Jock Ewing

John Ross Ewing, Sr., more commonly known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series "Dallas", played by Jim Davis (1978-1981) and Dale Midkiff in "".

Jock Ewing was the founder of Ewing Oil and the patriarch of the Ewing family. Jock's rival was "Digger" Barnes who Jock had previously been business partners with, but then supposedly cheated him out of a fortune.

Jock and Ellie Southworth married in 1937 and had three sons (J.R., Gary, and Bobby) together. Later it turned out that Jock had a fourth son, Southfork Ranch foreman Ray Krebbs was revealed to be his illegitimate son from a romantic affair overseas during the war. After Jock had a hunting accident in the 1979-80 season, it was revealed that Miss Ellie was in fact Jock's second wife, with whom he had had an affair while still married to his first wife, Amanda Lewis. It was implied that Amanda may have been suffering from a mental illness during their marriage, so explaining Jock's decision to leave her for Miss Ellie. Amanda featured in one scene of one episode and later again in season 7, in which she was approached to establish some facts about Jock's early life. In both episodes she mistook Bobby for Jock. In It was also implied that Miss Ellie had been pregnant with J.R. at the time of her wedding to Jock. These events were confirmed in the TV movie "".

His marriage to Ellie Southworth came when on the day her family was to lose Southfork and it was well known that Jock was the only man in Dallas with the money to save the ranch. Jock and Miss Ellie grew to love each other but even Jock admitted in several episodes that Miss Ellie married him to save Southfork.

Jock had a fragile and stormy relationship with Ellie Southworth's father Aaron Southworth and her brother Garrison Southworth, who was a close friend of "Digger" Barnes, because both Aaron and Garrison hated oilmen. On his deathbed Aaron accepted Jock as part of his family by giving him his favorite gun.

Jock served in World War 2 where he and an old army buddy, Tom Mallory, were shot down in a mission in Holland. They later returned to save the families who took them shelter. During this time he had an affair with an Army nurse from Kansas, Margaret Hunter, who would later return home and give birth to Jock's illegitimate son, Ray Krebbs. This would be revealed much later.

Jock and Ellie briefly separated in 1981 but reconciled and went on a second honeymoon to Paris. From there, Jock traveled to South America in the fall of 1981 for business reasons, and while flying back from Venezuela to Texas the helicopter he was in crashed into a lake. Jock's body was never found, but he was declared dead in the fall of 1982. The storyline involving Jock's death was necessitated by the death of actor Jim Davis.

In a storyline years later on the show, a man named Wes Parmalee, claiming to be Jock, turned up on "Dallas". Parmalee (portrayed by Steve Forrest) said he had survived the accident, which necessitated plastic surgery. After trying to convince everyone he was Jock (even successfully passing a polygraph test) it was eventually explained that Parmalee was a fraud. Parmalee left "Dallas" for good.

After Jim Davis' death, artist Ro Kim painted a portrait of the actor in his role as Jock Ewing. [cite web|url=http://www.rosgallery.com/clients|title=Ro's Gallery: Clients - Celebrities|accessdate=2006-07-15] The portrait became a focal point of the "Dallas" set and was featured in a number of episodes. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077000/trivia|title=Trivia for "Dallas"|publisher=IMDb.com|accessdate=2007-07-15|quote=After Jim Davis died, a portrait of him hung above the fireplace at Southfork as a memorial to the actor. When Miss Ellie remarried in 1984, the picture was moved to the Ewing Oil set.
cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/dallas/dallas.htm|title=Dallas: U.S. Serial Melodrama|publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications|quote=...his [Jock Ewing's] portrait continued to preside over key scenes in the offices of Ewing Oil.|accessdate=2007-06-15] The painting now hangs in the home of Larry Hagman, who played protagonist J.R. Ewing. [cite book|title=Hello Darlin': Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life|last=Hagman|first=Larry|coauthors=Gold, Todd|year=2001|publisher=Simon & Schuster|pages=209-10|quote=...I still see him [Jim Davis] every day. The first thing you see when you enter my home is the oil painting of Jim that hung in the living room of Southfork.|isbn=0743221818] The Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, where "Dallas" exteriors were shot, features a different Jock Ewing portrait as a focal point of its "Jock's Living Room." [cite web|url=http://foreverlodging.com/gallery.cfm?PropertyKey=93|title=Photo Gallery|publisher=Southfork Ranch|accessdate=2007-06-15
cite web|url=http://homepage.mac.com/sethbook/tx/PhotoAlbum170.html|title=Southfork Ranch|publisher=Homepage.mac.com|accessdate=2007-06-15]

Jock drove a 1977 Lincoln Mark V with the license plate EWING 1, which is still on the grounds of Southfork, although it is parked in one of the gift shops.

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