Linda Gray Says She ‘Couldn’t Go Anywhere’ Due to ‘Furor’ Around ‘Who Shot J.R?’ Cliffhanger amid Writers’ Strike (Exclusive)

Angela AndaloroSun, August 16, 2026 at 9:59 AM UTC

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Linda Gray (left), Larry HagmanCredit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty; CBS via Getty -

Linda Gray played Sue Ellen Ewing, wife of J.R. Ewing, on Dallas throughout the series run from 1978 to 1991

Sue Ellen was one of the prime suspects in the infamous “Who shot J.R.?” storyline that began with a cliffhanger at the end of the show’s third season

Gray tells PEOPLE about what it was like trying to navigate life amid the 1980 writers’ strike, with the cliffhanger dangling over the cast

It wasn’t easy being on the cast of Dallas during one of television’s most infamous arcs.

In a recent catch-up with PEOPLE in support of the “Ladies of the ‘80s” auction by Julien’s Auctions, Linda Gray opened up about one of the most buzzed-about storylines in TV history. Gray played Sue Ellen Ewing, wife of J.R. Ewing on Dallas from 1978 to 1991.

TV historians and casual fans alike are familiar with the question, “Who shot J.R.?” In the final moments of the show’s third season finale, J.R. (Larry Hagman), the show’s scheming villain but also arguably its central character, was seen getting shot by an off-screen assailant.

The cliffhanger left fans abuzz, wondering who could have been behind the gun. Gray remembers it was “crazy” during fans’ wait for the next season, especially when that season was delayed by the 1980 Writers Guild of America writers’ strike, which postponed the production of Dallas and other network shows by eight weeks.

Kristin Shepard, Sue Ellen Ewing, Cliff Barnes, Dr. Miles Pearson, Bobby Ewing, Lucy Ewing, Eleanor Southworth ‘Miss Ellie’ Ewing, Ray Krebbs, and John Ross ‘Jock’ Ewing in ‘Dallas’Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty

“There was the writers’ strike, and then it was our summer break. It was just a long, long time where you basically couldn’t go anywhere because everybody would pounce,” Gray tells PEOPLE.

“I took my children to the supermarket, and every two feet, somebody would stop me and say, ‘Oh, who shot J.R.? Ha ha ha.’ I thought, ‘I’m going mental,’ ” she continues. “My kids eventually said, ‘We don’t want to go to the supermarket with you anymore because it’s not fun. We just keep getting stopped.’ I agreed with them.”

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Gray remembers the “furor” of knowing she’d be approached, no matter what. “It was like, ‘Oh my God, you can’t go anywhere.’ It was crazy for us. We’d go to a restaurant and people would interrupt dinner and want an autograph. It drove my kids crazy and I can’t blame them. And it just went on for months, the strike and everything else. That was a tough summer.”

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Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in ‘Dallas’Credit: Monti Spry/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty

When it was time to return to production, Gray was ready for an end to the long “summer break.”

“I was like a kid getting back to school, where you can’t wait to get back and see your friends, and that’s how I felt. I was like, ‘Let me go play with my friends,’ and that’s how I felt. But it was such a long, truly a long, hot summer, and that was not fun.”

Viewers waited eight months, to the day, to find out that sister-in-law Kristin Shepard was the real assailant who framed Sue Ellen for the shooting.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”