Larry Martin Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931 in Fort Worth, TX. His mother, Mary Martin, was a well-known Broadway actress, and his father, Benjamin Jack Hagman, was a district attorney. His parents divorced when he was five, and shortly after that, his mother moved to New York City to pursue her Broadway career. Hagman lived with his grandmother in California until she died, sending the future actor back to living with his mother, who married Richard Halliday in 1940. In 1946, he moved back to Weatherford, TX, where he attended high school and drama classes. He soon gained a fan base for his comedic roles and in between school terms, Hagman took minor roles in local stage productions.
In 1949, he graduated from high school and seriously took up acting as a career path. He appeared in “The Taming of the Shrew” in New York City, followed by a number of tent show musicals with St. John Terrell’s Music Circus in St. Petersburg, FL, and Lambertville, NJ. In 1951, he appeared in the London production of “South Pacific” with his mother. A year later, he was drafted into the United States Air Force and was stationed in London. He reportedly spent his service career entertaining U.S. troops in England and other European military bases. It was while being stationed overseas that Hagman met his longtime wife, Maj Axelsson, whom he would go on to have two children with, Heidi Kristina and Preston.
The fledgling actor returned to New York in 1956 after leaving the military. He appeared in numerous off-Broadway plays such as “Once Around the Block” by William Saroyan and “Career” by James Lee. He finally made his Broadway debut in “Comes a Day,” which was followed by four other Broadway productions, “God and Kate Murphy,” “The Nervous Set,” “The Warm Peninsula” and “The Beauty Part.” Around the same time, Hagman appeared on several TV shows, like the soap opera “The Edge of Night” (CBS, 1956-1975, ABC, 1975-1984), where he stayed on for two years as Ed Gibson. He made his film debut in 1964 with the military comedy “Ensign Pulver” and also appeared in the Sidney Lumet-directed Cold War drama “Fail Safe” opposite Henry Fonda.
More guest-starring roles on TV followed, but Hagman really hit it big when he was cast to play Barbara Eden’s small screen leading man, Major Tony, in the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie.” The show about a female genie and her astronaut master-turned-husband was a moderate success for the peacock network when it first aired, but gained popularity through syndication and was the channel’s answer to its rival, ABC’s fantasy-based series “Bewitched” (1964-1972). The show’s popularity began waning five years later; during the last season, Major Tony finally married Jeannie. Hagman also directed three episodes in 1967. However, he was reportedly difficult to work with and was close to being replaced, yet NBC executives loved him and refused to see anyone else take over his role. He did not appear in the television films “I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later” (NBC, 1985), where he was replaced by actor Wayne Rogers, and “I Still Dream of Jeannie” (NBC, 1991), where Major Tony was written off completely. It took 29 years for Hagman to reunite with Eden, when they both appeared on the “The Donny and Marie Show” (syndicated, 1998-2000).
The actor starred in a short-lived series after “Jeannie” – “Here We Go Again” (ABC, 1973) about a couple who moves next door to their former spouses, and “The Good Life” (NBC, 1971-72), along with cameos in numerous shows such as “The Streets of San Francisco” (ABC, 1972-77) and “The Rockford Files” (NBC, 1974-1980). He had mild success on the big screen in the 1970s, with an appearance as Porter Lee Austin in “Stardust” (1974) and as Major in “Superman” (1978). Hagman’s film roles got more political in the 1990s, with the films “Nixon” (1995) and “Primary Colors” (1998).
Hagman struck TV gold one more time with “Dallas,” in which he played the defining role of J.R. Ewing, a conniving businessman who has a love/hate relationship with his family. The show also featured Patrick Duffy as J.R.’s younger brother Bobby, Victoria Principal as his sister-in-law Pamela, and Linda Gray as J.R.’s wife. While the show centered on the lives of Bobby and Pamela, it was evident from the onset that it was J.R. who most fascinated the viewers. Hagman portrayed J.R. so eerily well – complete with the accent and sinister laugh – that some critics thought that he might have been overdoing it. But Hagman, a native Texan, explained that he drew on his many experiences growing up in the Lone Star State to bring authenticity and layers to his abrasive character. The actor was even asked to appear in the “Dallas” spinoff “Knots Landing” (CBS, 1979-1993).
By the end of the second season, “Dallas” and its cast were household names. The episode “Who Shot J.R.?” was viewed by more than 350 million fans and remained the second highest-rated show in the history of that network. At the beginning of the third season, the audience was riveted after spending that summer wagering bets on just who fired off the shots. During all this media frenzy, Hagman, who was holding out for a higher salary, did not return to the third season until later. There was even talk among producers of possibly writing J.R. out of the plot. Mid-season, the producers realized that Dallas could not go on with him, and from then on, Hagman was reportedly paid $75,000 to $100,000 per episode. For his work on the primetime soap, Hagman was nominated for two Emmys and four Golden Globes awards. While he did not nab the Emmys and the Globes, Hagman did win several awards, including a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain on a Prime Time Serial.
The decline in Dallas’ ratings mirrored Hagman’s personal life. He was drinking, and smoking heavily at the time and eventually developed cirrhosis of the liver. Reports that he drank four bottles of champagne on the set were rampant. By the end of the 13th season in 1991, not even J.R. could save the show and producers had no choice but to end it. A cancer scare in the mid-1990s made Hagman quit both his vices and become an advocate for a smoke-free lifestyle. In 1995, he underwent a life-saving liver transplant. He was chairman of the American Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout for many years, and he also worked on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation.
The actor did find time to return to the role that made his career with appearances in a couple of television movies inspired by the series: “Dallas: J.R. Returns” (1996) and “Dallas: War of the Ewings” (1998). He also appeared in the short-lived TV series “Orleans” as Judge Luther Charbonnet, and guest starred as Burt Landau – a billionaire who wanted testicular implants – in the fourth season of the FX medical surgery drama “Nip/Tuck” (2003- ), but apart from occasional guest appearances, kept a relatively low profile.