Southfork Ranch 2009, "America's Tea Party", which an organizer said drew an estimated crowd of 25,000 to 35,000 attendees. In December 2012, a memorial service was held at the Southfork Ranch after the death of actor Larry Hagman, who starred as J.R. Ewing in the series. A memorial book for fans to sign was set up in the "J.R. Ewing room". Southfork Ranch Southfork Ranch is a conference and event center in Parker, Texas, in the United States, about north of Dallas. The ranch includes the Ewing Mansion, which was the setting for both "Dallas" television series: the original, which first aired
Larry Hagman Hagman returned to New York City, where he appeared in the off-Broadway play "Once Around the Block", by William Saroyan. That was followed by nearly a year in another off-Broadway play, James Lee's "Career". His Broadway debut occurred in 1958 in "Comes a Day". Hagman appeared in four other Broadway plays, "God and Kate Murphy", "The Nervous Set", "The Warm Peninsula", and "The Beauty Part". During this period, he also appeared in numerous, mostly live, television programs. Hagman's first television role was as Kenneth Davidson in the 1957 episode "Saturday Lost" of the syndicated crime drama, "Decoy", starring Beverly Garland