Bobby Ewing

Bobby Ewing
Dallas character
First appearance	April 2, 1978 Digger's Daughter
Created by	David Jacobs
Portrayed by	Patrick Duffy
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Roadman for Ewing Oil (1970s) Executive at Ewing Oil (1978, 1980) CEO of Ewing Construction (1978-1980) CEO of Ewing Oil (1980, 1982-1987, 1988-1990, 1996-1998) Senator for the State of Texas (1981) CEO of Petro Group Dallas (1987-1988) Owner of the Southfork Ranch
Family	Jock Ewing (father) (deceased) Ellie Farlow (mother) Clayton Farlow (stepfather) J.R. Ewing (brother) Garrison "Gary" Ewing (brother) Ray Krebbs (paternal half brother)
Spouse(s)	Pamela Barnes (divorced twice, 1978-83, 1986-87) April Stevens (widowed, 1990) Ann Ewing (2005- present)
Children	Christopher Ewing (adopted son, with Pam) Lucas Krebbs (son, with Jenna Wade)
Relatives	Lucy Ewing Cooper (niece) James Richard Beaumont (nephew) John Ross Ewing III (nephew) Terrance Harper (nephew) Bobby Ewing (nephew) Betsy Ewing (niece) Margaret Krebbs (paternal half-niece) Molly Whittaker (niece)

Robert James Ewing, commonly called Bobby Ewing, is a fictional character central to the long running TV soap opera Dallas. The youngest son of Jock and Ellie Ewing, he was portrayed by actor Patrick Duffy between 1978 and 1991, although both the actor and the character left the show briefly during 1985-1986. The show was originally planned to center around Bobby's Romeo and Juliet-style marriage to Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal), who was from the rival Barnes family. However, the show ended up being centralized around his older brother, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), as it became clear that he was the breakout character.

Date of Birth

He was born 16 February 1949 on Southfork, according to his gravestone in season 8's "dream-season". However, in the episode Charade, Season 13, his date of birth is shown as 16 February 1949.

Bobby was a successful (though reluctant) oil baron, like his father and brother, but he lacked J.R.'s ruthlessness and insisted on playing fair which resulted in his limited success. Bobby could be seen as kind-spirited or naive in what was portrayed as a vicious, cut-throat business. When they weren't at odds with each other, the brothers had many run-ins with his brother in law Cliff Barnes, and later more formidable enemies such as Jeremy Wendell and Carter McKay, successive heads of huge oil conglomerate Westar.

The oil industry was not Bobby's only interest. From time to time he also took part in the raising of cattle on the family ranch, Southfork. He was also a state senator in Austin for a while. For several years, Bobby drove a red third generation Mercedes-Benz SL with the license plate EWING 4. In 1987, J.R. replaced Bobby's destroyed Mercedes with a black Maserati Biturbo cabriolet (the Mercedes was driven by Pam on the day of her fateful crash). After that, Bobby owned a bronze-colored Jaguar XJ-S convertible. In season 13 he once again drives a Mercedes-Benz SL-Class in bronze of the fourth generation from 1989.

Bobby's most defining character trait was his altruistic desire to do the right thing. This almost always put him in the cross-hairs of his older brother J.R., who was far more ruthless. Yet Bobby did on many occasions use ruthless tactics in order to attempt to beat J.R. Bobby was one of the few characters on the show to openly take a stand against J.R. on numerous occasions (at times physically), yet the two never forgot they were brothers.

In addition to the differences between their treatment of others, as well as their conflicting views on morality, another reason for JR and Bobby's rivalry was their father's preference for Bobby (their mother, Miss Ellie, favored middle son Gary). Growing up, and even into adulthood, Jock made no secret of the fact that Bobby was his favorite son. This caused a major rivalry with J.R., who was jealous of the unearned favoritism Bobby got from Jock.

Patrick Duffy leaves and returns

At the end of the 1984-85 season, Patrick Duffy expressed his desire to leave the series. Thus, his character of Bobby died when he was run over by a car driven by his sister-in-law, Katherine Wentworth. This proved to be a mistake as it left the show without one of its most popular characters. Larry Hagman persuaded Duffy to return to the series the following season. Dallas scriptwriters created a storyline which featured Pam waking up to find Bobby in the shower (in the May 1986 cliffhanger episode) - with the realization that the storylines of the preceding season, including the accident, were nothing more than a lengthy dream sequence (thus invalidating the entire 1985-1986 season of the show).

Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal didn't appear in the same scene when he returned at the end of Season 8. Principal had her scene shot on her own whilst Duffy had footage of a soap commercial merged into the scene.

Season 10

Season 10 saw Pam leave Bobby after she was involved in a car crash which resulted in her suffering severe burns. She disappeared from the hospital and Bobby never saw her again.

Series finale

In the final episode, Bobby is first on the scene after hearing a gunshot from J.R.'s room uttering the words "Oh my God." The camera never shows what Bobby actually saw and it was thought J.R. committed suicide, although in subsequent films it was explained J.R. shot a mirror.

Other romances

Bobby also had a long time on off relationship with Jenna Wade and the two were briefly engaged. In 1990, Bobby married April Stevens but in the last season, April was kidnapped on their honeymoon in Paris before being shot dead.

Bobby always had an interesting relationship with his on again-off again sister-in-law Sue Ellen Ewing. They kissed on several occasions, but a relationship never materialized.

In the fifth season, Bobby adopted a boy named Christopher, who was the son of J.R's deceased sister-in-law, Kristin Shepard. He also has a son named Lucas Krebbs from his relationship with Jenna Wade.

Reunion films

When Dallas released the films J.R. Returns and War of the Ewings, Bobby had a relationship with Julia Cunningham (J.R. Returns) before taking over Ewing Oil. In the follow-up film War of the Ewings he is no longer with Julia and the reasons are not even explained. He eventually starts a relationship with European oil heiress Jennifer Jansen, who was a business associate of his brother J.R. and whose father's company Jansen Oil was saved from bankruptcy by J.R.

He will return in the 2012 TNT sequel, so far nothing is know about his current life but it has been revealed that he is married to a woman named Ann. The focus will be on Christopher, his adopted son, who had become a lot like his father and his late grandmother, Miss Ellie, in that he was more interested in the upkeep of Southfork.

Trivia

• Bobby Ewing appeared in almost all the episodes of the series, was frequently seen in 326 of the 357 episodes (missing 31 episodes, at the start of the 1985-86 season - when he left the show to focus on TV movies, and 1 episode at the end of the 1989-90 season).
• Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman first co-starred in the 1974 made-for-TV movie Hurricane, but had no scenes together.