Many people have posed for money. Some for art, some for more prurient reasons.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Posted on 11/26/2012 9:34:00 AM PST by lowbridge
Hagman, who died last week aged 81, reportedly visited Bucharest in the 1980s together with his wife Maj Axelsson. At the time, he was famous worldwide for his role as merciless oil magnate JR Ewing on television series Dallas.
However, during the trip, he gained an unexpected fan. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was later executed in the 1989 Christmas uprising, wanted a portrait of the actor to be put up publicity, believing it would bolster the regime.
Dallas was one of the few American TV series the late communist dictator allowed to be shown on television, believing it portrayed capitalism negatively.
Hagman was duly asked whether he would agree to the erection of a giant portrait of himself on the side of a building.
The Dallas star is understood to have agreed to the request, on the condition that a bag of hard currency was delivered to the ladies' loo of a government office. It was agreed his wife would pick up the bag the next day.
A brown paper bag filled with dollars was then left in the designated place, Hagman recently told the Sunday Times.
“We spent it quickly like we did all the money in those days,” he said.
The late actor asked the Sunday Times to wait until he was dead to publish the story.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Hagman, who died last week aged 81, reportedly visited Bucharest ....
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Why did you post this in News and not Chat? Why did you even post this at all? And - more importantly - why am I even responding to such a load of crap story like this?
I guess I’m a sucker for the freak show stories like this.
Oh.
And let the bashing begin....
The story is, that Ceausescu thought that Dallas would show Romanians how evil Capitalism was, as compared with Socialism.
However, it backfired on him, as Romanians saw the goods the more ordinary people on the show had, as compared to them.
So Hagman, much like his character JR, knew a good business opportunity when he saw it. No problem, there.
Take my pix and pay me ?
Where do I sign ?
A Dictator having to pay an actor to erect a portrait of said actor in the country where he is the Dictator? He must not have got his copy of “Dictatorship for Dummies.”
A brown paper bag filled with dollars was then left in the designated place, Hagman recently told the Sunday Times.
What Would JR Do?
I don’t know about this story, but in the 80s Hagman was constantly bashing Ronald Reagan. He was and probably remained very liberal. I loved the character he created and hope that he rests in peace, but he was the 80s version of Sean Penn.
Let the man rest in peace.
Sounds like a smart deal for JR.
His death is horrible news for the Dallas remake, he and Bobby and Cliff Barnes are more interesting than their children. He managed to film 6 episodes for the new season.
Very ironic, the character of JR’s father Jock had to be written out when the actor died.
Yeah, I expect they’ll probably have to wrap it up with this coming season. The original “Dallas” could get on without Jim Davis’s Jock (who was actually a decade younger than Hagman when he died), but without J.R., there’s not enough to carry on with. Had Hagman left the show back during the “Who Shot J.R. ?” period, as he was strongly considering, I doubt the original show would’ve lasted more than another season, two tops.
With just Patrick Duffy, it would be a protagonist with no antagonist, and that won’t work. Ken Kercheval (Cliff) looks rather frail himself, he’s only a slight bit younger than Hagman. With just the younger actors, it’s not particularly any different than some generic drama. Nobody stands out and there’s no central character.
Well it will depend on the ratings of course.
I probably wouldn’t have watched the first season if Hagman and Duffy weren’t in it.
At least the initial plan to make a Dallas remake movie flopped, the script became a COMEDY with Bruce Willis rumored for JR and Jessica Simpson for Lucy Ewing. Ugh.
Starz axed Kelsey Grammer’s show where he played the Mayor of Chicago. Too bad, I liked it, much better than that disjointed Camelot. It could have done well if anyone knew it existed and/or had Starz. Ratings were horrible, Starz can’t seem to promote a series. The only reason it got a second season was because they were so happy with it that they renewed it before the first season premiered.
I’m disappointed they axed “Boss” as well, especially given that it ended unresolved. Starz’s other series, “Magic City” is pretty to look at, but it’s not as good as “Boss” (and the supporting characters don’t stand out, as with the young “Dallas” actors — only the deranged Danny Huston character is truly interesting, and he seems to be channelling his dad, right down to his speaking voice). It got renewed for a second season, but I don’t expect it will get a third. As far as mob shows go, it’s going to be impossible to top “The Sopranos.”
As I’ve often ranted, it just seems like there are fewer new shows and interesting actors that make much worth watching these days. Even some of the lesser work of yesteryear looks superior to most these days. I wish they had channels to rerun those little-run series and made-for-tv movies (back when you had talented movie stars making guest shots). Instead, all we get is 500 channels of reality tv, cooking shows and other nonsense. I’m sick of reality shows. Most of the folks on them are execrable.
I lost Starz so I had to pirate download season 2. Very interesting show. Goodbye Kathleen Robertson’s breasts. :(
I haven’t gotten past the first few eps of Magic City yet.
I hate “reality” TV. I watch Hell’s Kitchen, that’s it. I watched “Survivor” the first couple years, I can’t believe it’s still on, crap got boring.
You are right about new shows. There’s only 2 new network dramas I’m watching, “Chicago Fire” (Another new Chicago based show, “The Mob Doctor” pretty much sucks despite a good premise.) and the Sherlock Holmes one with Lucy Liu as Watson (she seems to be holding up ok). I don’t bother with most new shows anymore.
KR was hot, yes, but she’s an ice princess. Although just about everything I’ve ever seen her in she comes off like that. I was more interested in Hannah Ware, the British actress playing Kane’s daughter.
I like her too. Her accent slipped a lot so I could tell she was British. If she were my sister, I wouldn’t care either.
The Australian guy from “House” is doing a pretty good job with an American accent on “Chicago Fire”.
I remember Kathleen from 90210. I watched some updated Wizard of OZ tv movie on the Scifi channel pretty much only cause she and Zooey Deschanel were in it.
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