Linda Gray
Born September 12, 1940
An American screen and stage actress, director, producer and former model. She is best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the long running CBS television series Dallas (1978-1989), for which she was nominated for two Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She played a leading role on the Fox drama series Models Inc. from 1994 to 1995 and played roles in several made-for-TV movies, appeared on movies like Oscar and Expecting Mary and performed on stage productions, such as The Graduate and Terms of Endearment. As of 2012 she starred on the TNT series Dallas.
Linda Ann Gray was born in Santa Monica, California. Prior to acting, she worked as a model in the 1960s and began her acting career in television commercials-nearly 400 of them, and also made brief appearances in the feature films, such as Under the Yum Yum Tree and Palm Springs Weekend in 1963.
Linda began her professional acting career in the 1970s, with guest roles on many television series such as Marcus Welby, M.D., McCloud and Switch. She also made appeared on films The Big Rip-Off (1975) and Dogs (1976).
She achieved stardom for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing, J.R.’s long-suffering alcoholic wife, in the CBS drama series Dallas (1978-89, 1991). Initially a recurring guest role for the five-episode first series, Gray became a series regular later in 1978 and remained with the show until 1989. Her character was well received by television critics. The Biography Channel said, "Who could ever forget Dallas with the gin-swilling Sue Ellen Ewing, replete with shoulder pads long before Dynasty, staggering around Southfork Ranch with a permanently tearful expression as she suffered the brunt of J.R. Ewing’s evil ways?"
After Dallas, Linda starred in the 1991 comedy film Oscar with Sylvester Stallone and then made guest appearances in British drama Lovejoy (starring her co-star and love interest from her final series on Dallas, Ian McShane). She also starred in several made-for-TV movies, including 1991’s The Entertainers (with Bob Newhart), Bonanza: The Return (1993), Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter (1993), and Accidental Meeting (1994).
She appeared in the Dallas reunion TV movies Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996) and Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998.
In 2001, Linda portrayed Mrs. Robinson in the West End theatre production of Charles Webb’s The Graduate. This brought her full circle, as her legs (not Ann Bancroft’s) were the ones in the famous scene in the movie The Graduate where Mrs. Robinson’s legs are admired by Dustin Hoffman. Linda made her theatre directing debut with play Murder in the First, and other acting stage work includes Terms of Endearment, Agnes of God and Love Letters.
Linda returned to television in 2004 as a guest star in five episodes daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, playing Priscilla Kelly.
She starred in several independent films, including award-winning drama Reflections of a Life (2006), where she played best friend of a woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Expecting Mary (2010), The Flight of the Swan (2011) and Hidden Moon (2012).
In 2008, Linda appeared in The CW series 90210, which, like Melrose Place and Models Inc. before it, is a spin-off from the original Beverly Hills, 90210. She has now appeared in three of the five series in the franchise.
In 2012, Linda reprised her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the TNT drama series Dallas, a continuation of the original series.
She was married for 21 years to Ed Thrasher, an art director and photographer who designed many iconic album covers throughout the 60s and 70s. The couple divorced in 1983; they had two children: Jeff Thrasher and Kehly Sloane. Linda also has two grandsons, Ryder and Jack Sloane. Her younger sister, Betty, died in 1989 from breast cancer. Linda is also the aunt (by marriage) of actress Lindsay Wagner, best known as The Bionic Woman. She resides in Los Angeles, California.
