Isn’t that Sue Ellen from Dallas??? Oh, no it isn’t. Oh, yes it is! Well, it is Linda Gray who played JR Ewing’s long-suffering drunken wife in the cult TV series Dallas making her panto debut in Cinderella at London’s New Wimbledon Theatre. Although it’s not Linda’s first appearance on the London stage, it is her first in the British festive tradition. She was encouraged by Patrick Duffy, aka Bobby Ewing, Dallas‘s other surviving star, who played Baron Hardup (Cinderella’s father) in London and told her, “you’ve got to do it!” Linda mixes a touch of the Texan with the familiar fairy tale, playing the stetson-toting, hip flask swigging Fairy Godmother who helps Cinders get to the ball. Her stage credits included the role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate on both the West End and Broadway stages in the early 2000’s. And here’s a piece of trivia: it’s Linda’s uncredited leg in the iconic 1967 poster for The Graduate film. Her anonymous stocking-clad stem stood in for the film’s star Anne Bancroft at $25 a leg. Cinderella continues at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 11 January 2015.
Drawing: Linda Gray in Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre
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