Actor Larry Hagman Dies

Sad news following a weekend of giving thanks. “Dallas” star Larry Hagman has died due to complications with throat cancer.

"Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most. Larry's family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday," his family said in a statement.

Hagman was 81, and passed peacefully, according to the statement.

Hagman announced that he had a treatable form of cancer in October 2011, not long before he returned to the reprised show “Dallas,” which ran from 1978 to 1991. In 1980, Hagman’s cliffhanger episode, wherein his character J.R. was shot, broke viewing records.

He was also known for his character Major Tony Nelson on the much-loved “I Dream of Jeannie,” which ran from 1965-1970.

In 1992 Hagman learned he had cirrhosis, and in 1995 underwent a liver transplant after doctors discovered a tumor.

“As J. R., I could get away with anything — bribery, blackmail and adultery,” Hagman said last year. “But I got caught by cancer.”

His life of drinking and smoking lead to many health problems and, in his later years, Hagman became a stout anti-smoking advocate. He was known for asking autograph-seekers to repay him with a song or a joke.

Hagman leaves behind his wife of more than 50 years, Maj Axelsson, a son Preston, daughter Kristina, and five granddaughters.

In 1980, Hagman said in an interview, “Life is terminal, death is not. I think death is just another stage of our development. I honestly believe that we don’t just disappear. We don’t go into a void. I think we’re part of a big energy curtain, an energy wave, in which we are like molecules.”