Pamela Barnes Ewing
Encyclopedia
Pamela Jean "Pam" Barnes (formerly Haynes and Ewing) is a fictional character in 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...

, 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:...

 and Margaret Michaels
Margaret Michaels
Margaret Michaels is an American actress best known for appearing as the characters of Pamela Ewing #2 and Jeanne O'Brien on the TV series Dallas, as a tennis player in the Dallas, imitator series Dynasty and on the television serial Santa Barbara.-Career:In the late-1980s, Warner Bros...

.

Early pre-series life

Pamela was born to Willard "Digger" Barnes (real father: Hutch McKinney) and Rebecca Barnes. She had an older brother Cliff
Cliff Barnes
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 was Cliff's...

. She was told by Digger that her mother died when she was just a little baby. Pam and Cliff were brought up by Digger's sister Maggie Barnes Monahan, living in a rundown part of Dallas. Her aunt was a widow and religious fanatic and Pam loved her dearly. Pam was also close with Maggie's son, her cousin Jimmy Monahan. As time went by Digger visited his children less and less. When he did see them, all he seemed to talk about was his rivalry with, and hatred of, 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...

.

Pam met a young soldier named Edison Haynes, who declared his love for the fifteen year old girl. Ed whisked her across the border to Juarez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...

 to get married, but Digger found them before they had time to consummate the marriage and dragged Pam back to Dallas. Ed was shipped off to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

 the next day and Digger had the marriage annulled.

Pam eventually met a cowboy named Ray Krebbs
Ray Krebbs
Raymond "Ray" Krebbs, was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Steve Kanaly . Ray Krebbs is the illegitimate son of Texas oil baron Jock Ewing and U.S. Army nurse Margaret Hunter....

, the foreman of Southfork Ranch. Ray asked her to attend a barbecue at Southfork, where she first met Bobby Ewing.

Pamela and Bobby (1978)

Pam and Bobby elope
Elope
To elope, most literally, merely means to run away with a girl and to not come back to the point of origination. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together...

d to New Orleans and were married by a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

. When she arrived at Southfork, the family was clearly mortified at what Bobby had done.

Soon after moving to Southfork, Bobby's brother J.R. accused her of being a spy for her brother, Clifford "Cliff" Barnes
Cliff Barnes
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 was Cliff's...

, who was building a case against Ewing Oil. She was accused of leaking a very important Red File to Cliff. Bobby vigorously defended her, and the family eventually found out that Pam was innocent.

In the pilot miniseries' fifth episode, Pam announced that she was expecting a child; all the Ewings, except J.R. and Sue Ellen, forgave her for being a Barnes. The family's joy was terminated, however, when Pam lost the baby after falling from a barn loft trying to escape J.R., landing squarely on her stomach.

As Pam was beginning to recover from the trauma, Ed Haynes turned up in Dallas to claim that they were still married. J.R. gleefully brought the news — that Pam was a bigamist — to the family dinner table. Though Pam hastened to explain to the Ewings that the marriage had been annulled, the papers testifying to that fact had mysteriously disappeared. Eventually Pam was cleared, and Haynes was found to be a blackmailer. Pamela kept a wary eye on J.R., after that. His desire to get her out of the family was all too apparent.

Pamela versus J.R.

Trouble was constantly being generated by J.R., as he openly despised Pam.

In 1979, Pam was told by Digger's doctor that Digger was a carrier of Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis is a genetically-inherited disorder in which the nerve tissue grows tumors that may be benign or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues...

, and that she and Cliff, as his children, were carriers; as neurofibromatosis is a disease that could be fatal to infants, the doctor strongly advised them never to have children. Shortly thereafter, Pam discovered she was pregnant. As before, however, tragedy struck as a rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...

 scared Pam's horse while she was riding it and threw her, causing a second miscarriage. Later she found out that she was not Digger's daughter and thus was not a carrier of the disease. However, she was also told that since she had miscarried a second time, she would never be able to have children. Pam for a time transferred her maternal feelings to J.R. and Sue Ellen's son John Ross.

In 1980, Pam watched Digger painfully and slowly die as a result of his years of alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

. Overwhelmed by a sense of loss, she pushed to find out more about her mother. She developed a notion — a dream born out of grief — that perhaps her mother wasn't dead after all. Then a private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

 turned up evidence that her mother had not died as Digger had said.

Meanwhile, Bobby had taken over Ewing Oil while J.R. was convalescing after being shot. Pam watched her husband get deeper and deeper into the heart of business in an effort to prove himself, and she took note of Bobby's instinctive attraction to power, which she realized might be dangerous to their marriage.

Pam's private investigator located a woman he believed to be Pam's mother. But the woman, a society matron from Houston named Rebecca Wentworth, flatly denied that she was Pam's mother. Eventually Rebecca broke down and confessed that she was indeed Pam's mother.

The baby issue continued to haunt Pam, after the doctors had told her that she could not carry a child past the third month of pregnancy. Her depression culminated in near-fatal tragedy: Pam tried to kill herself by jumping off the top of the place of her employment, The Store. However, Bobby got there in time to stop her, but it was clear that Pam was in need of psychiatric help. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital where she could get the help she needed.

On a surprise visit to Southfork, Pam walked through the front door and saw Bobby with a baby boy in his arms. In soaring spirits, Pam quickly settled into her life as Christopher's mother, while Bobby continued with the adoption proceedings.

She and Bobby grew closer during this period. In May 1982 Bobby finally told Pam about Jeff Faraday, Kristin Shepard
Kristin Shepard
Kristin Shepard was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played most notably by Mary Crosby and briefly played by Colleen Camp...

 and the fact that J.R. could be Christopher's father. Pam was shocked that Bobby had kept this news from her all this time, but she didn't hesitate to jump right in and fly to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 with him to find the truth, prepared to fight whoever she had to in order to keep her son.

The Ewings formally adopted Christopher in the fall of 1982, and the little Ewing family seemed on good ground. However, the revival of the Barnes-Ewing feud placed tremendous strain on Bobby and Pam's marriage. And the contest between Bobby and J.R. for Ewing Oil compounded the stress. Pam wanted to leave Southfork, to leave Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 if they had to, but Bobby refused.

Tension continued to escalate as Miss Ellie attempted to break Jock's will and stop the contest that was tearing the family apart. Bobby became angry with Pam when she sided with Miss Ellie, as he had sided with J.R. on the issue. As emotions rose at Southfork, Pam leaned more and more on her mother for support.

As Rebecca was leaving for Houston on business, the Wentworth jet was involved in a midair collision. Rebecca died as a result of her injuries. Pam was devastated — and angry — blaming the contest between J.R. and Bobby for her mother's death. Pam left Bobby and they divorced in the fall of 1983.

By 1985, Bobby and Pam realized that they wanted to be back together. Bobby proposed, Pam said yes, and they spent the night together. The next day, Bobby was tragically cut down by a car and died hours later, leaving Pam mortified and heartbroken. Pam went on to make television history by dreaming Bobby's death. Pam awoke and found Bobby in the shower, alive and well.

Later seasons

Pam received good news at the end of 1987: she was finally able to conceive a baby, after confirming that there would be no health risks involved. However, she never got that chance. While calling her husband to tell him the good news, she was in a massive auto accident where she hit an oil tanker and was severely burned in a subsequent fire. While recovering from her burns, she decided to get away from the Ewings and everyone else, including her son, disappear and divorce Bobby for a second time.

She resurfaced using her late Aunt Maggie's & late Cousin Jimmy's last name Monahan and going by the name Pamela Monahan (being played by Margaret Michaels) for a small cameo in the following season. Tracked down by her brother Cliff, Pam had undergone plastic surgery. She told him that she was also involved with her doctor and that she wished to have no further ties to Dallas, or anyone from her past. Heartbroken, Cliff leaves and decides not to tell Bobby about her to avoid hurting him. Pam later explained to the doctor that she lied because of having an unspecified, fatal illness, and that she did not want to burden Bobby, Cliff or Christopher with the ordeal of losing her all over again. This is Pamela's last appearance in the chronological Dallas timeline, it is therefore assumed that Pam died some time later.

However, the following TV Season of the show saw Margaret Michaels return, but now as Pam look-a-like Jeanne O'Brien. For her first show as Jeanne, Michaels has no lines at all and is simply seen at the climax of the Episode where she is leaving a restaurant in Dallas with a male escort at her side. Bobby looks up and sees her across the room going into an elevator, shocked and disillusioned by the sight before him, Bobby then exclaims I think I just saw Pam to his secretary Phyllis.

This ending makes it seem as though Pam has come back to Dallas, but the End Credits are somewhat confusing as they list Margaret Michaels as Jeanne O'Brien, but her character name has not been mentioned in the actual show at this point. It is not until the next Episode when things are cleared-up for the viewers and she is properly introduced to the audience and it is explained that her character name is indeed Jeanne O'Brien and not Pam Ewing.

The very last mention of Pam occurs in the last ever consecutive show in the series. "Conundrum", a two-hour Finale at the end of the show's last year has Cliff mentioning he is expecting a phone call from Pam. After this, the character is not mentioned in any of the subsequent shows.

Trivia

Pamela Barnes Ewing appeared in all the episodes of the series, with the exception of 1, from 1978 to 1987.
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