The REAL Miss Ellie Ewing

[Frankie]

Well all know that Miss Ellie was a sweet innocent Texas Belle, but could Miss Ellie have really been not-so-nice?

I mean do you think Miss Ellie really was the happy-go-lucky woman we saw on tv, or could there have been another side to Miss Ellie we never saw? Maybe she had the potential to be an Angela Channing.

[SueEllen35]

I disagree. Miss Ellie was the type of person that had a big heart. Full of warmth and tenderness. But, she also had a side of her that was all country. Very much a tomb-boy when she was younger. She cared too much about family, but didn't have that mean spirited way like J.R., Katherine, Angelica Nero, Jeremy did. She was ready to fight anyone for her children or any member of the Ewing family. You saw her stand up for Sue Ellen, Pam and others that married into the family. Family came first to her. She just didn't have that "I want total control and I'm going to manipulate whomever I want" kind of person. Remember how she reacted to the reporter during J.R.'s and Bobby's disappearance? That's the kind of strong-willed Miss Ellie everyone knows. She's just simple with her walking the ranch, planting her flowers and help bringing up her grand-children. She's a fighter, don't get me wrong. But a different kind of fighter.

[Jarrett]

Ellie wasnt all peaches and cream. She was a golddigger. She dumped Digger for Jocks money. I doubt she was in love with jock in the beginning, just a money loving ho.

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Proud member of the Ray Krebbs Fanclub
Member of the send SueEllen back to the sanitarium taskforce

[James A]

She wasn't a gold digger but she did marry Jock for his money but it was to save her beloved Southfork. We all knew she loved the land almost as much as she loved Jock, Clayton and the boys, which is why she left it in the last season because she was tierd of it. More bad scripts from the writers i think.

[Jarrett]

The facts speak for theirselves, she was a golddigger. I am sure there was other things she did as well.

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Proud member of the Ray Krebbs Fanclub
Member of the send SueEllen back to the sanitarium taskforce

[SueEllen35]

Jarrett, you crack me up too! I totally disagree with your statement though!

According to "Dallas: The Early Years", Miss Ellie got pregnant with J.R. and had no choice but to marry Jock. In the show, nothing is mentioned about her getting pregnant with J.R. but just marrying Jock to save the ranch. Which one are we to believe? I guess it depends on which scenario is correct. Miss Ellie doesn't seem to me to be a "ho" in the fact that she did marry Jock Ewing. I think she was really in love with Jock even though he ended up saving the ranch. I think it just happened that way.

[Pam Ewing]

Miss Ellie dumped Digger because he was an irresponsible drunk. Later, she was only being nice to Digger letting him think he had any chance with her.

Jock was the gold digger. he married Ellie and got Southfork, which was worth a fortune, with a littl bit of capital infusion.

Actually I think Jock and Ellie loved each other very much. No way would they have lasted forty years together if they hadn't.

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JR: "Bobby, you're becoming a regular little detective"
Bobby: "Well, JR, that's a handy talent to have with a brother like you"

[snuggletiger]

From the episodes I don't get the impression that JR was an accident. He was the first born Heir to the Empire sort of thing. and Ellie Raised him during the war and when Jock Came home he took over raising JR.

[Tatianna]

As I recall the scene where she told Ray to get her shotgun from the hall closet, she could be hard as nails if the situation required her to be.

[eciton burchelli]

I would not call her a gold-digger. For one thing, gold-diggers usually pretend to like someone for themselves when they are only interested in their money- there was no charade like that in Jock and Ellie's relationship- he used being able to save Southfork as leverage to get Miss Ellie to fall for him, but both were fully aware of the situation and what was happening. No one was pretending, and that is the difference. Ellie never appeared to be anything but sincere in her love for Jock, no matter what prompted her to start loving him.

I don't think Ellie could be Angela Channing- she was not one to decieve and lie- but it did seem like she could be MEAN if she had to. I can see direct confrontations but nothing like some web of lies - she would be straightforward in her attacks on people- upfront about it.

She was probably a lot like Donna, actually, and maybe that is why they got along so well.

[Dr. Chip]

Watching "Dallas" again all these years later, I'm struck by how dysfunctional the Ewing family is. And the person I blame the most (and I hate to say this) is Miss Ellie.

Every time something bad happens, she wants to deny it; hide it from Jock; and make sure nobody else even discusses how they're feeling about things. When J.R. and Bobby's plane went down, she refused to let Sue Ellen and Pam think about it because it might upset Jock.

She watched Sue Ellen drinking like a fish during her pregnancy and didn't say anything until right before J.R. had her committed.

She wanted to keep her cancer a secret and was very rude to Pam at the hospital.

She would have hidden Lucy's drug habit from the family, but Bobby and Ray found out and hid it from her first!

When Bobby and Pam came home and announced their marriage, Miss Ellie practically scolded Bobby and fretted about how Jock would react.

She sat around and cried for Gary all the time, yet she never stopped J.R. from interfering with Valene. When J.R. took Lucy from Valene and brought her back to Southfork, why did Miss Ellie let him do that?

And in the very end, when she'd had all she could take, she decided to leave the ranch she'd loved since childhood and move to Europe ... instead of telling her grown sons to get out of her house and grow up.

Miss Ellie. Mama. Gotta love her.

Chip

[eciton burchelli]

Truthfully, the series ended when Pam got in her car crash at the end of Season 9. It didn't officially end for four more years, but that should all be considered a dream by someone, we don't know who. So Miss Ellie leaving the ranch, that really didn't happen, nor would it, as you correctly point out.

[James from London]

Miss Ellie might be relatively "sweet and innocent", but it's worth remembering that the Ewings were fundamentally corrupt. A major part of their power and fortune was built upon the three "bees": booze, broads and booty, i.e. blackmail, prostitution and other illegal practices. By turning a blind eye to these practices, the Ewing wives, including Ellie, are, like Mama Corleone (THE GODFATHER) before them and Carmela Soprano since, accessories to, and beneficiaries of, the crimes of their men.

Miss Ellie continued to profit from the Ewings' criminal activities throughout her time on the series. To admonish JR for his shady dealings while still dipping into the Ewing bank accounts simply makes her a hypocrite.

I wish that side of the family had been explored more in the series. One of the things that made Season 9 so interesting was that we were shown the effects of decisions made at Ewing Oil on "the little man", specifically the Scotfield family and the editor of the Navarro newspaper, whom JR and Bobby intimidate when he dares to print the truth about their involvement with BD Calhoun. Sue Ellen is actively supportive of this action, while Ray and even Donna also play a role in the cover up. Pam is the only member of the family who continually denounces their hypocrisy - one of the reasons I don't get why her behaviour is generally regarded as "weak" during that season.

[Kate Ewing]

Miss Ellie might be relatively "sweet and innocent", but it's worth remembering that the Ewings were fundamentally corrupt. A major part of their power and fortune was built upon the three "bees": booze, broads and booty, i.e. blackmail, prostitution and other illegal practices. By turning a blind eye to these practices, the Ewing wives, including Ellie, are, like Mama Corleone (THE GODFATHER) before them and Carmela Soprano since, accessories to, and beneficiaries of, the crimes of their men.


I totally agree with this. Pam said it best in an early episode, "The Ewing empire is built on corruption and deceit." (I forget the exact quote). The bottom line is Ellie was often an apologist for Jock and JR. Nevertheless I think she was a wonderfully nuanced character. She could be very warm and supportive yet also tough as nails and even on occasion straying into bizarre behavior, like when she turned against Donna for her alleged betrayal of Jock when she was writing that book about Sam Culver. The writers and BBG did a great job of making her a multi-dimensional character, totally unforgettable and fascinating.

[OILBARON]

No one can wear those frumpy flour sack dresses like Miss Ellie can. Can you imagine the fake Miss Ellie in one of those.

[MsTexas73]

Miss Ellie might be relatively "sweet and innocent", but it's worth remembering that the Ewings were fundamentally corrupt. A major part of their power and fortune was built upon the three "bees": booze, broads and booty, i.e. blackmail, prostitution and other illegal practices. By turning a blind eye to these practices, the Ewing wives, including Ellie, are, like Mama Corleone (THE GODFATHER) before them and Carmela Soprano since, accessories to, and beneficiaries of, the crimes of their men.

Miss Ellie continued to profit from the Ewings' criminal activities throughout her time on the series. To admonish JR for his shady dealings while still dipping into the Ewing bank accounts simply makes her a hypocrite.

I wish that side of the family had been explored more in the series. One of the things that made Season 9 so interesting was that we were shown the effects of decisions made at Ewing Oil on "the little man", specifically the Scotfield family and the editor of the Navarro newspaper, whom JR and Bobby intimidate when he dares to print the truth about their involvement with BD Calhoun. Sue Ellen is actively supportive of this action, while Ray and even Donna also play a role in the cover up. Pam is the only member of the family who continually denounces their hypocrisy - one of the reasons I don't get why her behaviour is generally regarded as "weak" during that season.

James...I totally agree with you here...I have more to say...in a minute...gotta read something to the kids first.

[ncpryor56]

Jarrett you should be really glad that Jock Ewing is dead. He would kick your @$$ for those remarks.

We all know that Miss Ellie was the next thing to Mother Teresa. No one should question that.

[James from London]

I think she was a wonderfully nuanced character. She could be very warm and supportive yet also tough as nails

Yes, I was thinking recently how, in almost every season, there is a point where BBG's Ellie withdraws all her customary warmth and affection to become harsh and cold. She does it to Jock a lot in Seasons 2 and 3, to Harve (briefly) and Donna in Season 4, to JR and Bobby during the court battle of Season 5, to Donna and Clayton in the "Eye of the Beholder" in Season 6, to the entire family during the Wes Parmalee saga and to JR and Bobby again at the end of Season 9. It was always an effective, and something Donna Reed--because her portrayal was so vague and removed to begin with--could never achieve.

[SnarkyOracle!]

Yes, I always sort of "liked" that about Bel Geddes portrayal: double-edged, and she could be quite unjustly snippy when things didn't seem "controlled".

Miss Ellie always reminded me of Shirley Jackson's line that mothers were like big, over-stuffed chairs--- they look so warm and inviting, and then when you go and try and sit down on one, they dump you out onto the floor.

[Tatianna]

Yes, I always sort of "liked" that about Bel Geddes portrayal: double-edged, and she could be quite unjustly snippy when things didn't seem "controlled".

Miss Ellie always reminded me of Shirley Jackson's line that mothers were like big, over-stuffed chairs--- they look so warm and inviting, and then when you go and try and sit down on one, they dump you out onto the floor.


I like the way you said that. I do see Miss Ellie in that light.

[Kate Ewing]

She's a nice lady, but don't mess with her because she will smack you down faster than a Texas tornado. :D