His father’s son
In “Billion Dollar Question,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie and J.R. (Barbara Bel Geddes, Larry Hagman) sit at the breakfast table on the Southfork patio after Bobby and Pam depart.
ELLIE: You look as if you’re going into town.
J.R.: Well, there’s nothing to do here. Ray’s got the ranch under control and I wasn’t cut out to punch cattle, that’s for sure.
ELLIE: No, I guess not.
J.R.: Bobby’s living my life. He’s doing everything I should be doing. [Pours coffee]
ELLIE: J.R., I know how you feel. You are my son and I do care about you.
J.R.: I have a hard time believing that right now. [Takes a bite]
ELLIE: I know what Ewing Oil means to you. But I can’t allow the company to be used to savagely destroy someone.
J.R.: [Tosses down his napkin, rises from his seat] Mama, I worked for a number of years with Daddy, side by side when he was running Ewing Oil. Now he was a fair man. But he was tough and ruthless when he had to be. He wouldn’t let the runny-nose, spineless Cliff Barneses of this world tell him what to do.
ELLIE: Your daddy never set a trap the way you did for Cliff.
J.R.: Mama, you don’t know the half of what Daddy did when he was running that company. He brought strong leadership to the company and he brought strong leadership to the family. You think he’d approve of the way the family’s been handled since he died? In that letter he sent you, dividing up all the shares? Supposed to be temporary. Well, how long is temporary? What direction is the family going in, anyhow? Who’s going to provide for Christopher, John Ross and Lucy? Are you handling the family the way he would want you to?
