Larry Hagman was born on Sept. 21st 1931 in Fort Worth Texas. His mother is legendary actress Mary Martain, who was in many movies including: Street to Broadway, Night and Day, and Peter Pan. Many of her movies also starred Bing Crosby.
His father was a distict attorney. When his parents divorced, he moved to Los Angeles to live with his grandmother. But sadly his grandma died when he was 12 and the young boy moved back home with his mother.
Hagman attened Bard College in New York and decided to follow his mother's example and go into show buisness. In his early to mid twenties Larry moved to England as a member of "South Pasific." After that he enrolled in the U.S. air force. After that he went back to New York.
He began his television carrer in 1961 as a guest on the ALCOA Hour. After that he starred in a daytime series Edge of the night. He starred in that for two years.
Then came the hit television show "I Dream of Jeannie" where he played an astronaut named Anthony Nelson. In the show he palyed counter part of the beautiful Barbara Eden, who was his genie named Jeannie. The show ran for 5 years (1965-1970). In 1977 he starred in a television show that would make him infamous as the evil J.R. Ewing in "Dallas". The show ran for an astounding 14 and a half seasons. The "Who shot J.R." episode is rated #2 of all time, after the finale of M*A*S*H.
Not all that glitters is gold. Larry Hagman had a drinking problem, and in 1995 he needed a liver transplant to continue his life. He spent 7 weeks in the hospital and the surgery took 16 hours. But he never went anywhere. In 1996 he starred in Dallas: J.R. returns, which was a 2 hour film which rating were huge.
On his family life, Larry has been married to Maj Axelesson since 1955, they have 2 children.
Things you may not know:
He refuses to speak one day a week in self-disicpline.
He has a ring made of the gallstones from his liver.
He makes it a requirement to sing or tell him a joke before giving his autograph.
He's a vegitarian.
He's Briget Fonda's godfather.
He says Barbara Eden is the most beautiful girl in the world.