Actress Barbara Bel Geddes, best known for playing family matriarch Ellie Southword Ewing Farlow on the hit prime time soap opera 'Dallas' died at her home in Maine on Monday at the age of 82. The cause of death was lung cancer.
Bel Geddes' 'Dallas' co-stars remembered her fondly. Victoria Principal released a statement saying, 'I loved Barbara and am deeply saddened by her passing. 'Barbara Bel Geddes will be missed by many, but God is in for a very good time.'
While she will be best remembered for her work on the small screen on 'Dallas,' Bel Geddes also had a brief but successful film career. She appeared in only a dozen films but they were memorable ones like Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' and 'I Remember Mama.' It was her work in that film that earned her an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1948.
She also appeared on stage in the original version of Tennessee Williams' 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' as 'Maggie the Cat.'
In the late 60s, Bel Geddes took time off from acting to care for her cancer stricken husband. After his death in 1972, she returned to her chosen profession.
It took her six years before she landed her role on 'Dallas.' In his book 'Hello Darlin',' Larry Hagman asked Bel Geddes what attracted her to the role of the Ewing family matriarch. 'I needed the job,' was her brutally honest answer.
Bel Geddes was nominated for three Emmys for her work on 'Dallas' and won an Emmy in 1980. That year, however, striking actors boycotted the awards show. Bel Geddes was not even present to pick up her award.
After suffering a heart attack in 1984, Bel Geddes was replaced by Donna Reed but a year later, she was back and remained with the show until 1990, one year before it left the air.
After that, she left the limelight entirely and never appeared in another prime time television show.
Bel Geddes' first marriage ended in divorce. She did not remarry after her second husband died in 1972.
'She was the rock of Dallas,' Larry Hagman told the Associated Press. 'She was just a really nice woman and a wonderful actress. She was kind of the glue that held the whole thing together.'
