Saturday, November 24, 2012

Fond memories of Larry Hagman and friendship

On the news this morning I read that the actor Larry Hagman, the evil villain of the Dallas TV series, has passed away after a battle with throat cancer.

I've never been a fan of soap operas or long running TV series but Dallas is one the very few that I have watched more than most. Mainly this is because Dallas and its glamorous counterpart, Dynasty, were very popular with my girlfriends at university. We would often meet up in a friend's room (she was fortunate enough to have a television in the days when it was still considered a privilege) and watch the weekly episode. It was a communal affair where relationships were built over cups of coffee, cheap biscuits and berating Larry or Joan for their latest misdemeanours.

 They were good times.

Larry Hagman 1931-2012 (Picture courtesy of Wikipedia)
Life has changed a lot since my college days with access to TV shows available to anyone with a computer or a mobile phone. I suspect it is much easier for students - or indeed anyone- to fall into a solitary existence whilst on the surface being in touch with perceived normality. I think that's quite sad because I don't think an emoticon is quite the same as shared laughter or tears. I also feel very fortunate that during my university education I made some wonderful friendships and whilst I don't see those friends as much as I would like, I know some of those relationships hold strong to this day.

So today when I read about the sad death of Larry Hagman what struck me most was the news that along with his family both his Dallas co-stars Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray were at his bedside when he died. Isn't that just marvellous of them? That surely must be the greatest test of friendship.

So I say: Well Done, Larry. You had a lovely family, a smashing career and true friends. You can't do better that.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I am always delighted to receive comments!

Less is More (well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

I've been practising my haikus, which you may recall, I'm not particularly good at. However, I wanted to address the woke issue in a...