DALLAS SET MEMORIES THE GUNSHOT THAT ROCKED

THE SHOOTING OF J.R. EWING REMAINS AN ICONIC TV MOMENT

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It was the shot that echoed through living rooms across the globe. Dallas fans were in complete disarray, 45 years ago this week, when it was finally revealed who shot scheming oil baron J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman), after he'd been gunned down by a mystery assailant eight months earlier.

Speculation reached fever pitch as viewers waited to find out if J.R. would survive and also, who pulled the trigger.

It was also a question that became one of the most bankable PR slogans ever used in TV marketing history. J.R.’s wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) was the prime suspect, but her ex Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin) was also in the frame. Bookies everywhere took bets on the outcome.

“Before that fateful shot rang out, I was merely bemused by the success of J.R.,” Larry, who died in 2012 aged 81, once said.