Marlin Jim Davis (August 26,
1909 -- April 26,
1981) was an
American actor, best known for his role as
Jock Ewing in the
CBS prime-time soap opera,
Dallas, a role which continued until he was too ill from a terminal illness to perform.
Born as Marlin Jim Davis in Edgerton in
Platte County in northwestern
Missouri, he attended Baptist-affiliated
William Jewell College in
Liberty, Missouri.
His first major screen role was opposite
Bette Davis in the 1948 melodrama
Winter Meeting, a lavish failure for which he was lambasted in the press as being too inexperienced to play the part properly. His subsequent film career consisted of mostly B movies, many of them westerns, although he made an impression as a
U.S. senator in the
Warren Beatty conspiracy thriller
The Parallax View.
In the episode "
Little Washington" of the syndicated television series
Death Valley Days,
Davis portrayed a
U.S. representative from
Nevada with aspirations to become governor of the new state. Collectively, Davis appeared ten times on Death Valley Days.
From 1954-1955, Davis starred and narrated the syndicated western television series
Stories of the Century. He portrayed
Matt Clark, a detective for the
Southwest Railroad who works to bring notorious gunfighters and outlaws to justice. His costars were
Mary Castle and
Kristine Miller. Stories of the Century was the first western series to win an
Emmy Award. Among the historical figures featured were
John Wesley Hardin,
Sam Bass,
Doc Holliday, the
Dalton Brothers, the
Younger Brothers,
Belle Starr,
Joaquin Murietta,
L. H. Musgrove and
Clay Allison.
From 1958-1960, Davis starred as Wes
Cameron opposite
Lang Jeffries in the role of
Skip Johnson in the syndicated adventure series
Rescue 8. About this time, he guest starred on the syndicated crime drama,
U.S. Marshal, starring
John Bromfield.
Davis made two guest appearances on
Perry Mason; as
George Tabor in the season 6 episode of "
The Case of the Fickle Filly.", and as murder victim
Joe Farrell in the 1964, season 8 episode of "The Case of a
Place Called
Midnight." He also appeared on the
Jack Lord adventure series,
Stoney Burke.
Davis appeared eleven times on
Gunsmoke and four times each on
Daniel Boone,
Wagon Train and
Laramie. In the next-to-the-last Laramie episode, entitled "
Trapped" (May 14,
1963), he guest starred along with
Tommy Sands,
Claude Akins, and
Mona Freeman.[1] In the story line,
Slim Sherman (
John Smith) finds an injured female kidnap victim in the woods (
Freeman).
Dennis Holmes, as series regular
Mike Williams, rides away to seek help, but the kidnappers reclaim the hostage. Slim pursues the kidnappers but is mistaken as a third kidnapper by the girl's father (
Barton MacLane). Sands plays the girl's boyfriend, who had been ordered by her father to stop seeing her.[2] He also appeared in an episode of
High Chaparral and in a small role in the
1971 John Wayne vehicle
Big Jake.
In
1974, he starred as
Marshal Bill Winter in a short-lived
ABC western series
The Cowboys, based on a
1972 film of the same name starring John Wayne.
After years of relatively low-profile roles, Davis was cast as family patriarch Jock Ewing on Dallas, which debuted in 1978.
During season four, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma but continued to film the show as long as he could. In many scenes as the season progressed, he was shown seated. He wore a hairpiece to cover the hair he'd lost from chemotherapy. A season four storyline regarding the Takapa development and
Jock's separation from
Miss Ellie was ended abruptly at the end of season four. The writers depicted the couple leaving to go on an extended second honeymoon (their departure in a limousine in the episode "
New Beginnings" was Davis's only scene in that episode and his final appearance on the show) when it became obvious that Davis could no longer continue to work. He died of complications from his illness while season four was being aired.
The writers made the decision not to write his death into the Dallas storyline right away. Initially, plans were made to replace him with another actor but were dropped because of audience awareness and because no suitable actor could be found for the role to be recast.
His character remained offscreen for thirteen episodes after Davis' death, with the storyline that he was in
South America drilling for oil after taking care of
Ewing Oil-related legislative business in
Washington, D.C. The fifth season episode "
The Search", which confirmed the character's death in a helicopter crash, was broadcast on January 8,
1982 and contained flashback scene's of the character.[
3][4] A portrait of Davis in his role as Jock Ewing often appeared as a memorial on Dallas after his death.
From the late
1970s until his death, Davis was also a voice actor, in the commercials for the
American Beef Council, voicing the slogan "
Beef:
It's what's for dinner". He was replaced by
Robert Mitchum.[citation needed]
- published: 17 Dec 2013
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