Cliff Barnes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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, the former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing (J.R.'s and Bobby's father), and Rebecca Wentworth. 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.

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 phony 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 (played by Jenilee Harrison) in 1985, but the union was unhappy at first. During the 1985-86 season they realized how much they loved one another and became close. In April 1986, Jamie was seen trapped in a blazing car and presumed dead. But the entire 1985-86 season turned out to be the nightmare of Cliff's sister Pam. So Cliff and Jamie's 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 it was explained that Jamie was killed falling from a mountain.

A theme of Cliff Barnes' character was social class conflict with his nemesis J.R. Ewing. Cliff had grown up poor in contrast to J.R. after the partnership between Cliff's father Digger and Jock Ewing dissolved, due in large part to Digger's heavy drinking. Jock went on to found Ewing Oil. Digger blamed Jock for his subsequent bad luck and was jealous of Jock's wealth. Cliff inherited Digger's resentment of the Ewings. Throughout the series Cliff had a reputation for being cheap and naive in contrast to J.R. Whereas J.R. always dined in fine restaurants, wore a stylish Stetson, lived on South Fork and lavished his mistresses with generosity; Cliff often preferred take-out Chinese cuisine, wore cheap suits, lived in a condominium and assumed his romantic interests would clean his home. Much of the drama of Dallas was centered around Cliff's attempts to revenge himself against J.R. politically, romantically and financially. Typically, Cliff's schemes failed because of J.R.'s under-handed cleverness.

Cliff eventually got one over JR shortly before the TV series ended when he took over Ewing Oil.

In the final episode of 1991 Cliff appears in J.R's dream where bizarrely he ends up President of the United States.

Cliff also appeared in the 1996 film JR RETURNS, where after 5 years at Ewing Oil he eventually sells the company to Bobby but not before one last war with JR. He is also reunited with Afton and his long lost daughter Pamela.