Linda Ann Gray born September 12 1940 is an American film stage and television actress director producer and former model best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing the longsuffering wife of Larry Hagmans character JR Ewing on the CBS television drama series Dallas 19781989 1991 20122014 for which she was nominated for the 1981 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series The role also earned her two Golden Globe Awards Gray began her career in the 1960s in television commercials In the 1970s she appeared in numerous TV series before landing the role of Sue Ellen Ewing in 1978 After leaving Dallas in 1989 she appeared opposite Sylvester Stallone in the 1991 film Oscar From 1994 to 1995 she played a leading role in the Fox drama series Models Inc and also starred in TV movies including Moment of Truth Why My Daughter 1993 and Accidental Meeting 1994 She went on to reprise the role of Sue Ellen in Dallas JR Returns 1996 Dallas War of the Ewings 1998 and in the TNT series Dallas 20122014 which continued the original series On stage Gray starred as Mrs Robinson in The Graduate in the West End of London in 2001 then on Broadway the following year In 2007 she starred as Aurora Greenaway in the world premiere production of Terms of Endearment at the Theatre Royal York and stayed with the production when it toured the United Kingdom After the second Dallas was cancelled in 2014 Gray again took to the stage this time in the role of the Fairy Godmother in a London production of Cinderella Linda Gray was born in 1940 in Santa Monica California She grew up in Culver City California where her father Leslie who was a watchmaker had a shop Before acting Gray worked as a model in the 1960s and began her acting career in television commercials nearly 400 of themand also made brief appearances in feature films such as Under the Yum Yum Tree and Palm Springs Weekend in 1963 Gray began her professional acting career in the 1970s with guest roles on many television series such as Marcus Welby MD McCloud and Switch prior to signing with Universal Studios in 1974 She also appeared in the films The Big RipOff 1975 and Dogs 1976 In 1977 she was cast as fashion model Linda Murkland the first transgender series regular on American television in the television series All That Glitters The show a spoof of the soapopera format was cancelled after just 13 weeks Gray was then cast as suspicious wife Carla Cord in the 1977 television movie Murder in Peyton Place Source Article Linda Gray from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30