Linda Gray is pulling back the curtain on one of television’s most famously glamorous couples — and revealing a far less romantic reality behind the scenes.
The actress, who played Sue Ellen Ewing opposite Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” said her on-screen husband deliberately sabotaged their kissing scenes by eating pungent foods beforehand, turning what looked like steamy television romance into an exercise in endurance.
Peanut Butter and Onions
“The first time we kissed, he had a mouthful of peanut butter,” Gray, 85, told Fox News Digital. “I thought, ‘Oh no.’ And I had to keep going with this kiss. The camera didn’t know what was going on.
“But here I was, kissing him with peanut butter. I almost killed him. I was like, ‘You are so bad and very inappropriate, Larry.’ And he didn’t care. He just kept laughing. He thought that was funny.”
The peanut butter was just the beginning.
“And then it was onions,” Gray said. “It was kissing him with peanut butter, onions, whatever he could find in a jar. That wasn’t some romantic thing. On camera, it looked pretty good, but that was not my reality.”
Why the Pranks?
Gray later discovered the food-based sabotage was more than mischief — it was Hagman’s coping mechanism for a job he genuinely dreaded.
“He had told me quite honestly that he didn’t like kissing scenes,” Gray said. “And I thought, ‘Well, we’re going to be kissing a lot!’ So when there was a kissing scene, Larry cringed, just cringed. He did not like it.
But I think the pranks, psychologically, were his way of getting over the anxiety of having to kiss me on camera.”
“It was a daily prank, if you can imagine,” Gray said. “And you never knew who it was going to be next.”
Auctioning a Legacy
Gray shared the stories ahead of Julien’s Auctions’ upcoming “Ladies of the ‘80s” sale, which goes live Aug. 12, 2026. The auction features costumes, props, personal archives and rare memorabilia from some of the decade’s most iconic television stars.
Among the items Gray is offering are two of her original “Dallas” scripts from the episodes surrounding the infamous “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline — the 1980 cliffhanger that became a national obsession and drew an estimated 83 million viewers to its November 1980 resolution.
Her collection also includes screen-used scripts, director’s clapperboards, cast photos and awards from her career. Bidding is open now.
“Dallas” aired from April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991, and at its peak in the 1980s ranked among the most-watched shows on television. Hagman, who died on Nov. 23, 2012, at age 81, remained synonymous with the scheming J.R. Ewing for the rest of his life.
For Gray, the auction is a chance to share a piece of that legacy — and to finally tell the stories behind the scenes the camera did not show.
M. Yogesh runs the newsroom at The Pop Reporter and writes the entertainment news that spans more than one topic — industry changes, awards, and stories that cross movies, TV, and music. His approach is simple: get the facts right first, then give readers the context that explains why it matters.
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Aug 10, 2026
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3 min read
