ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996 TAG: 9604230093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
Robert J. Shaw, who wrote the ``Who Shot J.R.?'' episode of ``Dallas,'' which attracted the biggest television audience in history at the time, died March 30 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79.
Shaw was a prodigious writer of radio serials, soap operas and TV dramas. He was born in Waukesha, Wis., and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, where his writing teachers included Wallace Stegner and Sinclair Lewis.
He made his way to New York, where in 1940, at age 23, he sold his first serial, ``Front Page Farrell.'' It was in 1980 that Shaw scored his biggest triumph. He was head writer on ``Dallas,'' about J.R. Ewing, the rapscallion Texas oilman played by Larry Hagman. At the season's end, Shaw was challenged with keeping the audience hooked over the summer. He decided to have J.R. shot, called the next season premiere ``Who Shot J.R.?'' and left audiences to wonder.
On Nov. 21, 1980, 83 million people (53 percent of American households) watched the episode.
- The New York Times
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB