Smallscreen News

Larry Hagman has died; some TV moments we love (VIDEOS)

By April MacIntyre Nov 24, 2012, 17:44 GMT

RIP Larry Hagman - "Dallas" TV Series Launch Party at Old Billingsgate Market in London on August 21, 2012 - Old Billingsgate Market - London, UK © Solarpix / PR Photos

Television icon Larry Hagman, best known for roles on "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie," has died at age 81.

The LA Times reports that Linda Gray, Larry Hagman's co-star on "Dallas", released a statement through her agent Friday night: "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years. He was an original and lived life to the full. The world was a brighter place because of Larry Hagman."

Hagman's death was also reported in the "Dallas Morning News" Friday night.

What many people do not know about Mr. Hagman was that - by Hollywood standards - his devotion to his wife of more than 50 years, Maj Axelsson. The couple wed in 1954. She survives him, as do his son, Preston; his daughter, Kristina Hagman and five granddaughters.

TV villain as art form was his specialty as the 1980s CBS drama "Dallas" defined the perfect evil yet complex character who lived to stir the pot.

J.R. Ewing to this day is known the world over for fiendish scheming and dastardly deeds. He was brilliant in the role.

For those of us kids who loved him in the early days of his TV career, his role as Major Anthony Nelson, opposite Barbara Eden in “I Dream of Jeannie" stands out too.

Mr. Hagman reportedly died from complications of cancer, his family said in a statement.

He was in Dallas filming an episode of the TNT cable channel’s reboot of that series, which had made him the man audiences loved to hate from 1978 to 1991.

In October 2011, Mr. Hagman announced that he had a “treatable” form of cancer. The actor had announced his cirrhosis in 1992. In 1995, he received a liver transplant after doctors discovered a tumor on his liver.

Please enjoy some of his standout moments:

The pilot episode, filmed in December 1964, and telecast [only once, during its original run] on September 18, 1965. Jeannie is speaking in Farsi when she meets "Master" for the first time: