Linda Gray – Exclusive Interview

DallasTVshow.com: Welcome Linda Gray AKA Sue Ellen Ewing and possibly the future Governor of Texas to DallasTVshow.com. Congratulations on the success of the show and season two

Linda Gray: Thank you very much, it's lovely. We are so excited

DallasTVshow.com: How does it feel knowing the show will be back for fifteen episodes (up from ten)?

Linda Gray: It's exciting. It's always lovely when you know your number one and you get to do more of what you love to do. That's just the way I look at it

DallasTVshow.com: And you feel the love from the viewing public? (Laughs)

Linda Gray: Yes. It's great to do what you love to do and have the response that we're getting. People ask me how does it feel with that twenty year gap and I feel that everything just evaporated. I think that's the best way I can describe it, is that it doesn't feel like twenty years have certainly gone by. It feels like maybe it was a year ago we were there doing it.

DallasTVshow.com: DallasTVshow.com has been inundated with questions, the in-box is full

Linda Gray: Good

DallasTVshow.com: You are really popular

Linda Gray: Good, that's great

DallasTVshow.com (Alan B in Ontario): Loving you on Dallas. What are the main differences between old Sue Ellen and Sue Ellen in 2012?

Linda Gray: There are a lot of differences but you haven't seen them yet. You have to be patient. You are going to see what she's been doing. I found it very interesting when we were invited back, the three of us. I wanted Sue Ellen to be different. As an actor what I love to do is the homework. I like to do the homework first to find out the internal stuff, what is she up to? What is she doing? Where has she been? Who has she been with? What is she drinking these days?....

DallasTVshow.com: Not alcohol

Linda Gray: (Laughs) Not alcohol. I take it very seriously, my job, so I wanted to go deep within Sue Ellen and say who are you? Who are you girlfriend? I felt I had to take Sue Ellen to lunch, sit her down, and download what she's been up to. I did a lot of homework. I walk every day, so every time I went for a walk I would get glimmers into where I felt [she was]. People forget that we are not in charge, we have ideas we can share with the writers but the writers have to knead the story tightly together, they have to make sure that one is not off doing one thing and the other is off doing another thing. They have to weave it together so beautifully that at the end of each episode something has come together or not, it may continue but there has to be a plot you can follow. So you can have these harebrained ideas but maybe they don't make any sense in the script, they call it the bible, but in the whole big picture everybody has to fit into that. So I may have some great idea or not a great idea but it may not fit into their plans. I gave my ideas to them and they were so receptive, some made it, some didn't and that's ok. That's what the creative process is all about.

DallasTVshow.com (Jacob in Canada): How have you changed as an actress when you look back at those first original episodes, what's your approach?

Linda Gray: Hopefully every human being, you change and you grow. You kind of go inward and think where are you going in life? What are you doing? I think my character this time is deeper. I've had a lot of experience, I do theatre, television, and I do a lot so it enriches you as an actor. There is a depth that goes on that maybe I didn't have before. I don't know, I do my job the best I can every day. Sometimes you look back and think this was a deeper quality, I feel that about now, Sue Ellen now.

DallasTVshow.com (Chantelle in DC): Love you Linda. I just watched episode five and it was great but no Sue Ellen. The character has not featured as much as I hoped. Will this change? Some of your scenes appear to be cut like slapping JR and some scenes with Cliff. What’s going on? Where's Sue Ellen hiding?

Linda Gray: (Laughs) I'm not hiding at all. I think that's something she should direct to the writers. It isn't up to me. There were two shows that I wasn't in because they had other plots. I knew that going into it, so it wasn't a surprise for me. Tell the fans not to worry; the episode last night (episode five) is the last episode Sue Ellen is not in. From now on, hang on, because she’s back in business. But I think those people should go and tell the writers or TNT or somebody, that they are not happy because I don't like not being there, I want to be in every episode. They had other plots they thought were more important. I don't know, I'm not in charge of that.

DallasTVshow.com: They cut the scene at the barbecue with you and Larry dancing. Did anything important happen in that scene with you and Cliff that we missed?

Linda Gray: Yes (laughs). To me there was. Here's what I think, and this is just a broad stroke, I'm not the authority on this, the writers are in charge. Sometimes what happens is, when they get together and start cutting it they realize they have way too much time, when you take away the commercials, you cut that out of the process, and it’s actually forty one minutes. So if a scene isn't that important for driving the plot forward they'll cut it out. I think what they are realizing now is that the scripts are too long, so they have to cut out something less important. I don't take this personally as something has to go.

DallasTVshow.com: It'll probably end up on the DVD we hope as deleted scenes

Linda Gray: Yeah I do too. That's when you have more leeway. Where you don't have commercials chopping it up a little bit. That's one of the things that happens you know

DallasTVshow.com (Greta in New Jersey): “Sue Ellen seems to be riding high but would you find it more interesting as an actress if she hit hard times again?”

Linda Gray: I think it's lovely that people are so involved, I'm so appreciative. But again I go right back to the writers. I didn't write Sue Ellen to be an alcoholic in the beginning (laughs) and we are just as surprised as anybody else when we read a script. But as an actor I love it, I love being complex and complicated. There isn't a human being I know who's one note, we're all a little complex, and we've got idiosyncrasies like that, which is a fun for an actress to play. You don't want to play boring and flat so I love Sue Ellen, I adore her but the fans have to realize that we are not in charge. They write what they write and we do our best to bring magic into those words. That's what I think a lot of fans don't realize, they think we invent things, we don't, we're actors, we look at the script and think "wow what am I doing now?" The last three episodes of this season are so interesting because when we were reading them we called each other, I would say to Larry "Did you know this was going to happen?" and he'd go "No I didn't see this coming" and Patrick would call "Did you know that was going to happen?" "No". So when an actor is surprised you know it's good because it blindsided us.

DallasTVshow.com: Patrick said it was a jaw dropping finale. Can you tell us anything? Any hints?

Linda Gray: No

DallasTVshow.com: No?

Linda Gray: No. Are you kidding? (Laughs) That's the perfect way to sum it up, because maybe the last, let's see, I saw them back to back, no commercials, we have the DVDs, I'm not telling you anything (Laughs). I was stunned, as a viewer I was stunned because we read the script, filmed it, etc. But the pacing and the surprises that will happen will throw everybody on the floor. Just get ready. You have to go to the bathroom; you have to get your snacks before you sit down because you won't believe what happens.

DallasTVshow.com (Special thanks): Special thanks to Linda Gray for taking part and thanks to all the fans for their questions.