Katherine Wentworth
| Katherine Wentworth | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||
| Dallas character | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Morgan Brittany | ||||||||||||
| Duration | 1981–85, 1987 | ||||||||||||
| First appearance |
October 30, 1981 Little Boy Lost | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance |
October 2, 1987 The Sun Also Rises | ||||||||||||
| Created by | David Jacobs | ||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||
| Occupation | Owner of Wentworth Tool & Die | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Katherine Wentworth is a fictional character in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas. Katherine Wentworth was portrayed by actress Morgan Brittany between 1981 and 1987.[1][2][3][4]
Casting
When interviewed by the Official Dallas Website Ultimate Dallas, Morgan Brittany described the casting process: "I came back to Los Angeles and my agent called me saying they were looking for a new character on a television show, but they didn't really know what they wanted. They didn't know if they wanted young or old, but they did know she was the half-sister of Pamela Ewing. I told them I didn't really want to go but they urged me. I went to MGM studios and walked into a room where there were tons of girls; tall, short, blonde, skinny, you name it. The show still didn't know what they wanted. So I sat down and they gave me two pieces of paper to read. About an hour and a half later I was called in. By that time I was very upset and I did not want to be there. I clearly had an attitude! I read the two pages, then got up and said, 'Look, that's all the time I have. I have to go.' Then, I walked out. While I was leaving I realized I’d never done anything like that before. How could I do that? I called my agent and said, 'I really blew it; I was so rude and nasty to these people and they are never going to want me.' But that’s what they wanted! They liked that attitude. So, from that reading, they decided what they could turn Katherine into".[5]
Background
The fictional character of Katherine was born to Rebecca Barnes Wentworth and Herbert Wentworth.
She was raised as an only child, unaware of her half-siblings Pamela Barnes Ewing and Cliff Barnes, from her mother's previous marriage to Digger Barnes. Her father was a multi-millionaire owner and founder of Houston's Wentworth Industries; he too was unaware of his wife's previous marriage.
Katherine attended an exclusive school in Switzerland. As an adult, she worked as a TV journalist in New York City prior to arriving in Dallas.
Storylines
The story of Katherine begins in Dallas after her mother dies in an airplane accident. She quickly becomes infatuated with her brother-in-law, Bobby Ewing, which complicates his existing marriage. She is jubilant when he divorces. However, an old flame of Bobby's, Jenna Wade, reappears on the scene. Katherine unsuccessfully attempts to bribe Jenna to leave Dallas. She then tracks down Jenna's ex-husband, Renaldo Marchetta, in another attempt to split up Bobby and Jenna.
The character then sleeps with Bobby's brother, J.R. Ewing, in the hope that it would persuade Bobby and Jenna to break up. Instead, J.R. records their love-making and proceeds to blackmail her. Eventually, Katherine confesses her love to Bobby. He rejects her because of the trouble she had caused in his life, which sends her over the edge. She shoots Bobby in JR's office, which leaves him blinded rather than killing him. She follows up with an unsuccessful attempt to murder Bobby by lethal injection while he is recovering in the hospital. She is arrested for attempted murder, but she is then released on bail and flees to Europe.
Even from afar, the character continues her schemes, arranging for Naldo Marchetta to be murdered and for Jenna to be framed for the killing.[6] When Jenna is eventually cleared, the fugitive Katherine returns to Dallas and discovers that Bobby and Pam have reconciled. Katherine drives a car towards the couple and kills Bobby. After the impact, her car veers out of control and she too is killed. The television screen then cuts to Pam waking up, where the viewer realizes that the accident was only a dream of Pam's.
The character makes a brief appearance at the bedside of her injured half-sister Pamela, where she declares her jealousy of Pamela's stable, loving life. When Bobby also comes to visit, her final attempts to obtain his love are rejected and her threats are met with a commitment to turn her into the police should she ever attempt to take revenge. When Pam later disappears from the hospital and Bobby searches for her, he discovers that Pam was last seen with a woman in a large hat boarding the Wentworth jet.[7]
Dallas (2012)
In the new series, it is revealed that Katherine has died. In Ewings Unite!, she, her sister, Pamela Ewing and her brother, Cliff Barnes have each received a third of Barnes-Global.[8] Because of her death, Bobby, John Ross Ewing and Christopher Ewing realize that in order to overthrow Cliff, they must acquire the other third of the company still in Pamela's hands.
References
- Curran, Barbara A. (2005). Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap. Cumberland House Publishing. ISBN 978-1581824728.
- Laura Van Wormer (1985). Dallas: The Complete Ewing Saga. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0863790799.
Notes
- ↑ Norman Chance (2011). Who was who on Television. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 9781456821289.
- ↑ From a child actress to a bad girl on 'Dallas'
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ Morgan Brittany interview
- ↑ Take One
- ↑ Ultimate Dallas interview
- ↑ "Katherine Wentworth dead?". The Return of Dallas. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
