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BURBANK. – David Jacobs, the writer and producer best known for creating US soap opera Dallas, has died aged 84.
He died in Burbank, California on Sunday, his son confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter.
Jacobs had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and died of complications from a series of infections.
In the 1980s, Jacobs changed the face of US television with his work on Dallas as well as on its spin-off Knots Landing.
Dallas started as a five-part miniseries in 1978, but went on to run for 14 seasons and 357 episodes, concluding in 1991.
It was hugely successful, with five of its seasons becoming either the top or second top show of their years on US television.
Knots Landing, meanwhile, launched in 1979 and also ran for 14 seasons, airing 344 episodes until its conclusion in 1993.
Born on 12 August 1939 in Baltimore, Jacobs’ writing career started with non-fiction books and magazine articles before he moved into television.
He went on to write episodes of series such as Family, Chicago Story and The Blue Knight.
But it was Dallas he will be most remembered for – a series which became famous for storylines including a mystery over who shot character JR.
Jacobs famously wrote the first five Dallas scripts without visiting the title city.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just write it. I don’t have time to get away,’” he said. “So I’ll just write it very stereotypically – with stereotypes – and then I’ll go and visit and pull it back.
“And then I went to Dallas and realized I had to take it way further. There is something about Dallas and about the people in Dallas that I can only describe as extravagant, but not ostentatious.”
The show was rebooted in 2012, but received a mixed response from critics and finished after three seasons. – BBC.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter