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It was television’s biggest cliffhanger: \u201cWho Shot J.R.?\u201d<\/strong> By the time Dallas<\/em>‘ Season 4 installment \u201cWho Done It?\u201d aired on Nov. 21, 1980, the mystery had become a global phenomenon. Fans had spent eight agonizing months since the Season 3 finale \u2014 \u201cA House Divided\u201d \u2014 speculating nonstop about who pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n Dallas<\/em>, the primetime soap centering on Texas oil titan Jock Ewing (Jim Davis<\/strong>) and his wealthy, feuding family, had only been on the air two years. Yet Jock\u2019s oldest son, the deliciously devious J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman<\/strong>), had already become the show\u2019s breakout character and would even return for the 2012 revival.<\/p>\n More from Gold Derby<\/strong><\/p>\n And while J.R. survived the shooting, the identity of his attacker was hotly debated in the months leading up to the \u201cWho Done It?\u201d premiere \u2014 and even wagered on, to the point where multiple people offered bribes to the episode\u2019s writer, Loraine Despres<\/strong>, to spill the beans.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a friend who was a lawyer and he said, \u2018Loraine, tell me who did it. I’ll fly to London, place bets for us, and it\u2019ll be perfectly legal,\u2019\u201d Despres tells Gold Derby. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018I’m not telling you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The second bribe attempt was even stranger. \u201cI used to take an exercise class at a neighbor’s house, and her husband was a weightlifter and kind of a minor thug,\u201d Despres says. \u201cAfter class he invited me into his garage gym. I thought, \u2018If he tries to beat me up, I’ll tell him.\u2019\u201d Fortunately, it never came to that \u2014 and his offer to take the secret to Las Vegas and split the winnings wasn\u2019t any more tempting than her lawyer friend\u2019s.<\/p>\n When \u201cWho Done It?\u201d finally aired, it became the second-highest-rated primetime broadcast in TV history,<\/strong> surpassed only by the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H<\/em>. Part of the success came from how tightly the Dallas<\/em> secret was kept \u2014 even the cast was clueless.<\/p>\n Victoria Principal<\/strong>, who played Pam Ewing, wife of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy<\/strong>), tells Gold Derby that showrunner and director Leonard Katzman <\/strong>filmed fake \u201cshooter\u201d scenes with several actors in case the truth leaked. Principal was hesitant to participate, worried the footage might be misused to implicate Pam, which she \u201cdid not want.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Action!\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cI took a few steps, landed on the mark, raised the gun, and began to drool \u2014 spit ran over my bottom lip and down my chin \u2014 and I pulled the trigger. Lenny burst out laughing, yelled \u2018Cut!\u2019 and said, \u2018Thank you, Ms. Principal. That is completely useless.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The drool gag was something she learned from Hagman himself. \u201cHe would do the drool whenever I wore a bathing suit,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I did the drool that I learned from Larry, while [pretending to be] shooting Larry.\u201d (Hagman died in 2012 at the age of 81.)<\/p>\n Popular suspects at the time included J.R.\u2019s wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray<\/strong>), her lover Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin<\/strong>), and J.R.\u2019s mother, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes<\/strong>). But in the end, the culprit was revealed as Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby<\/strong>), Sue Ellen\u2019s younger sister \u2014 and J.R.\u2019s mistress \u2014 who uses her pregnancy to keep him from going to the police. (He later learns he isn\u2019t the father.)<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it became such a big deal, the last four pages were deleted from the scripts so that the cast and crew wouldn’t know and couldn\u2019t go and bet,\u201d Despres explains. Showrunners even considered swapping the culprit to Sue Ellen if news leaked early.<\/p>\n Fans had to wait until Episode 4 of Season 4 to learn the truth \u2014 a delay caused partly by the SAG-AFTRA strike of 1980. According to Principal, the cast held a viewing party and learned the truth right alongside the rest of the world.<\/p>\n The wait paid off. Forty-five years later, \u201cWho Done It?\u201d remains the most famous Dallas<\/em> episode and a landmark in television history. Despres \u2014 who also wrote two other episodes in Season 3 and later authored the novels The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc<\/em> (2002) and The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell<\/em> (2005) \u2014 attributes the show\u2019s longevity to its strong early writing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very well written, particularly in the first years,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Principal, who went on to run her own production company, write several health-and-wellness books, and launch a skincare brand, puts it more simply: \u201cI think it\u2019s very hard to articulate magic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the first show to ever become a worldwide phenomenon,\u201d she adds. \u201cLenny was really worried that the audience would lose interest waiting to learn who shot J.R., but instead it just grew around the world. That episode changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Gold Derby<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Gold Derby’s Newsletter<\/a>. 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