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Who Was Pat Colbert? All About Dallas Star As She Passes Away At 77
Pat Colbert, who played the role of Dora Mae in the series Dallas, has died aged 77.
Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of death.
Pat Colbert, best known for her role as Dora Mae in Dallas, has passed away at the age of 77. Colbert died June 23 at her home in Compton, her sister Tami Colbert told The Hollywood Reporter. She had suffered three strokes over the past decade. Her first television appearance was in 1979's Eischiled, and she later co-starred in Flamingo Road, with notable actors such as John Beck, Woody Brown, and Morgan Fairchild.
Who was Pat Colbert?
Pat Colbert was born in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1947. Her father, LeRoy, was in construction, and her mother, Eula, was a homemaker who also worked in foster care. She attended Centennial High School in Compton and then junior college. She worked as a model for department store print campaigns and as a fashion consultant before she became an actress.
Throughout the 1980s, Colbert made appearances in shows like Benson (1982), The Fall Guy (1982), Knots Landing (1983), and A Death in California (1985). Colbert starred in CBS's Capitol, playing Cora Mullens. She first appeared in Dallas Season 7 in 1983, playing Dora Mae, the Oil Baron's Club host. The show ended in 1991.
After Dallas, she appeared in Sisters and True Colors. Colbert starred opposite Bill Cosby in the 1987 spy spoof film Leonard Part 6, playing the role of Allison Parker, the wife of Cosby’s character. She would go on to have credits in films like Thom & Dusty Go to Mexico: The Lost Treasure (2014) and If Not for His Grace (2015).
“As the only recurring African American character on the series, Dora Mae never had a storyline, because Dallas never tried to pretend to be anything more than the saga of the Ewing family, but she played the role with elegance and intelligence,” blogger Shaun Chang said in a statement to THR.
“The leading characters, and the show itself, treated her with respect and without any sense of condescension,” Chang added. “Dallas had many recurring supporting characters who helped create a sense of community for a show set in a major city, and Dora Mae was part of the fabric of the series.”
A brief about Dallas
Dallas was an American prime-time television soap opera from 1978 to 1991, centered around the Ewings, a feuding Texas family. The show centered on Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes' marriage, whose families were enemies. As the series progressed, J.R. Ewing, Bobby's elder brother, became the show's breakout character, whose schemes and dirty business became the show's trademark. By the show's end, J.R. was the only character to appear in every episode.
With its 357 episodes, Dallas remains one of the longest-lasting full-hour prime-time dramas in American TV history, behind Gunsmoke (635 episodes), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (551 episodes as of May 2024), Law & Order (501 episodes as of May 2024), Bonanza (430 episodes), and Grey's Anatomy (428 episodes as of May 2024). Dallas also spawned the spin-off series Knots Landing in 1979, which also lasted 14 seasons and 344 episodes.
The show is known for portraying wealth, s*x, intrigue, conflict, and power struggles. Throughout the series, the main premise is the longtime rivalry between the Ewing and Barnes families, which comes to a head when the Barnes daughter Pamela (Victoria Principal) elopes with the youngest Ewing son Bobby (Patrick Duffy), in the first episode. The series is largely set in Dallas, Texas, and fictional Braddock County, where the Southfork Ranch is located.
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