Cliff Barnes
Encyclopedia
Clifford "Cliff" Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval
, was a character on the popular American television series Dallas
. The Barnes family were competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family. Cliff was the son of Willard "Digger" Barnes and Rebecca Barnes Wentworth. J.R. Ewing
(played by Larry Hagman
) was Cliff's personal nemesis; Cliff and J.R. were the only two characters to appear throughout the entire run of the series.
During the show's original conception, the character of Cliff was modeled after the late Robert F. Kennedy
. However, he evolved into a bumbling sad sack who was very much his own worst enemy. A lawyer and a bureaucrat, not an oil man, Cliff was out of his element when dealing in the cutthroat oil business and, despite repeated attempts, would always be outsmarted and outdone by his rival J.R. Cliff finally beats J.R. in the final season, and takes over Ewing Oil.
Cliff's half-sister, Pamela
(played by Victoria Principal
), married Bobby Ewing
(played by Patrick Duffy), J.R.'s younger brother.
Cliff had a romantic relationship with J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen
(played by Linda Gray
), once during the second season of Dallas, and then again during the fifth season.
During the fifth season, Cliff proposed marriage to the recently divorced Sue Ellen, however she turned him down and eventually remarried J.R.
Cliff did find happiness again with aspiring singer Afton Cooper (played by Audrey Landers
), the sister of Lucy Ewing
's husband Mitch Cooper. It would later transpire that Afton gave birth to a daughter, Pamela Rebecca, after the end of her relationship with Cliff. At the start of the penultimate season, it was revealed that Pamela was indeed Cliff's daughter, although Afton, disgusted by Cliff's lying to her, tricked him into believing otherwise.
During the beginning of Dallas, Cliff worked for the state of Texas, building an impressive recorded reputation as investigator of corruption within the independent oil companies. It was no coincidence that these investigations often cited or targeted Ewing Oil. During the second and third seasons, Cliff's career took an upward swing when he was appointed Chief of the Office of Land Management, a fictional enormously powerful state agency that coordinated and approved all ventures that affected the surface and geological texture of Texas land, including oil drilling permits. In an attempt to lure Barnes out of this powerful position, J.R. Ewing enlisted attorney Alan Beam in a scheme to form an exploratory funding committee (funds solely provided by J.R. Ewing) promoting Barnes as a candidate for the U.S. Congress. The scheme worked as Barnes resigned from his position to run for Congress. After his resignation, the money flow to the campaign stopped and Barnes was forced to drop out of the race. In a major step backwards, Barnes took a position as a Dallas assistant district attorney (Shortly after taking the position, Barnes promoted the prosecution of Jock Ewing for a 30 year old murder, which was dismissed after, ironically, Digger Barnes confessed to the murder on his deathbed). In season four, Cliff Barnes began working with State Senator Dave Culver, believing that Culver (the son of Sam Culver, a Texas and national political icon) would be destined for powerful office. During this time, Cliff also formed a "personal" relationship with Donna Culver (who was Dave's most trusted advisor and the widow of Sam). Relations between Donna and Cliff soured and quickly ended when Dave was appointed to the U.S. Senate and Donna's party committee chose Bobby Ewing (instead of Barnes) to run for his vacant state senate seat. After Bobby Ewing won the senate race (as a favor to wife Pam) he asked Barnes to be his chief senate counsel. Cliff accepted but after a short tenure, they had a falling out over Cliff's decision (without consulting Bobby) to start a senate investigation against J.R. for alleged organization of a counter-revolution in Southeast Asia.
In the course of the fourth season, Cliff's mother, Rebecca Wentworth (played by Priscilla Pointer
) made a dramatic reentry into his life. After much debating, Cliff forgave her for her desertion. It also delighted Cliff that his mother was an important lady who was wealthy and powerful in her own right. Rebecca eventually offered him the presidency of Wentworth Tool & Die, a small subsidiary of Wentworth Industries, which made parts for oil rigs. Cliff happily accepted and did extraordinarily well for a time. Eventually Cliff asked for, and received, complete autonomy at Wentworth Tool & Die - but his fortunes took a dramatic downturn when he wasted Wentworth funds on a phony deal engineered by J.R. Cliff's mother subsequently sacked him - this, coupled with Sue Ellen's decision to remarry J.R around the same time, drove Cliff to attempt suicide.
Cliff recovered, and Rebecca subsequently bought out Wade Luce Oil, renaming it Barnes-Wentworth Oil. Rebecca asked Cliff to run the company for her and he accepted - blaming J.R. for Cliff's suicide attempt, Rebecca encouraged Cliff to use the company (and the place in the Cartel which came with it) to gain revenge. Armed with a new lease on life, and a new hatred for the Ewings, he became driven to succeed, and as a result, turned Barnes-Wentworth into a very successful company. That year Cliff won the coveted "Oil Man Of the Year" award at the Oil Baron's Ball. However, instead of enjoying his success he embarrassed himself by verbally trashing Jock Ewing and Ewing Oil during his acceptance speech, resulting in a huge brawl.
Rebecca died soon after from injuries sustained in a plane crash, and Cliff inherited Barnes-Wentworth Oil, lock, stock, and barrel - as well as a third of Wentworth Industries (much to the disgust of his half sister Katherine).
Cliff married Jamie Ewing, daughter of the late Jason Ewing and therefore a cousin of J.R. and Bobby (played by Jenilee Harrison
) in 1985, but the union was unhappy at first, Cliff having married Jamie purely for the inheritance he always believed to be his birthright. During the 1985-86 season they realized how much they loved one another and became close. In April 1986, Jamie was seen trapped in a blazing car and presumed dead. But the entire 1985-86 season turned out to be the nightmare of Cliff's sister Pam. So Cliff and Jamie's happy marriage and her supposed death were just a dream and thus Cliff and Jamie never found happiness. She left him in fall 1986 and the union was headed for a divorce when it was explained that Jamie was killed due to a fall whilst on a mountain climbing holiday.
Cliff eventually realizes his dream of taking over a share of Ewing Oil and for a time enjoys a good personal and business relationship with Bobby, whilst J.R. is temporarily sidelined from the business. It is notable that Cliff and Bobby appear to find mutual respect and liking only after Pamela has gone and their family ties are effectively severed. Cliff is also shown at this time to be a loving and attentive uncle to Christopher, who is suffering from the absence of his mother. Cliff enjoys a seemingly open welcome to Southfork during this time, something that would have been unheard of in earlier seasons. J.R. eventually returned to Ewing Oil and while they were briefly able to coexist, it didn't last. J.R.'s maneuvering and Cliff's inattention to the business due to his attempts to win back Afton, ("the only woman I ever loved") soon had Cliff falling out of favor once again with the Ewings. By the end of the series, the feud that had characterized much of Dallas's run was firmly back on.
A theme of Cliff Barnes' character was social class
conflict with his nemesis J.R. Ewing
. Cliff had grown up poor in contrast to J.R. after the partnership between Cliff's father Digger and Jock Ewing
dissolved, due in large part to Digger's heavy drinking. Jock went on to found Ewing Oil. Digger blamed Jock for his subsequent bad luck and was jealous of Jock's wealth. Cliff inherited Digger's resentment of the Ewings. As time went on his hatred for the Ewings (with the exception of J.R.) dissipated, and realized that his father was equally at fault as Jock was in regards to their feud. Throughout the series Cliff had a reputation for being cheap and naive in contrast to J.R. Whereas J.R. always dined in fine restaurants, wore a stylish Stetson
, lived on South Fork
and lavished his mistresses with generosity; Cliff often preferred take-out Chinese cuisine, wore cheap suits, lived in a condominium
and assumed his romantic interests would clean his home. While J.R. was smooth talking and charismatic, Cliff tended to speak before he thought and frequently stuck his foot in his mouth. Much of the drama of Dallas was centered around Cliff's attempts to revenge himself against J.R. politically, romantically and financially. Typically, Cliff's schemes failed because of J.R.'s under-handed cleverness.
Cliff eventually got one over JR shortly before the TV series ended when he took over Ewing Oil.
In the final episode of 1991 Cliff appears in J.R's dream where bizarrely he ends up President of the United States.
Cliff also appeared in the 1996 film Dallas: J.R. Returns, where after 5 years at Ewing Oil, he decides he has had enough of the oil business, and looks to sell. Initially making a deal with Westar head Carter McKay, he eventually sells the company to Bobby and Sue Ellen, effectively ending the feud with J.R. when he decides that reuniting with his family (Afton and his long lost daughter Pamela) is more important than beating J.R.
Ken Kercheval
Ken Kercheval is an American actor, best known for his role as Cliff Barnes on the television series Dallas....
, was a character on the popular American television series Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
. The Barnes family were competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family. Cliff was the son of Willard "Digger" Barnes and Rebecca Barnes Wentworth. J.R. Ewing
J.R. Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Jr., more commonly known as J. R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was a central, nefarious figure on the hit CBS television series Dallas . J. R...
(played by Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
) was Cliff's personal nemesis; Cliff and J.R. were the only two characters to appear throughout the entire run of the series.
During the show's original conception, the character of Cliff was modeled after the late Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
. However, he evolved into a bumbling sad sack who was very much his own worst enemy. A lawyer and a bureaucrat, not an oil man, Cliff was out of his element when dealing in the cutthroat oil business and, despite repeated attempts, would always be outsmarted and outdone by his rival J.R. Cliff finally beats J.R. in the final season, and takes over Ewing Oil.
Cliff's half-sister, Pamela
Pamela Barnes Ewing
Pamela Jean "Pam" Barnes is a fictional character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Victoria Principal and Margaret Michaels.-Early pre-series life:...
(played by Victoria Principal
Victoria Principal
Victoria Principal is an American actress, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the CBS nighttime drama Dallas from 1978 to 1987.-Early life:...
), married Bobby Ewing
Bobby James Ewing
Robert James Ewing, commonly called Bobby Ewing, is a fictional character central to the long running TV soap opera Dallas. The youngest son of Jock and Ellie Ewing, he was portrayed by actor Patrick Duffy between 1978 and 1991, although both the actor and the character left the show briefly during...
(played by Patrick Duffy), J.R.'s younger brother.
Cliff had a romantic relationship with J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen
Sue Ellen Ewing
Sue Ellen Ewing is a character on the popular American television series Dallas, played by Linda Gray from 1978 to 1989. Sue Ellen was the long-suffering two-time wife of the nefarious J. R. Ewing....
(played by Linda Gray
Linda Gray
Linda Ann Gray is an American actress, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the television prime-time soap opera Dallas.-Career:Prior to acting, Gray began working as a model in the 1960s...
), once during the second season of Dallas, and then again during the fifth season.
During the fifth season, Cliff proposed marriage to the recently divorced Sue Ellen, however she turned him down and eventually remarried J.R.
Cliff did find happiness again with aspiring singer Afton Cooper (played by Audrey Landers
Audrey Landers
Audrey Landers is a German American actress and singer, who is probably best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the television drama series Dallas and her role as Val Clarke in the film version of A Chorus Line.- Early years :...
), the sister of Lucy Ewing
Lucy Ewing Cooper
Lucy Ewing Cooper was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Charlene Tilton .Lucy was the saucy daughter of Gary Ewing and Valene Clements Ewing and confused niece of JR Ewing & Bobby Ewing. Lucy was raised on the Southfork Ranch by her grandparents, Jock and Miss...
's husband Mitch Cooper. It would later transpire that Afton gave birth to a daughter, Pamela Rebecca, after the end of her relationship with Cliff. At the start of the penultimate season, it was revealed that Pamela was indeed Cliff's daughter, although Afton, disgusted by Cliff's lying to her, tricked him into believing otherwise.
During the beginning of Dallas, Cliff worked for the state of Texas, building an impressive recorded reputation as investigator of corruption within the independent oil companies. It was no coincidence that these investigations often cited or targeted Ewing Oil. During the second and third seasons, Cliff's career took an upward swing when he was appointed Chief of the Office of Land Management, a fictional enormously powerful state agency that coordinated and approved all ventures that affected the surface and geological texture of Texas land, including oil drilling permits. In an attempt to lure Barnes out of this powerful position, J.R. Ewing enlisted attorney Alan Beam in a scheme to form an exploratory funding committee (funds solely provided by J.R. Ewing) promoting Barnes as a candidate for the U.S. Congress. The scheme worked as Barnes resigned from his position to run for Congress. After his resignation, the money flow to the campaign stopped and Barnes was forced to drop out of the race. In a major step backwards, Barnes took a position as a Dallas assistant district attorney (Shortly after taking the position, Barnes promoted the prosecution of Jock Ewing for a 30 year old murder, which was dismissed after, ironically, Digger Barnes confessed to the murder on his deathbed). In season four, Cliff Barnes began working with State Senator Dave Culver, believing that Culver (the son of Sam Culver, a Texas and national political icon) would be destined for powerful office. During this time, Cliff also formed a "personal" relationship with Donna Culver (who was Dave's most trusted advisor and the widow of Sam). Relations between Donna and Cliff soured and quickly ended when Dave was appointed to the U.S. Senate and Donna's party committee chose Bobby Ewing (instead of Barnes) to run for his vacant state senate seat. After Bobby Ewing won the senate race (as a favor to wife Pam) he asked Barnes to be his chief senate counsel. Cliff accepted but after a short tenure, they had a falling out over Cliff's decision (without consulting Bobby) to start a senate investigation against J.R. for alleged organization of a counter-revolution in Southeast Asia.
In the course of the fourth season, Cliff's mother, Rebecca Wentworth (played by Priscilla Pointer
Priscilla Pointer
Priscilla Pointer is an American stage, film and television character actress. She began her career in the theater, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood to act in films and on television...
) made a dramatic reentry into his life. After much debating, Cliff forgave her for her desertion. It also delighted Cliff that his mother was an important lady who was wealthy and powerful in her own right. Rebecca eventually offered him the presidency of Wentworth Tool & Die, a small subsidiary of Wentworth Industries, which made parts for oil rigs. Cliff happily accepted and did extraordinarily well for a time. Eventually Cliff asked for, and received, complete autonomy at Wentworth Tool & Die - but his fortunes took a dramatic downturn when he wasted Wentworth funds on a phony deal engineered by J.R. Cliff's mother subsequently sacked him - this, coupled with Sue Ellen's decision to remarry J.R around the same time, drove Cliff to attempt suicide.
Cliff recovered, and Rebecca subsequently bought out Wade Luce Oil, renaming it Barnes-Wentworth Oil. Rebecca asked Cliff to run the company for her and he accepted - blaming J.R. for Cliff's suicide attempt, Rebecca encouraged Cliff to use the company (and the place in the Cartel which came with it) to gain revenge. Armed with a new lease on life, and a new hatred for the Ewings, he became driven to succeed, and as a result, turned Barnes-Wentworth into a very successful company. That year Cliff won the coveted "Oil Man Of the Year" award at the Oil Baron's Ball. However, instead of enjoying his success he embarrassed himself by verbally trashing Jock Ewing and Ewing Oil during his acceptance speech, resulting in a huge brawl.
Rebecca died soon after from injuries sustained in a plane crash, and Cliff inherited Barnes-Wentworth Oil, lock, stock, and barrel - as well as a third of Wentworth Industries (much to the disgust of his half sister Katherine).
Cliff married Jamie Ewing, daughter of the late Jason Ewing and therefore a cousin of J.R. and Bobby (played by Jenilee Harrison
Jenilee Harrison
Jenilee Harrison is an American actress possibly best known for her role as replacement blonde roommate Cindy Snow on the hit sitcom Three's Company from 1980–1982 and Jamie Ewing in Dallas from 1984–1986.- Early years :...
) in 1985, but the union was unhappy at first, Cliff having married Jamie purely for the inheritance he always believed to be his birthright. During the 1985-86 season they realized how much they loved one another and became close. In April 1986, Jamie was seen trapped in a blazing car and presumed dead. But the entire 1985-86 season turned out to be the nightmare of Cliff's sister Pam. So Cliff and Jamie's happy marriage and her supposed death were just a dream and thus Cliff and Jamie never found happiness. She left him in fall 1986 and the union was headed for a divorce when it was explained that Jamie was killed due to a fall whilst on a mountain climbing holiday.
Cliff eventually realizes his dream of taking over a share of Ewing Oil and for a time enjoys a good personal and business relationship with Bobby, whilst J.R. is temporarily sidelined from the business. It is notable that Cliff and Bobby appear to find mutual respect and liking only after Pamela has gone and their family ties are effectively severed. Cliff is also shown at this time to be a loving and attentive uncle to Christopher, who is suffering from the absence of his mother. Cliff enjoys a seemingly open welcome to Southfork during this time, something that would have been unheard of in earlier seasons. J.R. eventually returned to Ewing Oil and while they were briefly able to coexist, it didn't last. J.R.'s maneuvering and Cliff's inattention to the business due to his attempts to win back Afton, ("the only woman I ever loved") soon had Cliff falling out of favor once again with the Ewings. By the end of the series, the feud that had characterized much of Dallas's run was firmly back on.
A theme of Cliff Barnes' character was social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
conflict with his nemesis J.R. Ewing
J.R. Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Jr., more commonly known as J. R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was a central, nefarious figure on the hit CBS television series Dallas . J. R...
. Cliff had grown up poor in contrast to J.R. after the partnership between Cliff's father Digger and Jock Ewing
Jock Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Sr., better known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Jim Davis and Dale Midkiff in Dallas: The Early Years...
dissolved, due in large part to Digger's heavy drinking. Jock went on to found Ewing Oil. Digger blamed Jock for his subsequent bad luck and was jealous of Jock's wealth. Cliff inherited Digger's resentment of the Ewings. As time went on his hatred for the Ewings (with the exception of J.R.) dissipated, and realized that his father was equally at fault as Jock was in regards to their feud. Throughout the series Cliff had a reputation for being cheap and naive in contrast to J.R. Whereas J.R. always dined in fine restaurants, wore a stylish Stetson
Stetson
Stetsons are the brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company of St. Joseph, Missouri.Stetson eventually became the world’s largest hat maker, producing over 3.3 million hats a year in a factory spread over . Today Stetson remains a family-owned concern...
, lived on South Fork
South Fork
South Fork may refer to:In towns:* South Fork, Saskatchewan* South Fork, Butte County, California* South Fork, Madera County, California* South Fork, Mendocino County, California* South Fork, Colorado* South Fork Township, Minnesota...
and lavished his mistresses with generosity; Cliff often preferred take-out Chinese cuisine, wore cheap suits, lived in a condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
and assumed his romantic interests would clean his home. While J.R. was smooth talking and charismatic, Cliff tended to speak before he thought and frequently stuck his foot in his mouth. Much of the drama of Dallas was centered around Cliff's attempts to revenge himself against J.R. politically, romantically and financially. Typically, Cliff's schemes failed because of J.R.'s under-handed cleverness.
Cliff eventually got one over JR shortly before the TV series ended when he took over Ewing Oil.
In the final episode of 1991 Cliff appears in J.R's dream where bizarrely he ends up President of the United States.
Cliff also appeared in the 1996 film Dallas: J.R. Returns, where after 5 years at Ewing Oil, he decides he has had enough of the oil business, and looks to sell. Initially making a deal with Westar head Carter McKay, he eventually sells the company to Bobby and Sue Ellen, effectively ending the feud with J.R. when he decides that reuniting with his family (Afton and his long lost daughter Pamela) is more important than beating J.R.