollywood stars to the extent that my parents recognised and were pleased to see them as soon as they appeared (same goes for Alexis Smith), but I had no knowledge of them prior to DALLAS.

Falcon Crest had a character played by Mrs. Lollobrigida - I remember she played the sister of Angela Channing. She showed up for a few episodes, left to never come back, never to be spoken about. I don't know if money was the issue or the actress did not want/was never asked to return, but that's the opposite of a long lasting saga.

Yes, the short-term, big name guest appearance was more for a show like THE LOVE BOAT or HOTEL, or even DYNASTY which had a sort of international vibe going on, whereas DALLAS was mostly about Dallas so you wanted people you could believe lived there all the time, so better Punk and Mavis Anderson recurring indefinitely than Elizabeth Taylor or whoever breezing in and out.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Personally would loved to have seen Ava Gardener and my all time fav Mr Gregory Peck drop by for a few guest appearances

 

[Crimson]

Dallas found the right balance with Keel/Bel Geddes.

Yes, I agree with this. Keel and Bel Geddes were famous enough to bring star power, but without strong personas that would overshadow the characters.

I'll be in the minority, but I disliked the entire storyline with Alexis Smith; that felt like something out of FALCON CREST and I don't think she fit in well on the show.

If anything, DALLAS should have used some of the old time Western stars or character actors although, without resorting to Google, I'm not sure which were still alive in the early- to mid- 80s. The short lived DALLAS competitor THE YELLOW ROSE had an awfully good Western-style cast, and some of those actors would have fit in nicely on DALLAS.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I’d like to have seen, in a rare pre-election role, Ronald Reagan as founding Cartel member Jimmy Ray Garr, father of Willie Joe. He could have feuded with Andy Bradley over who was the best pal of Jordan Lee.

Either that or as Punk Anderson’s near-mute sidekick Pat Powers, but I believe that character didn’t appear until 1980 or so, so that might have been hard to pull off in between campaign stops and conventions and what not.

 

[Sarah]

I don’t feel it was necessary and also too Dynasty. The original Dallas stars carried the show, without the need for any overly glitzy appearances.

 

[stevew]

I might be in the minority on this but I liked outsiders. Dallas even than was more cosmopolitan than cowboys and the oil industry is far more international. I liked any branching out from the oil industry too. In fact I think even in the original run we should have been Ewing Oil become Ewing Industries - certainly better than kill the company. Also would have truly allowed JR and Bobby to remain in business together with their own sphere of influence. Ewing Oil. Ewing Construction. Ewing Transport. Wentworth Tool and Die. West Star (refineries and gas stations) . . .

If done earlier and with a better story, or more developed story as I did like the revenge idea, Barbara Eden. So much more they could have got out of Venezuela oil and a new rival family.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I'll be in the minority, but I disliked the entire storyline with Alexis Smith; that felt like something out of FALCON CREST and I don't think she fit in well on the show.

But all of these shows need at least one gothic bitch diva. They just do.

I did not, however, like the too-campy way her return was handled five years later.

 

[Crimson]

But all of these shows need at least one gothic bitch diva. They just do.

It's less the character I object to that her situation. Aside from the redundancy of another crazy sister-in-law, I think Lady Jessica was the first step in middle years DALLAS' weird obsession with Europe. I mean, she couldn't have just lived in Tulsa? It just feels very FALCON CREST-y, although I suppose by the mid-80s all of the soaps had kind of blended together and lost their distinctiveness.