'Dallas' hit a chord back in the late Seventies and Eighties because it was the age of greed: here you have this unapologetic character who is mean and nasty and ruthless and does it all with an evil grin. I think people related to JR back then because we all have someone we know exactly like him. Everyone in the world knows a JR.

After ten or twelve years you can only play something so long and then you start to parody it.

Well, I decided to stop. And I did. I stopped smoking, and I stopped speed at the same time.

I have thousands and thousands of hats. Some are the most outrageous hats in the world. They are my disguise. I hide beneath them.

Oil rich boys . . . had a nice, sweet smile but when you finished meeting with them your socks were missing and you hadn't even noticed they'd taken your boots.

I never travel without my Stetson, but the more I wear it the more I realise that no one wears hats any more. When I was a kid everybody wore hats, especially in Texas, but I get off the plane in Dallas now and I'm the only guy with a hat. It's amazing.

We did 356 'Dallas' episodes between 1978 and 1991. The most memorable moment for me happened in 1980 when I got shot at the end of the third series. The rest is a blur.