Dallas Actors Priscilla Pointer

Presea

Presea

Telly Talk Addict
Mustard said:
Katherine Wentworth going completely crazy came from two things:

1. For most of Katherine's life, she thought she was an only child, and that she would be the sole heir to the Wentworth fortune after her parents' deaths. Instead, Cliff and Pam get huge shares in Rebecca's estate after her death, yet Herbert Wentworth never found out about them before his death, even though he briefly met Pam and didn't know who she was. So the majority of Herbert Wentworth's fortune ended up going to the stepkids he never knew about.

2. Katherine was unable to seduce Bobby, let alone marry him. She was instrumental with subtle manipulation of turning Bobby and Pam's separation into a divorce in Season 7 DVD. When Bobby and Pam found out, they ostracized Katherine viciously. Katherine now used her hate from the estate dispute and her inability to get Bobby, by wanting Bobby and Pam dead, or to at least suffer for a long time.

Katherine's behaviour is wrong, but it's completely understandable. She felt that she was betrayed, along with the memory of her late father, and that Pam and Bobby still had the nerve to take the moral highground. It pushed Katherine over the edge.
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I don't think the Wentworth fortune was just about the money for Katherine. She had a great concern for Wentworth Tool and Dye itself when Cliff started abusing it in season 5 (dvd). She also mentioned to Bobby during the barbecue about how she wanted to help Rebecca run the company. It was a family business and Katherine had an emotional attachment to it after growing up with her father. But it was ridiculous that Rebecca got away with this, because like you pretty much implied, I doubt that Herbert would have wanted any unknown children that weren't his getting anything like this, Rebecca's will or not. She didn't even stop to think about what he might have wanted.

Since Katherine did not try to do anything to get Bobby before Rebecca died, and and she even returned to New York until Rebecca died, then who is to say that Rebecca's death (on top of Katherine's father's death, too) had no impact whatsoever on Katherine's mental state. Before season 6 (dvd), Katherine had a career and a life in New York, and she displayed no hostility towards Pam during season 5 (dvd), and spent a lot of time off-screen and without Bobby It is not until Katherine returns in the next season that she throws everything away and is reduced to living in a hotel room while doing nothing with her life unless it is related to "getting Bobby". Based on my observations, I would say that it was almost like Katherine was using Bobby to fill the hole that came from her parents death. It might not have been as much of a romantic interest as she thought.
 
Rove

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
Via The Void said:
But I suspect that's why her character bit the dust, so they could beef up & augment Cliff's character as JR's nemesis more.
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The problem I had with Cliff and his constant war with the Ewing family is that more often than not he came off as the bumbling idiot. It was fun for a while but the story became repetitive. Adding Rebecca to the mix was a nice touch. She squared up to Miss Ellie after Cliff attempted suicide. I thought that scene alone shed Miss Ellie in a different light. Suddenly she was caught out. Was she to circle the wagons and protect her family from outside threats as she always put it? Or go after J.R. for once again inflicting pain on poor Cliff?

There was also the slightest suggestion that the writers were creating a love triangle between Miss Ellie, Clayton and Rebecca. Shame this story wasn't further explored because it would have given those three some good scenes. Damn I wish the writers would have taken a step back and see what was unfolding before their eyes. Up until this point it was always about the Ewing family however Rebecca's entry gave the Barnes family the foundation to square up to the Ewing's. And there is Pam, caught smack in the middle of it all.
 
Rove

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
Mustard said:
If anyone was killed off too soon it was Digger Barnes.
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I've always thought that as well. For a character that was central to the back-story of Dallas he had very little screen presence. It may not have helped that two actors played the part in such a short period of time. Personally I preferred David Wayne's portrayal of Digger.
 
Mustard

Mustard

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Rove said:
The problem I had with Cliff and his constant war with the Ewing family is that more often than not he came off as the bumbling idiot. It was fun for a while but the story became repetitive.
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The point is that J.R.'s beatings of Cliff made Cliff nastier. The Cliff Barnes in the Season 2 episode "Election" was a nice guy who fought against big business and the Ewing family in particular. When the Ewings dug into Barnes' past and found out that his one-time fiancee, Penny Ames, had died of an illegal abortion around 10 years earlier, this badly damaged Cliff in the polls and he ended up losing the election. Cliff's response wasn't to stand his ground and live to fight another day, but to sell out to big business who eventually got him into the OLM so he could play out his increasing anti-Ewing obsession.

There was also that episode where Sue Ellen was leaving J.R. for Cliff, and then J.R. paid Cliff a visit and made Cliff realize that his (Cliff's) political ambitions were more important to Cliff than his relationship with Sue Ellen, and that J.R. would destroy his political career if he (Cliff) had stayed with Sue Ellen. By Season 3, Cliff was worse than Digger with anti-Ewing sentiment. In Season 5, Cliff had recovered amazingly and had J.R. utterly beaten, yet was still unable to land the killer blow and ended up trying to commit suicide himself by the season's end, as J.R. got back on top thanks to Miss Ellie bailing him out of the mess he had gotten himself into when he had stockpiled millions of barrels of crude oil while the market price fell and fell.

Rove said:
I've always thought that as well. For a character that was central to the back-story of Dallas he had very little screen presence. It may not have helped that two actors played the part in such a short period of time. Personally I preferred David Wayne's portrayal of Digger.
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I liked both, but my favourite was Keenan Wynn.
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Rove said:
The problem I had with Cliff and his constant war with the Ewing family is that more often than not he came off as the bumbling idiot. It was fun for a while but the story became repetitive. Adding Rebecca to the mix was a nice touch. She squared up to Miss Ellie after Cliff attempted suicide. I thought that scene alone shed Miss Ellie in a different light. Suddenly she was caught out. Was she to circle the wagons and protect her family from outside threats as she always put it? Or go after J.R. for once again inflicting pain on poor Cliff?

There was also the slightest suggestion that the writers were creating a love triangle between Miss Ellie, Clayton and Rebecca. Shame this story wasn't further explored because it would have given those three some good scenes. Damn I wish the writers would have taken a step back and see what was unfolding before their eyes. Up until this point it was always about the Ewing family however Rebecca's entry gave the Barnes family the foundation to square up to the Ewing's. And there is Pam, caught smack in the middle of it all.
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I would've loved to have seen all that & more.

Rebecca was a good character but not very well utilised in my opinion.

There was many ways they could've used the character & a love triangle between her, Ellie & Clayton could've led the foundations for a better feud with the Ewing's. Instead we get the Wentworth jet crashing with her on board.

A crying shame as the strongness of her character would've been great in the show. However I suspect that is why they got rid of her, Pam started out strong & ended up a shadow of herself by the time Victoria Principal left. Rebecca likewise would've gone the same way. :(
 
Rove

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
Via The Void said:
A crying shame as the strongness of her character would've been great in the show.
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Rebecca's strength I thought is exactly what the story required. I'll admit she would not have received the mother of the year award for leaving Cliff and Pam with their drunken father and others have blasted her actions but we have to remember Rebecca was discovered by a determined Pam. Rebecca's initial reaction was to boldly tell Pam she has the wrong person. But whether it was guilt or Pam's determination Rebecca rolled into Dallas and gave it the jolt required.

On a recent re-watching of Lorimar Dallas the thing I noticed when Rebecca was introduced was how old Ken Kercheval appeared alongside Priscilla Pointer. Perhaps he could have done with a rinse in his hair to give him a slightly more youthful appearance. In some scenes it was hard to accept Priscilla was the mother of Cliff. Strange considering the age difference between Barbara Bel and Larry Hagman was only 9 years yet we readily accepted her portrayal as J.R.'s mother more easily.

Anyway, I liked Rebecca's inclusion as well. The writers could easily have built a strong foundation around Rebecca which included her children of Cliff, Pam and Katherine. After Cliff's suicide attempt I desperately wanted the writers to have him re-evaluate his constant fight with the Ewing family and actually get down on knee and ask Afton to marry him. By this point he should have been settling and considering children - that seems a natural progression. We could still have had the separation of Bobby and Pam due to J.R. and Katherine's interference. Katherine attempting to hide her schemes from Rebecca would have added an extra twist.

But killing off Rebecca didn't quite have the desired effect in my opinion. It may have pushed the story along but for once I liked how the Ewing family were on the back foot and the story focused on a more stable and strong Barnes family.
 
Mustard

Mustard

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Cliff is around Bobby's age rather than J.R.'s. Cliff looks considerably older than he is, yet some people are like that. Cliff lived a lot of Digger's struggles and bitterness, and even went further still. That can age a person. As a real life example, I can think of the late British actor, John Thaw, who always looked older than he was. In 1949, when John was 7 and his younger brother Ray was 5, their mother left their father, leaving her children behind. John's father worked as a long distance lorry driver, so John was regularly left to look after himself and his younger brother. John was drinking alcohol and smoking heavily from the age of 12. When John was in his early 20s, he looked well into his 30s. When John was in his 30s, he looked well into his 40s. When John was in his mid 40s, he could pass for 60. When John died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 60, he could have passed for 80. Cliff Barnes comes from a similar stock.
 
SueEllenRules!

SueEllenRules!

Banned
KayLloyd said:
It was most likely because her contract was up and the writers felt that the character had served her purpose. I can't remember what year her daughter Amy divorced Spielberg, but it's also possible that Priscilla decided to leave the show so she could provide emotional support to Amy.
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Who needs 'emotional support' when they're getting a $100 million divorce settlement? :lol:
 
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Rove

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
I awoke this morning (far too early) and turned on the tele to catch up on NEWS while I was asleep. There on-screen was Rebecca Wentworth (Priscilla Pointer) and Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark). For a moment I thought I was in some parallel universe. Perhaps I had spent far too much time on Soapchat and somehow Dallas had merged into Knots Landing. Never fear. As the scene unfolded and the fog of early morning lifted I realized I was watching an episode of Touched By An Angel. Was this series "The Love Boat" of the nineties?
 
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