A clapperboard from the production of the first episode of Dallas (CBS, 1978-1991) directed by Linda Gray, season nine, episode twenty-five, titled “Just Desserts.” Together with a printed screenshot of Gray's first director credit. The episode was the first of five episodes directed by Gray. It depicts the events following a murder at a Martinique masquerade ball.The clapperboard reads: “Lorimar Camera Dept. / A / SCENE 31C / TAKE 1 / DALLAS 174125 / DIR. LINDA GRAY / CAM. R. CARAMICO ASC / 2-12-86.” It is housed in a plexiglass memorabilia case.When Linda Gray decided that she wanted to direct, she encountered heavy resistance from the show's producers.On Morgan Fairchild and Cathryn Hartt's 2 Bitches from Texas podcast, Gray said:“I did [direct Dallas]. That was a tough one. Talk about fighting for something you wanted. That was a big one for me. It was season eight, and it was renegotiation time, and I decided I wanted to direct. And it was not looked upon fondly at all by the producers. And so what happened was I studied for a year with Lilyan Chauvin, a French director…I thought I'm not going to put myself out there and not know what I'm doing…I went in and I said I would like to direct, and they said ‘Oh for God’s sakes,' they were very patronizing, and they said ‘If you want to do it, then all of the other women are going to want to do it.’ So I went to all the women on the show and I said to Barbara, first, out of respect, ‘would you like to direct the show?’ And she said ‘Hell no!’ So I went to Victoria, and Charlene, and every woman on the show, and I came back to them and said ‘Well, it’s a resounding no, nobody wants to direct, so I'm still here, and I still want to direct.'"Shockingly, the producers fired her. Gray told the Best of Them podcast:"And they fired me at the end of season eight. When I got home, Larry called me, and he said, 'So I will see you next season,' and you know we had a great eight years." She continued, "And so I said, well, I was just fired. I cannot come back."Larry Hagman told showrunner Leonard Katzman "If she goes, I go," and they hired her back, but made directing as difficult as possible."It was miserable, they made it terrible. They said ‘Okay, if we give you one episode to direct in the next two years, then you need to give us year 11 with no financial gain, no nothing, you just do it.’ So I said ‘Okay…' So, I get the script, and open up the script, and it's a costume ball on the island of Martinique with Barbara Carrera."The complicated outdoor shoot, involving murder, real police dogs, and a huge cast of extras, proved to be challenging. The producers made unusual demands on Gray, seemingly giving her an “initiation” that would set her up to fail. She did not. She said:"I thought, okay I see what's happening. They wanted to get rid of me, to bury me. They thought we'll give her everything—police dogs, and murder, we'll put it all in one script and just have fun with her. So I thought ‘Okay, I see what they’re doing, they don't want me to direct, this is my first shot. So I went on every talk show and promoted the hell out of it, and I got so excited, I don't think they were thrilled at all.”The show was a huge ratings success, and, as a result, Gray directed four more episodes.See Gray talk about directing this episode with Morgan Fairchild and Cathryn Hart here:

Case: 13 x 13 x 2.5 in; 33.02 x 33.02 x 6.35 cm

Provenance: From the Collection of Linda Gray

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