Remember When Pamela Sue Martin Was Rumored To Be The New Pam On DALLAS?

[Antonio8885]

I don't remember the magazine...maybe it was the National Enquirer(!)...they all covered the soaps in the 80's, but after Victoria Principal announced that she was leaving DALLAS, Pamela Sue Martin (who had already vacated her Fallon role on DYNASTY three years earlier) was rumored to be a recast for the pivotal character!

I think that would have been an excellent idea! Writing out Pam completely after that purposeless car crash/disfigurement was a major misstep on the producers' part. Hey, even Barbara Bel Geddes (as Miss Ellie) was replaced by Donna Reed for one season!

They could have pulled it off b/c the Bobby/Pam relationship was the soap's Romeo & Juliet story!

Any other recast ideas for Pam Ewing?

[GuidingLite]

I remember Marilou Henner being one of the rumored leading contendors for the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing, but not Pamela Sue Martin.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...a recast can be done without throwing in a 'plastic surgery' explanation for the change in looks....many soaps have done so, very successfully, and there's no need to dumb it down for the viewers by using this hackneyed plot twist....several soaps have probably regretted this when the original actor became available again...such as Jay Kenneth Johnson on Days (the character had a 'face transplant'), Al Corley for the Dynasty reunion movie (the character was in an oil rig explosion and had plastic surgery), and several others....

I'd also love to see one more Dallas reunion film done where Pamela (as played by Victoria Principal) returns, not as dead as we thought she was, and reunites with Bobby.

[antmunoz]

Well, Pam NEEDED plastic surgery. It was a TV miracle that, when we saw her again, she wasn't still burned and scarred from the explosion with the gas/oil truck.

It seems that DALLAS tested the waters for a Pam return. Margaret Michaels played Pam in one episode, where Cliff found Pam, who had recovered from the accident. She told him she was marrying her doctor (a lie) and would never return to Dallas. In reality, she was dying from an unnamed ailment.

The next season, Michaels played Jeanne, a Pam lookalike who had an affair with Bobby, until he came to realize that he only liked her for her resemblance to Pam.

I liked Bobby with April after Pam, so I never missed Pam much (not like I missed Sue Ellen, or even Pam's sister Katherine). But I think if Michaels had REALLY clicked with viewers, we might have seen Pam return. Possibly the producers were waiting to see if Victoria Principal, like Patrick Duffy before her, would like to return.

[Jagger1966]

I remember when Margaret Michaels came on and everyone said she looked just like VP. I didn't see the resemblence at all myself. But I too loved Bobby and April and was so sad when Sheree Wilson left. But, she was a new mom and wanted to be with her baby, so I can't fault her for that.

[BauerBoy]

I never thought Margaret Michaels looked like Victoria Principal either, and it never occurred to me that the produers were testing her as a permanent recast. I thought she was just a "placeholder" put on the show to finally give some closure to the Pam character. And I never realized that she was the same actress who played Pam's "double" the next season.