Dack Rambo about Jack & Jenna splitting up (2025)

There is an article on http://www.ultimatedallas.com/backstage/dackrambo.html which I read for the very first time. I think it‘s common knowledge that Dack Rambo wasn‘t really happy on Dallas.
During the dream season Jack and Jenna are having a nice friendship/growing relationship which felt like the right move at that time. Then (quite suddenly) they split up, Jenna gets delusional about Bobby and Jack is riding a tandem with Grace. There was certainly a change of direction which was not planned at an early stage of the season.

Or another possibility that the producers didn‘t like the pairing of the two and Dack Rambo (understandably) became bitter because of his character‘s treatment (then Bobby was back) and the long-term effects on his career.

It feels similar to Rock Hudson/Linda Evans. Could there be some truth in that?

Here an excerpt of the article linked above:
„We were a few weeks into the show," Rambo said, "I noticed that the story line was veering off in another direction and I thought: 'What the hell is this?' All of a sudden my relationship with Priscilla (Presley, who played Bobby's girlfriend) was going right down the tubes. "I knew there were whispers going on behind my back. Either 'He's gay,' or 'He's this or. . . .' And I thought, 'What the hell did I do?' People were just assuming. And people didn't really know anything about my private life."
That was 1985.“

I think the biggest issue was that he was very obviously a Bobby replacement character that essentially became useless once Bobby was back.

Maybe backstage gossip didn't help his long-term prospects, but ultimately that's not what killed his character.

That’s really a heartbreaking article to read. He certainly had to deal with more than his fair share of tragedy in his personal life.

As far as the Jack character goes, I looked at it as a replacement for Bobby, nothing more and nothing less. And the problem was no one could replace PD and his history on the show. I never really found anything about the Jack character to be exciting. It was just too bland of a character and I don’t blame DR for that. He was put in a tough spot and once Bobby returned the role of Jack became expendable.

It is a great shame, but look what happened with Rock Hudson and his kiss with Linda Evans in Dynasty.

AIDS was a "gay killer disease" back then, people knew very little about it, but knew it could be spread. People were scared witless because of it. If Dack's personal life was known about it would explain why there was some bad feeling against him.

A great shame overall, but when Victoria's defiance against saying a slang gay word is still, to this day, spoken about, it kinda tells you how things were back then.

I think it had more to do with Larry not wanting him there as Bobby's de facto replacement, just as he didn't want Donna Reed there. Other actors, including DALLAS actors, have been gay and didn't apparently have the same experience as Rambo (whom Larry accused of "spraying his jeans on").

And VP refusing to use a gay slur? CBS wouldn't even allow them to use the word "gay" during the Kit Mainwaring plotline; they had to say "homosexual".

The writers missed out by letting Dack Rambo go. There was a great scene with J.R. and Dack (Jack Ewing).

J.R. tries to buy off Jack and send him on his way. Jack tells him, "You know, J.R., money doesn't mean anything to me. I'd rather have fun than have money. And sticking around here to be a thorn in your side sounds like fun."

Imagine an adversary who can't be bought off and genuinely enjoys irritating J.R.

It could have added to some fun storylines!

garry said:

Ken Kercheval told me once that Dack took a lot of homophobic flack from the crew back in the day and admired him for staying on the show for so long.

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Regardless of Dack's personal choices his chosen career was acting. It was HIS passion. It pisses me off others then think they're entitled to torment and belittle simply because of his off-field choices.

Taylor Bennett Jr. said:

was it known by the powers that be at the time he was on the show that Timothy Patrick Murphy was gay? He had kissing scenes with Lucy, I believe. That might have been before it became such a high-profile topic with Rock Hudson, and maybe that at least partially explains the different treatment?

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Charlene Tilton did not know about it:
I genuinely adored him. I did not know that he was living a gay lifestyle. I had no idea. It makes me really sad because back in those days, a lot of actors felt like it would hurt their career to be out. When I learned he was dying of AIDS, I called him and we talked but he wouldn’t see me. He wouldn’t let anyone see him that sick. So I think of him with a lot of sadness because to hide a lifestyle, and to hide being sick, that seems like a lot of torture to me.

https://dallasdecoder.com/2016/02/14/charlene-tilton-remembers-lucy-ewings-many-loves/

garry said:

Ken Kercheval told me once that Dack took a lot of homophobic flack from the crew back in the day and admired him for staying on the show for so long. You'll notice that Dack never shared an on screen kiss with any of his female co-stars on Dallas. We all know the reason why.

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Thanks, great first-hand information.

I think in 2004 when they filmed Return to Southfork somebody here met Ken Kercheval shortly after and talked to him.
He called the reunion the same b*ll**** like usual. I liked watching that show but laughed because he was so right.
Ken Kercheval was very outspoken, even calling Cliff "lobotomized" after the dream season.
I wish there were more interviews around with him. And I would have loved to listen to your chat with Ken Kercheval, Garry. This guy was smart and knew a lot.

the-lost-son said:

Ken Kercheval was very outspoken, even dcalling Cliff "lobotomized" after the dream season.

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And I thought what the writers did to the character of JR was bad enough. In the case of Cliff though I thought once he had that conversation with Miss Ellie in the park the character had run its course. However, I'd argue Cliff may have received the lobotomy prior to TNT Dallas. How else do we explain Cliff's monster-like turn?

Monzo said:

If all what Dack Rambo said is true, why did they promote him to opening credits next season?

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May have been a contract thing to get him to come back at the end of the season for plot reasons.

I think its sad if he was treated badly by the crew - Sadly i dont think he was ever part of the Clique with Uncle Lennie
I enjoyed his performance as Jack , but never in a million years did he make up for the loss of Bobby Ewing for me -
I think he had a sad life, losing his twin brother and dying of Aids

Morgan Fairchild spoke very movingly about him at Fan Source in 2008 and I think she wa s avery loyal friend

Snarky's Ghost said:

May have been a contract thing to get him to come back at the end of the season for plot reasons.

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Yes - I believe this was it. They wanted him back for 13 episodes or so to wrap things up. He wasn’t that happy on the show anyway and wasn’t contractually required to return. So my guess is that he told them that his requirement to return for those episodes was equal billing with the main actors. Good for him.

Barbara Fan said:

Morgan Fairchild spoke very movingly about him at Fan Source in 2008 and I think she wa s avery loyal friend

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Another reason it's a pity she didn't return as Jenna.

Jack was one of my favourite characters in the dream season. The potential was all wasted once the dream was revealed. There was clear hostility towards Dack Rambo in his last season, that even viewers can see it, a sort of "Bobby is back now, so you can sod off". Even the season before, there seems to be a power struggle going on, with Jack getting some storylines (with Jamie and Cliff) and the whole Dimitri Marinos saga, but not as involved with Ewing Oil as he should have been. I also wonder why Jack never had a passionate kiss with Grace onscreen, and the weird turn his relationship with Jenna took earlier that season. The AIDS scare because of Dack's bisexuality and lifestyle? By 1985, the fear about AIDS was widespread in mainstream society in the US, and the UK wasn't far behind. The whispers about people who carried AIDS back then were men who had sex with other men, needle drug users, haemophiliacs and Haitians. There was a lot of confusion about how it was transmitted in most quarters, because people didn't want to talk about it, so fear had a strong grip on people's minds. Of course, Dack himself didn't test positive for HIV until 1991, so 4 years after he left Dallas.

As for Jack, Jack being a replacement for Bobby doesn't mean that Jack should be an exact replica of Bobby. Jack should have been more amoral than Bobby and with a more mysterious air, while mostly a good guy.