Ken Kercheval

Actor who played JR Ewing’s Dallas rival

Ken Kercheval, actor. Born: 15 July 1935 in Wolcottville, Indiana, US. Died: 21 April 2019, Clinton, Indiana, US, aged 83

Ke n K e r c h e v a l , who played p erennial punching bag Cliff Barnes to Larry Hagman’s scheming oil baron JR Ewing on hit US series Dallas, has died at 83. Kercheval died on Sunday in the city of Clinton in Indiana, said Jeff Fisher, his agent. His family did not share the cause of death.

He was in Dallas for its full r u n , f r o m 19 78 to 19 9 1 , a n d returned as oilman Cliff opposite Hagman for a revival of the prime-time drama that aired from 2012-14. He expressed fondness for his beleaguered c h a r a c t e r, a l s o p a r t o f t wo TV Nineties movies, in a 2012 inter view with a fan website, The Dallas Decoder.

Cliff was a nice guy, but with brother-in-law JR’S constant b a t t e r i n g h e h a d t o d e f e n d h i msel f, Ke r c h e va l s a i d . “I f I did something that wasn’t quite right, it’s because I had to,” he added.

K e r c h e v a l w a s b o r n i n Wo l c o t t v i l l e , I n d i a n a , a n d raised in Clinton by his father, a doctor, and mother, a nurse. He studied at the Universit y of Indiana and the University of the Pacific. His early roles

we r e o n s t a g e , wi t h B r o ad - way p erformances in musicals including The Young Abe Lincoln in 1961 and The Apple Tree and Cabaret in the late 1960s. Kercheval’s big-screen credits included Pretty Poison (1968), The Seven-ups in 1973 and Network in 1976.

H e m a d e f r e q u e n t g u e s t a p p e a r a n c e s o n T V s e r i e s , stretching from Naked Cit y i n t h e 1 9 6 0 s t o E R i n t h e 1990s and 2000s. In 2007 he appeared at Edinburgh Playhouse in a touring version of White Christmas.

I n a f i r s t- p e r s o n p i e c e f o r P e o p l e m a g a z i n e i n 1 9 9 4 , Kercheval detailed his arduous treatment for lung cancer and advocated that others quit smoking, as he was “99 per cent” successful in doing.

K e r c h e v a l ’s s u r v i v o r s include three children, Caleb, Liza and Madison.