Larry Hagman dies - but Dallas will go on without its biggest villain

THE new series of Dallas will be rewritten following the death of the actor Larry Hagman, who played villainous oil tycoon JR Ewing in the TV soap.

Channel Five, which broadcasts the revival of the show in the UK, said the second series was in production and iconic actor’s death would be incorporated into the storyline.

Tourists and local people flocked to Southfork Ranch with armfuls of flowers in a tribute to Hagman, who died in Dallas on Friday, aged 81, from to complications from his battle with throat cancer.

Southfork, a ranch north of Dallas, was known to millions of viewers as the Ewing family home. Exterior shots of the house and pool were shown when the series was shown from 1978 to 1991, although the actual show was not filmed there.

The ranch has been open for tours since the mid-1980s and now sees more than 100,000 visitors each year. Each room of the house has a theme for each character.

Yesterday JR Ewing’s room had flowers and a card for tourists to sign.

“Today is about Larry Hagman and his family,” said Janna Timm, a Southfork Ranch & Hotel spokeswoman. “He was such a wonderful person, and we will really miss him.”

Linda Sproule, of Peterborough, Ontario, had been travelling through the US when she heard about Hagman’s death while in Dallas.

She said she did not know 
initially where Southfork was but wanted to come because she was a fan of the show in the 1980s.

“I remember on Friday nights we watched it, and JR was bigger than life in some ways,” she said after taking the Southfork tour.

“This ranch is beautiful. Being here is kind of emotional.”

All the locations in the new series were filmed at Southfork or other sites in the Dallas area.

Hagman, from Fort Worth-born in Texas, also had visited Southfork before the show was revived.

“He was definitely a gentleman,” said Jim Gomes, vice president of resorts at Southfork Ranch and Hotel. “He loved the fans as much as they loved him.”