I was sorry to hear this morning that Larry Hagman has died at the age of 81.
Most people will only remember him in Dallas – a TV show that now looks so dated that it can never be shown seriously as a re-run on TV. It was the one about an evil oil baron, done Hollywood-style – and began the trend in the 80s for huge shoulder pads in womens clothing.
But I will always remember him in the sit-com, I Dream Of Jeannie, with Barbara Eden (from the same era as Bewitched – in spite of searches finding this blog to that effect, I don’t think he ever appeared in that show, and he was certainly never one of the main male leads in it).
I grew up with that show (and had a teenage crush on Barbara Eden), and apart from the fact that the subject matter isn’t what people go for these days, the show itself is still funny when it gets an occasional airing on one of the satellite channels.
When he was cast, he was an upcoming new actor and regarded by many as “a young Jack Lemmon”.