Creator David Jacobs | ||
 | ||
Duration 1978–89, 1991, 1998, 2012–14 First appearance April 2, 1978Digger's Daughter Last appearance March 17, 2014Lifting the Veil Movies and TV shows Dallas, Dallas: War of the Ewings, Dallas Reunion: The Retur Similar | ||
Raymond "Ray" Krebbs is a character in the American television series Dallas, played by Steve Kanaly. Ray Krebbs is the illegitimate son of Texas oil baron Jock Ewing. He has appeared in the 2012 series.
Contents
Background
Ray Krebbs was born on October 19, 1945 in Emporia, Kansas. His alleged father, Amos Krebbs, left him and his mother, Margaret Hunter Krebbs, when Ray was three years old. At age 15, Ray was sent off to Dallas and to the Southfork Ranch with a letter from his recently deceased mother asking Jock Ewing to help Ray out. Ray's mother, a United States Army Air Corps nurse, was a woman whom Jock Ewing had an affair with during World War II. At the time when Ray arrived on Southfork, both Jock Ewing and Miss Ellie Ewing knew that Ray was the son of the same woman whom Jock had an affair with in Britain during the war, but they did not know at that time that Ray was Jock's son.
Storylines
Ray worked for Jock maintaining Southfork as its ranch foreman. Initially, Ray was a bit of a rogue, dating the much younger Lucy Ewing on the sly, and collaborating with J.R. Ewing to break up J.R's younger brother Bobby and his new wife (and Ray's old flame) Pamela Barnes. Despite this, Ray had a good heart, and became a trusted and upstanding friend of the Ewing family. Eventually, Amos Krebbs showed up in Dallas in 1980 and revealed that he wasn't Ray's father, reading out information in Margaret Hunter's diary to Jock Ewing, which revealed that Jock was Ray's father. Jock welcomed Ray into the Ewing family and publicly acknowledged Ray as his son. Because of the incestuous implications, Ray's prior relationship with Lucy was never referenced again.
Ray eventually found happiness with politician and the widow of former Texas governor Sam Culver, Donna Culver Krebbs, and they married in 1981. However the marriage began to collapse and in 1985 they separated. Donna found out she was pregnant and Ray tried to reconcile with her, but she refused. During the "Dream Season" Ray and Donna adopted a deaf boy named Tony after Donna miscarried. By 1987, they had divorced and Donna had given birth to a daughter named Margaret Krebbs, named after Ray's deceased mother.
In 1988, Ray married Jenna Wade after Jenna had given birth to his half-brother Bobby's son, Lucas. Their marriage and the decision that Ray adopt Lucas caused some acrimony between the once-close Ray and Bobby, but they made amends and resumed their brotherly relationship. Eventually, trouble with Jenna's teenage daughter Charlie caused friction between Ray and Jenna. After sending Charlie to boarding school in Europe, Ray and Jenna decided to move to Switzerland permanently, this also happened because Ray cheated on Jenna with another woman, and the only way she might forgive him was if they move away. Clayton and Miss Ellie Farlow visited them before they also left Dallas, tiring of the constant battles within the family.
In 1991, Ray returned for the final episode, and in J.R.'s dream, Ray has a very unhappy working life, having never found out Jock was his father. Ray is also limping heavily due to rodeo injuries (stock footage is shown of Ray in the rodeo won by Dusty Farlow in season 3). Seeing Ray working to make ends meet on a ranch and also in a bar (where he is treated poorly), J.R. admits, "I kinda feel sorry for him." Later in the dream it is Ray's birthday, and despite having a poor work life, Ray has a very happy family life and even has a son named Jock. J.R. seems genuinely happy for him, bearing in mind this is a dream. Ray also appeared sporting a mustache, something he never had during his actual time on Dallas.
In 1998, Ray makes a shock return (with dyed brown hair) in War of the Ewings when, out of nowhere, he helps Bobby and Sue Ellen in a barroom brawl. It is later revealed Ray is broke as the Krebbs ranch was remortgaged several times (it is unknown how Ray owned the ranch again as it was last seen owned by Michelle Stevens in 1991). Bobby helps him out until J.R. unwittingly helps Ray pocket $50 million for the land, which was auctioned to J.R.'s bitter rival Carter McKay. The land was valued at only $10 million, but happened to be a source of crude oil which started a bidding war between J.R. and McKay. McKay's bid won the auction, but J.R. later revealed that in Jock's will the mineral rights were deeded to the Ewings' trust, thereby making the oil inaccessible to Carter McKay.
Dallas (2012 TV series)
In 2012, Ray attended his nephew, Christopher's wedding to Rebecca Sutter and later appears at Bobby's final Southfork barbecue. In 2013, Ray attended J.R.'s funeral at Southfork where he said that he could never make Jock proud the way J.R. did. Ray was not mentioned in J.R.'s will. He appeared in one episode during the third season along with Lucy.