Ever notice how your favorite stars can disappear, practically overnight? One day, they are a staple of your TV diet; the next day, simply put, they might as well have dropped off the face of the planet.
That’s certainly the case with Linda Gray. On TV, she played Sue Ellen in Dallas, and she brought the role to life across three decades. But she largely dropped off the pop culture grid after the show ended and has hardly been seen since the tragic death of her son.
What has Linda Gray been up to lately, and how has her life proven to have more twists and turns than any Dallas episode? Keep reading to find out!
‘Dallas’ made Sue Linda Gray into a household name
For a while, it seemed like Dallas was the most popular show in pop culture history.
That means that anyone who appeared in this series had the kind of fame and influence that most actors would, frankly, kill for.
This included Linda Gray, who became a household name thanks to the success of the show. She played Sue Ellen, wife of the Larry Hagman character JR Ewing. She enjoyed such fame that she even attended conventions celebrating Dallas from time to time, but she has made almost no public appearances since the untimely death of her son.
Her son’s tragic death
Sadly, Linda Gray’s son passed away in November 2020. It’s the kind of thing that no parent ever wants to experience: outliving their child. And the fact that her son, Jeff Thrasher, was 56 years old doesn’t detract from the sad and senseless tragedy of his death.
In life, Thrasher was proof that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. After her time on Dallas, Linda Gray was effectively Hollywood royalty, and while Thrasher didn’t try to become a star himself, he found extensive work behind the scenes. Over the years, he has been a producer and writer for a number of different television projects, and he had a real talent for bringing even the craziest ideas to life.
In his time, Thrasher was a producer on shows like The Amazing Race Canada and Canada’s Smartest Person. While it obviously doesn’t come close to the grief Linda Gray feels, the entire entertainment world grieves to lose someone as talented and prodigious as Jeff Thrasher.
Linda Gray becomes a recluse
Unfortunately, the effect of Thrasher’s death on Linda Gray was almost immediate. Once, she was an active part of her community, and it wasn’t uncommon to see her around town even when she wasn’t popping up on TV. After Thrasher’s death, however, she became a virtual recluse, and nobody really saw or heard anything related to Gray.
That all changed when she was spotted doing a routine grocery run near her house in California. Considering how long she had been out of the public eye, however, her very different appearance took many fans by surprise.
The recluse comes out of hiding
When Linda Gray was spotted carrying her groceries out of the store, she didn’t look much like Sue Ellen from Dallas anymore. In fact, she looked like exactly what she was: an 81-year-old woman who was just trying to make it from day to day.
In point of fact, Gray actually looks great for her age. However, the reason that her appearance shocked many fans is that they hadn’t gotten a good look at the actor since Dallas aired its last episode in 1991. Suddenly seeing how their favorite actor looked decades later was more than enough to shock even the biggest fans of the long-running show.
Living a quiet life
Linda Gray doesn’t really act anymore, and until she was spotted shopping, she seemed to live a very reclusive life. That brings with it the obvious question: just what has this famous actor been up to in recent years, especially since she hasn’t been focusing on acting?
These days, she has traded red-carpet premieres for a quiet life in Valencia, California. There, she owns a farm, and she gets to spend her days watching things grow and generally focusing on bringing things to life even as she focuses on getting the most out of her own life.
What we can learn from Gray’s life and experiences
In looking at what happened to Linda Gray, we can’t help but think there is a lesson to be learned. For example, we might not all lose sons the way she did, but her tragedy is a reminder that unthinkable things can happen to us at any time and we have very little control over them.
What we do have control over, however, is how we respond. For example, Gray responded to her son’s death by focusing on creating a life that helped her recover on a mental, physical, and spiritual level. Next time something terrible happens to you, try to remember Gray as an example of how to take control over your life and restore balance to each day.