TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Who Shot J.R.?
May 3, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - In the final scene of the 1979–1980 season (March 21, 1980), the character J. R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was shot by a hidden assailant.
So, who DID shoot J.R.?
Answer: Kristin Shepard
As it turned out, viewers had to wait all summer and most of the autumn because of a Hollywood actors’ strike (and Hagman’s own holdout), to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.
Ultimately, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) in the “Who Done It?” episode which aired on November 21, 1980. Kristin was J.R.’s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, who shot him in a fit of anger.
J.R., who lived, didn’t press charges, as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair.
Oh, and it was, at the time, the highest rated television episode in US history.