Cliff Barnes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cliff Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval, was a character on the hit American television series Dallas. The Barnes family were competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family. Cliff's father, "Digger" Barnes, was the former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing (J.R.'s and Bobby's father). Cliff's mother was Rebecca Wentworth. Evil J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman) was Cliff's personal nemesis.
Cliff's sister, Pamela (played by Victoria Principal), married Bobby Ewing (played by Patrick Duffy), J.R.'s younger brother.
Cliff had a romantic relationship with J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen (played by Linda Gray), once during the second season of Dallas, and then again during the fifth season.
During the fifth season, Cliff proposed marriage to the recently divorced Sue Ellen, however she turned him down and eventually remarried J.R. again.
Cliff did find happiness again with aspiring singer Afton Cooper (played by Audrey Landers), the sister of Lucy Ewing's husband Mitch Cooper.
During the beginning of Dallas, Cliff worked for the state of Texas, building an impressive recorded reputation as investigator of corruption within the independent oil companies. It was no coincidence that these investigations often cited or targeted Ewing Oil. Cliff’s career took an upward swing when he was appointed Chief of the Office of Land Management, the enormously powerful state agency that coordinated and approved all ventures that affected the surface and geological texture of Texas land, including oil drilling permits.
In the course of the fourth season, Cliff’s mother, Rebecca Wentworth (played by Priscilla Pointer) made a dramatic reentry into his life. After much debating, Cliff forgave her for her desertion. It also delighted Cliff that his mother was an important lady who was wealthy and powerful in her own right. Rebecca eventually offered him the presidency of Wentworth Tool & Die, a small subsidiary of Wentworth Industries, which made parts for oil rigs. Cliff happily accepted and did extraordinarily well for a time. Eventually Cliff asked for, and received, complete autonomy at Wentworth Tool & Die - but his fortunes took a dramatic downturn when he wasted Wentworth funds on a phoney deal engineered by J.R. Cliff's mother subsequently sacked him - this, coupled with Sue Ellen's decision to remarry J.R around the same time, drove Cliff to attempt suicide.
Cliff recovered, and Rebecca subsequently bought out Wade Luce Oil, renaming it Barnes-Wentworth Oil. Rebecca asked Cliff to run the company for her and he accepted - blaming J.R. for Cliff's suicide attempt, Rebecca encouraged Cliff to use the company (and the place in the Cartel which came with it) to gain revenge.
Rebecca died soon after from injuries sustained in a plane crash, and Cliff inherited Barnes-Wentworth Oil, lock, stock, and barrel - as well as a third of Wentworth Industries (much to the disgust of his half sister Katherine).
Cliff married Jamie Ewing in 1985 but the union was unhappy at first. During the 1985/86 season they relized how much they loved one antoher and became close. In April 1986 Jamie was seen trapped in a blazing car and presumly dead. But the entire season turned out to be the nightmare of Cliff's sister Pam. So Cliff and Jamies happy marriage and her supposed death were just a dream and thus Cliff and Jamie never found happiness. She left him in Fall 1986 and the union was headed for a divorce when Jamie was killed falling from a mountain.
