Larry Hagman in the News

Bits about Larry Hagman in newspapers and gossip columns from 1965, the start of I Dream of Jeannie until 1977, just before Dallas. Errors in spelling and other facts are left in, with corrections, comments and updates denoted by [ ].

3/15/1966

by Dick Kleiner

. . .All these stories about how the girls In "The Group" were having intramural fights all through the picture were new to Larry Hagman. "I got along with everybody," he says. "It never occurred to me that there were any problems. And then I found out that the girls were at each others throats." Hagman's prediction is that Candy Bergen, ultimately, will be the biggest star to emerge from "The Group." He says she is "beautiful, bright - and couldn't care less." As for Hagman's television show, I Dream of Jeannie, he's optimistic that there will be a second season, mostly because they filmed the last two shows in color. He doesn't think they would go to that trouble unless it was going to be renewed. Hagman is soing to spend his vacation studying film editing. He thinks that will make him a better actor. "I'm very ambitious now," he says. "I didn't used to be ambitious, but something changed me. What changed me was abject poverty.". . .

The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, IL

6/23/1967

SHOW BEAT

MONTREAL - (NEA) - Memories of a promotion junket to Expo 67, involving Hollywood television stars, Screen Gems, Air Canada and several Canadian governmental branches tend to flow together. After a week of banquets buses and bagpipes, here are some observations culled at random from champagne-stained notes:

At Expo 67: Larry Hagman shooting movies and trying to get Sally Field to smile pretty. But she stuck her fingers in the corners of her mouth, pulled out and down and Hagman turned and walked away. . . .

. . .In Toronto, at a big banquet: Hayden Rorke (the psychiatrist on I Dream of Jennie) signing an autograph - on the bagpipe drummer's drum. . . .

. . .At Expo 67, touring the handsome but disappointing U.S. pavilion - A tourist came up to Hagman and said. "I know you. Aren't you on TV?" "Yeah," said Hagman, "I'm the guy with the broad in the bottle.". . .

The Danville Register, Danville, VA

6/8/1969

Hollywood, CA - Burgess Meredith has almost finished "There Was a Crooked man." . . . After that, Meredith zips back to New York to direct an off-Broadway musical and then he zips out to Hong Kong to direct and act in a movie called (tentatively) "Touch and Go." Meredith likes Hong Kong and, perhaps because of that, we were eating in a Chinese restaurant.

Larry Hagman, another Chinese food aficionado (to mix a geographical expression), dropped in and joined him. He was wearing a railroader's overalls, a hat with a feather, beads, a Signal Corps insignia and rose - colored glasses. Hagman had just bought a 50-foot drum, shaped like a dragon, which he plans to install on the flat roof of his Malibu home. "You must have a dull roof as it is," Meredith said. "Yeah," said Hagman. "all my friends say the only flaw in my character is my dull roof."

Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, TX

2/15/1969

L. HAGMAN: ACTOR 'INVOLVED'

Larry Hagman has felt the need to become ..."involved." He now teaches acting two nights a week in Watts and is involved two days a week with a group that tries to help drug addicts and their families communicate and kick the habit. . . .

. . .Hagman no longer worries about the next buck or how to pay the bills. In fact, he recently bought a $115,000 beach house in Malibu. . . His wife is supervising the remodeling of the place and Larry is filming the progress. "We're tearing the house down gradually piece by piece and rebuilding,"he said. "But we're in no rush." . . .

. . .Larry's new involvements serve as an antidote to that restless feeling. "All the charts indicate that middle class whites fall apart in their 30s when they've achieved, what they've set about, are stuck with it and start screaming that it's not what they thought it would be," said Hagman. "Suddenly, for me, the money started coming in and I didn't know how or what to. You start falling apart. Now I'm filling my time in a more positive manner. I think about how I can make it all worthwhile."

Every weekend the Hagmans have a bonfire on the beach, made from the discarded lumber of their house. "The bonfire attracts all kinds of interesting people," said Larry. "We don't plan our weekend, We just let it happen."

San Mateo Times, San Mateo, CA

3/5/1970

HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE
by Marilyn Beck

If Larry Hagman can get his "super-camper" off the design boards and into an actual running model, he and wife Maj and the kids will set off for the great outdoors. Last year, in a rather conventional camper, they covered some 11,000 miles of country.

The "I Dream of Jeannie" co-star isn't tipping, what's going to be so different about the new buggy he's got planned, but knowing him it'll have to be far-out. Could be it'll even include a scaled-down version of the 6X6 tub that's a feature of the Hagman Malibu home, where family and friends regularly go skinny dipping. It would prove quite a sensation among the trailer park circuit, I imagine.

The Star-News, Pasadena, CA

9/13/1970

TWO STARS SIGN AS SERIES GUESTS
by Marilyn Beck

HOLLYWOOD - Barbara Anderson and Larry Hagman have been set for guest-starring role's in the "To Get Through the Night" episode of Universal Television's "Marcus Welby, M.D.," starring Robert Young in the title role. Miss Anderson,-who stars in the studio's "Ironside" series, portrays a young and beautiful woman whose unhappiness with her life drives her to attempted suicide, while Hagman plays a young psychiatrist who discovers he has an incurable and terminal disease.

"Marcus Welby, M.D." also stars James Brolin as Young's associate and Elena Verdugo as their nurse. It airs Tuesdays over the ABC television network.

Fresno Bee Republican, Fresno, CA

6/3/1971

TV/HOLLYWOOD LINE
by Marilyn Beck

. . .They keep dreaming up so many fancy awards in Hollywood you really have to go out of your way to invent a different one. And Larry Hagman's done just that. He calls it "The Larry Hagman Keep Acting Award," and it's nothing that will excite the hard drinkers around. Larry says the honors would go to the best actor or actress of the year with the greatest need. "I would give them money, but not in cash, it would go to a grocery store or food chain, and every month the winner could charge $100 worth of food. No booze. Just food." Larry has had this idea for quite a while, but hasn't done anything about it. Now that he has signed such a sweet contract with NBC for his fall-debuting "The Good Life" series, maybe he thinks he can afford to make his food only donation. . .

The San Antonio Express, San Antonio, TX

7/21/1971

HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE
by Marilyn Beck

. . .Larry Hagman is doing his bit to foster nepotism here in Hollywood. "If you don't get your friends and relatives in the key spots," Mary Martin's son told me, "someone else will get theirs in those positions anyway." Larry has gotten there first with his gang over at the Screen Gems sound stage where his new NBC "Good Life" series is shooting. His wife's sister. Lillemore Chang, has a job as Donna Mills' stand-in. His 13-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son will do extra work when school chores allow. And Larry was instrumental in getting his longtime buddy David Wayne the berth as a "Good Life" co-star. "It wasn't a matter ot my having to talk Screen Gems into hiring David," Larry pointed out. "We had to convince David to do a TV series. He's one of the finest actors in the world." . . .

The Star-News, Pasadena, CA

10/3/1971

WEIRDO ON HIS OWN TIME
by Vernon Scott

Larry Hagman, that nice Air Force major on "I Dream of Jeannie," is a nice weirdo on his own time. Hagman surpasses being eccentric. The other day he sat in the patio of his favorite Chinese restaurant playing a bamboo flute. Other patrons watched with suspicion. He was dressed - as usual - in a Kit-Carson fringed jacket, an immense white stetson hat, ostrich skin boots (yellow) and carried a purse.

His Swedish-born wife, Maj, smiled approvingly when be dumped the contents of his purse on the table. It held a pair of moccasins, electric shaver, box of snuff, a tape recorder - complete with beaded handbag containing an ear plug - a dime "for an emergency telephone call in case I'm arrested," and a corkscrew. He carries a full size shepherd's crook but he quit packing the gun. "I carried a .25-caliber pistol all the time because I'm from Texas and I got into the habit," Hagman said, apparently on the level. "But I became paranoid. So I spent a couple of years in analysis and quit packing the gun. Now I'm opposed to violence, I won't have a fight or shout at anyone on camera. "There's so much violence around us I want no part of it."

Hagman, who is Mary Martin's son, is a ruggedly built six-footer who photographs younger and smaller on the television screen. "I'm 39 years eld and weigh 200 pounds," he said. "But I look 20 years old on television, which is good I guess. "I see mother once every year or two. I suppose that's enough as far as she's concerned." Hagman is a good-natured man who drinks a bottle of wine with lunch, eats a great deal and discourses on any subject that enters his mind, sprinkling his dialogue with pithy language.

"When 'Jeannie' went off the air after five years I decided to say yes to everything that was offered me. So I did three movies and a lot of television shows." Hagman lives at Malibu and is proud of a special bathtub at home with jets that fire 115-degree water at as many, as six occupants at a time. ''Communal baths, like in old Rome," he said. "Then we tun right into the cold ocean. It's great." Maj nodded her approval, Hagman reached for his snuff, sprinkled some on the back of his hand and inhaled deeply into each nostril. His eyes watered and his nose turned red. "Wow!" he cried. "That's great." He gave some to Maj who followed suit but then went into a sneezing fit Hagman now stars In "The Good Life" for NBC. The title is as suitable as the actor could ask."

The Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach CA

10/16/1971

LARRY HAGMAN
by Ruth Thompson

. . .He really is as whimsical as the befuddled astronaut he used to play in "I Dream of Jeannie" and the butler he's now being in "The Good Life." (NBC, Saturday nights, 8:30 to 9). A truly gentle man. . .

. . .Larry himself serves as the technical expert on buttling. Unlike most of the writers, he grew up in a household with servants. "My mother has had the same butler for, I guess, 27 years. And it's not the way you'd think, making them pick even the handkerchief you drop. You get yery protective trying to spare them work." . . .

. . .He daily outwits his allergy to sun to live an outdoor life at Malibu Beach with his Swedish wife of 18 years, Maj Axelsson and their two kids, Heidi, 13 and Preston, nine. Larry's day starts at 5:30 a.m. with a run on the beach, maybe a game of Frisbee, and his Soufi exercise regime. "Like Yoga, but without the pain." All the while he's muffled by a floppy white felt hat, "Shows I'm a good guy," and a white karate jacket. "Lets you exercise freely while covering everything except the legs, which, for some reason, can take the sun.". . .

The Star-News, Pasadena, CA

1/5/1972

SCREENINGS
by Bob Foster

Recently KTVU, Oakland, at its own expense had an independent survey conducted to see just what parents, school teachers and the kids' themselves preferred in the way of children's programming.

In this poll, parents and teachers selected "National Geographic" as the most outstanding program for children to watch. The kids more or less rejected this idea however! The "Geographic" wound up in eighth place and "Gilligan's Island" was called their favorite show.

The second most popular show wth parents and school teachers was "Sesame Street." However, the kids listed this in 12th place. "Romper Room" which teacher and parents listed at about fifth or sixth in the list was,completely rejected by, the kids.

"I Dream of Jeannie" starring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman made quite an impression on the kids. They picked this as their third favorite show behind "Gilligan's" and "The Flintstones."

San Mateo Times, San Mateo, CA

1/12/1972

BORING TV SEASON
by Dan Lewis

The heaviest ax fell at NBC which is cutting off four of its six new shows. The victims are George Kennedy's "Sarge," Gene Kelly's "Funny Side," "The D.A." and "The Good Life."

The latter two series starred people who had enjoyed earlier successes in TV, Robert Conrad, of The D.A. was in the "Wild, Wild West," and Larry Hagman costarred in "I Dream of Jeannie" before he took The Good Life, whose title, it now turns out, was rather optimistic.

Arizona Republic, Pheonix, AZ

2/14/1972

SCREENINGS
by Bob Foster

"Creature Features," as shown here on Channel 2, is a series of low cost feature films filled with horror and such things. They are introduced by a young Sacramento advertising man, Bob Wilkins. Wilkins takes on a very sinister look, with the help of a great big cigar, and talks about the films his is about to show.

Most of the films shown on the series were produced Very reasonably, shown in theaters to make big profits, and then sold to television.

One of the top producers of these films claims that he can bring in a thriller for about $150,000 if he has to. Last summer Larry Hagman directed one for him. It cost Larry less than $135,000 and included all his friends including Barbara Eden in a bit part, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and her husband Claudio Guzman. "We killed off everybody," Larry said, "That way we didn't have to pay anybody a great deal of money."

Larry explained at that time that the film, on the basis of other "horror films," should net over a million dollars at the box office, and another $200,000 on television. If television acts according to its past patterns look for more "horror type" films next year.

San Mateo Times, San Mateo, CA

2/20/1972

THE SECOND GENERATION
by Dick Kleiner

Larry Hagman used lo be known as Mary Martin's son. But lately, especially with the younger generation who knows him so well from I Dream of Jeannie and The Good Life, Mary Martin is known as Larry Hagman's mother. And there may soon be a third generation from Ihe Hagman-Martin family tree. There's his 13-year-old daughter, Heidi, coming along. "She definitely wants to go into it," Larry says. "I think three generations would be fine, but I'm not pushing her. If she wants In act. fine.

"Anyhow, the world's only got another 20 years or so to live, so she might as well enjoy herself." Hagman says he's not a pessimist about the world, but a realist. He believes the planet, as it's now spinning, is doomed. And his philosophy of enjoying oneself, doing one's own thing, in the brief span be believes is all we have left, explains his self-admitted freakishness.

"I'm a freak," he says. "I'm a flag freak, a Chinese food freak, a beach freak. I love all those things. And I love to dress this way."

By this way, he meant outlandishly�he had on overalls which were covered with badges, a cowboy hat, a cape made out of the white-and-gold flag of a fraternal organization. "That's why I love Southern California," he says. "I couldn't dress like this in New York�there they spit on you and get up tight. Whenever I'm in New York, I dress very conservatively."

Hagman says his famous mother encouraged him to go into acting.

"I don't know why she did," he says, "but she did."

She also thinks he ought to sing more and mother and son did one album together some years ago. He says he still gets royalty checks from that album�the last one was for four cents, which he framed.

After I Dream Of Jeannie went off�it bad a hefty five year run�Hagman says he decided to say yes to every offer that came along. Most scries stars, in that position, elect to be choosy but Hagman was the exception. "I did whatever came along," he says, "up to and including The Good Life. You see, it takes so much bread to get along out here thai one year off can wipe you out. So I did whatever came along."

San Antonio Express and News, San Antonio, TX

4/19/1972

HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE
by Marilyn Beck

Singer Trini Lopez entertained at a United Nations function in Santiago, Chile, not because he wanted to, but because he got the impression It was a do-it-or-else invitation. It was, he puts it, "A cul-de-sac situation." Trini's on location in that South American land filming "Antonio" with actor Larry Hagman.

And, down in Chile, that irrepressible Larry Hagman has found a new kick: a local potion made of coca-cola and tabasco sauce. He's even got Trini hooked on the stuff, and insists it serves as a great pickup.

I'll take your word for it, Larry!

Independent, Pasadena, CA

8/5/1972

NEW SERIES STARS HAGMAN

So far Larry Hagman's new vehicle is what you might call a mini - series. Twelve episodes filmed to date by Metromedia of "Here We Go Again" a comedy series with what the producer calls "Real, true-to-life Beverly Hills flavor."

It concerns a divorced man and woman who marry two new spouses and end up as next-door-neighbors. Diane Baker plays the ex-wife of Hagman, Nita Talbot the current one. The second husband is Dick Gautier.

The Derrick, Oil City, PA

8/26/1972

TELEVISION BACKSTAGE

You probably haven't beard much about it but Larry Hagman has another TV series, now being filmed. The question is: when will it get on the air? The series is called Here We Go Again. MPC has a firm order from ABC for 12 segments, in addition to the pilot. It could go on in January or a year from September or, if something really gets clobbered in September, it could go on earlier. The situation, in this 30-minute comedy, is adult: Larry and Diane Baker play husband and wife. Living on the same block is Nita Talbot who plays Larry's ex-wife, and Dick Gautier, who plays Diane's ex-husband. There are three children belonging to the combinations of couples.

North Adams Transcript, North Adams, MA

10/7/1972

RETIREMENT NOT LONELY

All signs seem to back up the rumors that Mary Martin has had enough of life in retirement outside Brasilia. First there was that visit from the "This Is Your Life Man" Ralph Edwards. Now the composers of a musical version of "The Corn Is Green" have winged to that clearing In the Jungle to try out the new tunes on her.

Now wouldn't it be nice if somebody offered a role in the show to Mary's son Larry Hagman. By the way, as we hear it, Ralph Edwards got an even bigger surprise than Mary because a minute after his greeting, the electric power died out. (Got mended in due time, of course, and he finished filming.)

The Derrick, Oil City, PA

10/25/1972

SCREENINGS
by Bob Foster

Larry Hagman seems to be a favorite among television bigwigs. He first starred in a soap opera out of New York and when Screen Gems looked around for a leading man for Barbara Eden in "I Dream of Jeannie." Larry got the nod.

When the "Jeannie" show was cancelled, there seemed to be no question that Larry was going to show up in something else quickly. That was the case. He and Screen Gems were disappointed in a series designed to be another "Jeannie." "The Good Life" ran into tough competition and didn't even make it through the season last year.

"Here We Go Again," is already in production for ABC to go into one of the midseason slots. It stars Larry Hagman. Diane Baker, Nita Talbot and Dick Gautier. It's about a couple who exchange spouses. Sounds corny but probably will be good comedy.

San Mateo Times, San Mateo, CA

1/13/1973

BORN TO STARDOM

Larry Hagman, who is starred in the upcoming comedy series, "Here We Go Again," is the son of musical comedy star Mary Martin. Larry appeared with his famous mother in the London production of "South Pacific" playing one of the gobs. His first Broadway show - the first of four - was "Comes a Day," which was followed by roles in two films, "Fail Safe" and "Ensign Pulver."

Larry will be seen with fellow stars Diane Baker, Dick Gautier and Nita Talbot in "Here We Go Again" when the comedy series premieres on the ABC Television Network Saturday, Jan. 20 (8-8:30p.m.).

The Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD

1/13/1973

HAGMAN FEELS TV SHOW DECK STACKED
by Joseph Thesken

HOLLYWOOD - Larry Hagman has mixed feelings about his new series, "Here We Go Again." He is happy to be on a network payroll again, but he has serious misgivings about the time slot given the show by ABC-TV.

"I think we're going up against a stacked deck, frankly, but we'll hope for the best," Hagman confided during an interview.

The "stacked deck" he refers to is "All in the Family," which is the obstacle that Hagman's show must overcome if it is to stay on the air.

Hagman plays an architect involved in a marital mix-up on the Saturday night "Here We Go Again." In the series, Hagman is divorced from his first wife, Nita Talbot, and marries Diane Baker. He makes the mistake of taking up residence near his former mate, who also has remarried.

There will be the predictable "accidental" meetings of Hagman and Miss Talbot, of course, and the jealousy of the present spouse. This is intended to be the source of comedy.

Hagman said that doing the episodes for the series gave him an insight into the problems of a divorced person.

"You don't realize what divorced people go through," he said. "I have been married 19 years to the same woman. That's really unheard of, but I am. So I don't know what divorce does to a person.

"I had to research how divorced people feel - all of my friends have been divorced once or twice.

"There's the child custody bit, the settlement of property, and what happens to the friends the couple used to have. "You know what happens? The friends usually avoid both of them after the divorce. So they have to find new friends."

Hagman said all of the episodes of the series have been completed. Now it's just a matter of sitting back and seeing how the shows do in the ratings

Does he remember any particular episode?

"Yes, there was one that was pretty funny," he answered. "My former wife, Nita Talbot, and I were great basketball fans. We always had season tickets for the games. "Well, the tickets for the big game arrive. Who gets the tickets, my former wife or myself? What finally happens is that I take my former wife. I have to lie about it. Then my current wife sees us on TV at the game."

Hagman is remembered as the earthbound astronaut who romped with Barbara Eden in the "I Dream of Jeannie" series on NBC-TV. It is still on reruns and continues to provide residuals for the actor.

When I first contacted him he was between scenes in an episode he was doing for "Medical Center."

It is a different type of characterization for Hagman, something he welcomed.

"The way I feel, if we do well, OK," he added. "If not, it was worth a try. But what a time slot, going against 'All in the Family'."

The Abilene Reporter-News, Abilene, TX

1/20/1973

ETHEL, JANE, MARY JOIN PAAR
by Bob Martin

"Three Remarkable Women" - Ethel Kennedy, Jane Goodall and Mary Martin - will come into the homes of millions of TV viewers tonight via an hour-long Jack Paar special. The program airs at 10 o'clock on ABC (Channel 7).

In the third segment of the special, Paar and his wife, Miriam, fly to Brazil to visit former movie and Broadway star Mary Martin. The singer and her husband, Richard Halliday live in a remote area, more than a two hour drive from Brasilia, in a villa that Jack calls "one of the most beautiful homes I've ever been in."

Miss Martin reminisces about Broadway, and she is shown riding herd on horseback, designing clothes which she sells in a boutique in a nearby town, performing with her pet poodle, gathering eggs from the thousands of hens they own and exulting over the size of their avocado crop.

By coincidence, Larry Hagman, the son of Mary Martin, returns to TV in a new comedy series tonight, "Here We Go Again," - at 8 o'clock on ABC.

Hagman, who starred in "I Dream of Jeannie" on TV for five years, stars with Diane Baker, Dick Gautier and Nila Talbot in a series about newlyweds whose ex-mates like to drop in at any time. Kids add to the turbulence.

Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA

1/20/1973

HERE WE GO AGAIN (premier)

Here We Go Again - (Premier) As situation comedy series go, here's a pretty good one even though the premise may be a bit too pat. Larry Hagman and Diane Baker are shown getting married in one of those quick ceremonies in a Las Vegas chapel and it's soon revealed that it's the second time around for both. After they get home - enter their ex- spouses who happen to live in the neighborhood. The dialogue is adult and the cast handles the material with a jaunty sense of style.

News-Journal, Mansfield, OH

Now Hagman has made a pilot for yet another series. But this time he doesn't have to fret about Archie Bunker killing him off.

"This new show is for CBS," he said, downing a noonday gourmet Chinese dinner. "That's the network which beams 'All in the Family'. It also is the network for 'The Waltons'. So at least I don't have to worry about those two blockbusters."

Hagman starred with Barbara Eden for five years in "I Dream of Jeannie", followed by the disastrous "The Good Life" and "Here We Go Again" � both of which lasted only a season.

"But I've made three pilots and all three have sold," said Hagman, "And now I'm hoping for four out of four."

His fourth effort is "Sidekicks", based on "The Skin Game" which starred Jim Garner and Lou Gossett.

The Warner Bros, entry also features Gossett. It's the story of a white man and a black man working a con game in the old West.

"I have to be careful about the pilots I decide to make," said Hagman, who is Mary Martin's son.

"I won't make a movie or a television show in which there Is any violence. I refuse to do any fist fights, shootings or killings because I don't believe in brutality of any kind.

"It may sound fanatical, but I refuse to make a guest appearance in a show that relies on brutality. I turned down a guest shot recently when the script called on me to throw boiling water on a 12-year-old girl.

"What kind of horror is that? Why would anyone want to put that kind of thing on a screen for millions of people to see?"

For the last five years Hagman has been turning his back on lucrative jobs rather than display violence in roles.

"One Sunday recently I watched television all day long. I counted 300 people killed in various shows," he said. "You can't tell me that viewers don't become inured to killing. It's madness to brutalize people like that, making them insensitive to pain and death."

While Hagman isn't a devoted church-going man, he does observe the Sabbath by not speaking all day long. He communicates with his wife and son through hand gestures. The Hagmans entertain regularly in their Malibu beach home. They have a large indoor communal bath-like conversation pit in which visitors sit and talk, all the while immersed in swirling waters.

"It's great for relaxing people and putting them at ease," Hagman said. "We enjoy our pool so much that my wife makes the pools now for other people.

3/18/1974

ACTORS, LIKE CON MEN, FOOL PUBLIC

"Actors are like con men," said Larry Hagman judiciously. "We set out to convince people that what they want to be true, is so. That's what con men do. But acting is legal."

He was talking with fellow actor Jack Elam between scenes of "Sidekicks," comedy western about a white man who cons his way through the pre-Civil War west by selling his black buddy as a slave, then both run off with the money.

Based on the feature movie, "Skin Game," it will be broadcast Thursday at 8 p.m. as the first attraction in a comedy twin bill on "The Thursday Night Movies" on Channel 5.

Lou Gossett and Hagman star as the inept partners who are always just a step ahead of their enraged victims. Elam plays the chief of a robbery gang and Harry Morgan a sheriff whose tomboy daughter (played by Blythe Danner) mistakes the con men for a pair of real bank robbers.

Hagman added to his theory: "It's the unfulfilled ambition of any red-blooded American to be a successful con man. It's part of our folklore, the guy who lives by his wits, putting things over on people, getting something for nothing."

Elam agreed. The wall-eyed scoundrel of some 100 movies and 200 television shows noted that he has played his share of con men, lovable and otherwise. "I kind of conned my way into acting," Elam recalled. "I was a movie auditor and ruining my eyes with all those figures. So I offered to arrange financing for some movies if I could act in them. I didn't start out fair and square with drama classes, auditions and a long, hard struggle."

In contrast, Hagman said he'd had a long struggle but it was more involved with trying various pastimes like ranching, traveling and having fun before he finally settled down to an acting career.

The Provo Daily Herald, Provo, UT

Larry Hagman in the News

1966 - 1977 (Currently up to March, 1974)