THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310032
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
From Hollywood
LENGTH: 78 lines
He looks good - darn good, in fact - for a 64-year-old man who nearly died 11 months ago when his diseased liver was about to give out.
Larry Hagman today is fence-post thin, all but bald on top (he wears a hairpiece for the ``Dallas'' reunion special on CBS) and obsessed with giving away his fortune. He recently put his Malibu home up for sale for $4.5 million, and said he will also sell his ranch in New Mexico and apartment in Manhattan.
Hagman intends to gather up the money he makes on his real estate and spend it or give it away. ``Spend it all,'' he said.
``Or give it to the Boy Scouts. I don't need anything. I have everything I want, including a new lease on life.''
Long before the cast of ``Friends'' began holding out for $100,000 an episode, and the co-stars (Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo) of the Fox drama ``New York Undercover'' threatened to quit unless they are paid $75,000 per show, Hagman was pulling millions out of the producers of ``Dallas'' by threatening to strike.
He joked about it when schmoozing with members of the Television Critics Association. Told of reports that Bill Cosby is being paid $1 million to star in a new CBS sitcom, Hagman indicated he got more.
``I consider that a cut in pay,'' said Hagman of Cosby's take.
At 64, what hair he has on his head is mountain-top white, as are his eyebrows. His color is good. He smiles often. The man is alive! And full of advice.
``Good for the `Friends' cast,'' he said of their united stand against NBC and Warner Brothers. ``Let 'em go for it. Somebody will make billions off what they're doing.''
When the cirrhosis in Hagman's liver - doctors also found a cancerous tumor - advanced to the point that it had to be replaced or else, Hagman admitted that being so near death touched him deeply. He was on the operating table at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for 15 hours. ``I had a kind of spiritual awakening.''
And now in that spirit of a man re-born, he's willing to give millions to charity. ``It's time I left a legacy, something of value, to others,'' said Hagman.
Hagman said he was prepared to die a year ago when doctors said his life depended on receiving a liver transplant. He had been a heavy drinker for years. How heavy?
``I don't think I ever got drunk. I wasn't a party guy. But I did drink quietly, steadily. Starting at about 9 o'clock in the morning, I kind of got that click, that buzz, and floated along with it all day.''
Surely he regrets those 50 years of hard drinking?
``No. I have never regretted it. ``And last year, I was ready to bite the bullet. I had to be talked into getting the transplant. Perhaps my thinking was muddled because the blood wasn't getting to my brain. But that is how I felt a year ago.''
Hagman today asks everyone he meets including a room full of TV reporters if they intend to donate their body parts when they die. ``Do it. Talk to your loved ones about it, I beg you. Be ready when it comes down to crunch time. Get it all straight ahead of time.''
Hagman returns to the J.R. Ewing role in ``Dallas: J.R. Returns,'' which will air in November. Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray from the original cast join in. In 1997, Hagman will star in a new CBS drama, playing a judge in ``Orleans.''
Not bad for a man who was given less than a month to live when on Aug. 15, 1995 the beeper on his belt sounded off, telling him that a liver had been found for him. ``I realized then that life is shorter than you expected it to be,'' he said.
As for the long run of ``Dallas,'' which will soon appear on The Nashville Network in reruns starting with episode No. 1, Hagman said he gives the show some of the credit for tumbling the Soviet empire. Hagman's explanation:
``When the people in the USSR watched bootleg tapes of our show, they saw our cars, houses and a glitzy lifestyle. They decided they wanted all that but couldn't have that under Communism. Our show contributed to Communism's overthrow.''
Isn't that what you would expect a capitalist like J.R. Ewing to say? ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Hagman's "Return" airs in November. by CNB