Recently (November 12, 2012) stage, screen and TV actor
Larry Hagman passed away in Dallas at the age of 81. Perhaps it was fitting
that his last days were in the town that made him famous in the 1980s and 1990s,
when he starred as oil baron J.R. Ewing in the television series Dallas.
It ran from 1978 through 1991. Just
last year, he appeared in a revival of the series.
He also starred in the 1960s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie” and appeared in a number of other series. He
had roles in a number of films including Failsafe,
Nixon and Primary Colors.
Hagman grew up near Fort Worth, Texas, but spent much of
his adult life in California, where I was fortunate to meet him and get to know
him a little in conjunction with my job as manager of public relations for the
Industrial Equipment Division of Deere & Company (John Deere).
I worked for Deere just short of 20 years, the last five
in the position noted. Much of that
position was dedicated to making sure our construction and forestry equipment
as well as engines got as much “publicity” as possible.
One way a product can get “free” publicity is to have
your product appear in movies or television.
A lady name Dot Fry from “On Camera Inc.” called me at my office in
Moline, Ill., on behalf of Mr. Hagman and wondering if we could provide a John
Deere backhoe that would appear in the Dallas
series. She did explain that while not
filming in the studio in Burbank, Mr. Hagman would like to have it used by his
contractor at the new home he was building in the mountains near Ojai,
California. (As a side note: in both my
career jobs, it became apparent that no matter how famous or rich,
entertainment types always look for “free stuff.”
After some discussion in my office and coordination with
our dealer in Oxnard, Calif., we decided to provide the backhoe. It was a leap of faith. We continually tried to get potential
customers to understand that Deere backhoes were the best buy. We also battled the perception that John
Deere only made green equipment…tractors, combines, lawnmowers etc. This would help remove that perception. But would it make the show and how much use
would the machine get at the construction site?
While coordinating with Ms. Fry, she knew I was a little
leery of this, given that the backhoe would be used at the remote site where
Larry Hagman and his wife Maj were building their 20,000 sq. ft. Mediterranean
style home called “Heaven” near the top of Sulphur Mountain, 60 miles northwest
of central Los Angeles. It was several
miles from the dealership and 45 miles from the studios. The dealer would have
to make the trek up and down the mountainside with a tractor/trailer to haul
the backhoe in and out.
I knew we would be able to get internal publicity in our
corporate magazine and our division bi-monthly newsletter, which we did. But, I wasn’t sure about the rest. Dot assured me that Mr. Hagman always made
sure there was payback for any favors done for him.
In the spring of 1990, I arrived at the dealership and
the owner, sales manager and I made our way up the long windy road to
“Heaven”. The backhoe had already been
delivered to the site by the dealer.
Larry was on time as well…and we had a formal presentation of the
backhoe for their use. I believe the
dealership had some paperwork indemnifying them from accidents and also assuring
that any damage would be paid for by the studio. It was a new piece of equipment.
I presented Larry with a John Deere ball cap and a
backhoe replica. The dealer presented
him with a jacket. We caught the event on the camera I brought. He was quite amenable to doing whatever we
wanted photo wise.
I have a copy just like it on my basement office wall
that Larry later signed for me. (He also
signed a photo for my mother, who was a big Dallas
fan.)
I was pleased that he was so engaging in
conversation. We found out that he had
been in the US Air Force as I had been and was stationed the same place I was
in England (although quite a few years earlier!)
His wife, Maj, who was an artist, showed me around the
foundation and steel skeleton of part of the home that would be going up. (You
can see this in the background of the presentation photo.) She, with three
architects’ help, designed the home herself.
She was very detailed in her explanation of how it would all come
together. It took until late 1992 to
complete.
Actually, this was not the first time that I had contact
with Larry Hagman. Several years before
this encounter, while working in the Deere advertising department, I was in
Malibu to get photographs of John Deere loaders working along the beach, as
there had been severe beach erosion that year.
The area is called “Broad Beach” where numerous homes touch up against
the beach. Looking at a Google map, I
can’t tell exactly where it was, as the area is totally filled in with homes
now.
I was told by the equipment dealer who knew where their
customer was using the loaders, to go to the “exclusive area” of homes along
the beach and go to the furthest home to the west along the road and knock on
the door. The contractor had an office
inside a home there, as they would not allow a construction trailer in the
neighborhood.
The home was that of Larry Hagman. When I knocked on the door I was surprised to
have Mr. Hagman open the door (guess I was looking for a butler or maybe even
the contractor). After informing him of
why I was there, he showed me to the contractor’s office just inside the home. I was not real familiar with him as I didn’t
really watch I Dream of Jeannie to
speak of, and I didn’t follow Dallas. I do recall that you could see the ocean
through the house from the front door.
Also, there were a few guests sitting at a “bar” in the living area,
smoking, and I assume having cocktails.
However, it was 10 a.m., so I’m not sure. Hagman was said to have had drinking problems
during his earlier days!
I brought up the fact that I had seen him there years
earlier, and he said he remembered. I
tended to believe him because the office was in his home and was I told by Dot
Fry that “there isn’t much he doesn’t remember.”
It was truly a very pleasant time…to meet a TV star and
have a long conversation with him and his wife, to say nothing of seeing the
breathtaking view from the site. You
could see the Pacific Ocean, the Channel Islands and mountains in nearly every
direction.
The “Heaven” property is well known now and was recently
sold for over $5 million. His wife Maj
is in a nursing home.
After this pleasant event, I was able to get the internal
publicity I mentioned. I became a
regular viewer of Dallas for the rest
of the season. However, I never did see
the backhoe on film. I was in touch with
the dealer, who told me that indeed they took the backhoe to the studios and
the sales manager was invited to be on the “lot” during film. So, he said they did film the machine, but
apparently it wound up on the cutting room floor. Once the series filming was done for that
year, the backhoe made its way back to the Oxnard dealership.
But…Dot Fry’s comment about Hagman always making sure a
favor was returned in some way came true.
It was January of the following year. The Hagmans had not yet moved into
their new home and still lived in the beach home where I saw him in several
years before. He was considered the
“unofficial mayor of Malibu,” since at that time Malibu was an unincorporated
area.
A winter storm had caused severe beach damage and even
wiped out a few homes in the area. Hagman was interviewed on The Today Show about the storm and the
damage to Malibu. Low and behold, he was
wearing the cap with the prominent John Deere logo that I gave him. So, even though the backhoe was not seen
nationally, the large corporate logo was prominently displayed for about five
minutes on the head of one of America’s top TV stars to several million
viewers.
A beloved Hollywood star is now gone, but this experience
with him is finely etched in my memory.
And it’s a good one.
