I remember about 5 years ago I was driving down the PCH and came upon a Prius with 3-4 "Larry Hagman is not dead" bumper stickers on it. I looked over and ole JR himself was at the wheel.
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Hagman, who died last week aged 81, reportedly visited Bucharest in the 1980s together with his wife Maj Axelsson. At the time, he was famous worldwide for his role as merciless oil magnate JR Ewing on television series Dallas.
However, during the trip, he gained an unexpected fan. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who was later executed in the 1989 Christmas uprising, wanted a portrait of the actor to be put up publicity, believing it would bolster the regime.
Dallas was one of the few American TV series the late communist dictator allowed to be shown on television, believing it portrayed capitalism negatively.
Hagman was duly asked whether he would agree to the erection of a giant portrait of himself on the side of a building.
The Dallas star is understood to have agreed to the request, on the condition that a bag of hard currency was delivered to the ladies' loo of a government office. It was agreed his wife would pick up the bag the next day.
A brown paper bag filled with dollars was then left in the designated place, Hagman recently told the Sunday Times.
“We spent it quickly like we did all the money in those days,” he said.
The late actor asked the Sunday Times to wait until he was dead to publish the story.
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
R.I.P. Larry Hagman
