Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth Ewing Farlow is a fictional principal character from the CBS soap opera Dallas, a long running serial centered around the lives of the wealthy Ewing family living in Dallas, Texas. Throughout her run, the character remains an important part of the show's structure. Created by writer David Jacobs, the role was originated by screen actress Barbara Bel Geddes in the series pilot episode until her departure in 1985.^[1] After Bel Geddes left, she was replaced by movie actress Donna Reed, who would only play the part for one season.^[2] Bel Geddes returned at the start of Dallas's next season.^[1][2] She remained on the show until its twelfth season, when she wanted to retire from acting. The character of Miss Ellie was written out following her departure.^[2] Bel Geddes also appeared in all the Dallas episodes for 6 1/2 seasons, with the exception of 2, and 1/3 of the episodes at the beginning of the 1983-84 season, due to her recovery from her heart surgery.^[3]

Miss Ellie's storylines focus on her families troubles. As the matriarch of the Ewing family, she is portrayed as a strong and loving mother to her family. Miss Ellie's marriage to oil baron Jock Ewing was central to the character for the first few years she appeared on the show, until his death on the program in 1981, following the real life death of actor Jim Davis.^[4]

Character creation [link]

Casting [link]

Miss Ellie Ewing is one of the original characters invented by the creator of Dallas, David Jacobs. Before the creation of the show, Jacobs originally had quite a different idea of what he envisioned the show to be. He wanted to create a television show based on "family issues and examining relationships at the middle class level".^[5] The Production Company, CBS, initially turned down his original idea, as they wanted something more "glitzy" to put on the air, with wealthier characters. After the success of Dallas, Jacobs' initial idea would later become the Dallas spin-off Knots Landing. Bel Geddes was the first actress to sign on to star in the series. In Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap by Barbara A. Curran, producer Leonard Katzman said that "at the time no one was looking for big-name actors".^[6] When asked what attracted her to the young serial, the actress said: "I needed a job and I needed to make some money."^[6]

Storylines [link]

Miss Ellie, born around 1915, is the daughter of rancher Aaron Southworth, who instills in her a fierce pride in her heritage, deep-seated courage, and a strong belief in the strength of family. During the 1930s, Miss Ellie has been the sweetheart of Digger Barnes. When the Great Depression hits Miss Ellie's family came dangerously close to losing Southfork Ranch and Miss Ellie begins dating Digger's ex-partner and former friend Jock Ewing, who had just began making his fortune in the oil business and building Ewing Oil. On the day her family is going to lose Southfork, Miss Ellie marries Jock who pays off her family's debt and saves the ranch from foreclosure. While she initially marries Jock to save Southfork, she grows to love him and they remain married for over forty years until his death in 1981. The couple has three sons, J.R., Gary and Bobby.

As the years pass Jock builds Ewing Oil into one of the biggest and most powerful independent oil companies in Texas and Southfork grew into a very successful ranch again under Jock's leadership. Jock takes over raising his eldest son J.R. and grooms him to be the heir to Ewing Oil, thus making him one of the most powerful oilmen in the oil business. Miss Ellie has more influence on their second son Gary whom she thinks is more like the Southworths than the Ewings, and she resents Jock's treatment of Gary, whom Jock considers weak and is bullied by J.R. Jock and Miss Ellie's youngest son Bobby is the favorite Ewing son and is spoiled by both Jock and Miss Ellie.

In 1979, Miss Ellie is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes a mastectomy and fully recovers. In 1980, she learns that ranch foreman Ray Krebbs is Jock's illegitimate son from an affair with an Army nurse named Margaret Hunter in England during World War II. This revelation caused tension in Miss Ellie and Jock's marriage, as she felt that Jock had replaced Ray for their second son Gary. The tension almost leads Miss Ellie and Jock to divorce, but they reconcile in 1981, they have a second honeymoon in Paris. Miss Ellie also accepts Ray into the family, even though she is not his biological mother. Shortly thereafter, Jock goes to South America on a mission to help the U.S. government explore oil in the jungle. In 1982, on his return, Jock is involved in a helicopter crash and is reported to have been killed, although his body is never recovered.

In 1983, Miss Ellie goes to court to overturn the terms of Jock's will, which set up a fierce and bitter competition between two of their sons, J.R. and Bobby, for control of Ewing Oil. Miss Ellie loses the case after failing to convince the court that Jock was mentally incompetent at the time he wrote his will. Before Jock's death, Sue Ellen Ewing leaves J.R., taking John Ross to live at the Southern Cross Ranch near San Angelo, TX, the home of her new boyfriend, rodeo cowboy Dusty Farlow. In an attempt to steal back John Ross, J.R. takes Miss Ellie on a visit, where she first meets Dusty's father, Clayton Farlow. Later, she and Clayton settle a problem caused by J.R. involving Clayton's refineries. When Clayton helps Sue Ellen as she reconciles with J.R., he and Miss Ellie become friendly and eventually start dating. In 1984, two years after Jock's death, Miss Ellie marries Clayton Farlow, despite the attempts of J.R. and Clayton's sister, Jessica Montfort, to stop the wedding.

In 1986, a man named Wes Parmalee claims that he is in fact her presumed late husband, Jock, who had actually survived the helicopter crash, but underwent extensive plastic surgery which drastically altered his appearance. Miss Ellie is torn between believing Wes' claims and this puts a strain on her marriage to Clayton. Eventually, Wes confesses that he is a fraud. In 1990, Miss Ellie and Clayton go on a tour of the Orient. While overseas, Miss Ellie decides not to return to Dallas because she is tired of dealing with all the headaches and heartaches from J.R.'s and Bobby's lives. She deeds Southfork ranch to her youngest son, Bobby. In the 2012 series, it is revealed that Miss Ellie died in 2001 and is buried on Southfork.

Notes [link]

References [link]

• Curran, Barbara A. (2005). Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap. Cumberland House Publishing. ISBN 978-1581824728.