Story and photo by Theo Kingma Shortly after celebrating Thanksgiving with his family, actor Larry Hagman passed away at age 81 after complications of cancer. “Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most.” according to his family. Hagman reprised his role as JR Ewing and was currently working on the second season of the relaunched series Dallas. He was nominated twice for a Golden Globe during the first run of the series. The original series made Hagman a worldwide superstar. He was the villain viewers loved to hate. He became the highest paid actor and the 1980 cliffhanger episode Who Shot JR? was viewed by over 300 million people. “We were all on a high,” the actor recalled earlier this year. “I remember being able to afford drinking five bottles of the best champagne a day – and the whisky we poured on camera was real!” In later years, the man who owed his success to playing a treacherous Texas oil tycoon, was a fierce advocate promoting sustainable and solar energy. Just days ago, promoting his role for awards consideration, Larry Hagman surprised some of the Hollywood media by sending out a holiday card accompanied by a Stetson cowboy hat – His trademark, of which he apparently owned a collection of over 2000.