Steve Kanaly: Vietnam War, John Milius, Playing Ray Krebbs on Dallas, Painting and More…

Exclusive interview by Karen Beishuizen

My next guest needs no introduction as we all know him as Ray Krebbs on the TV-show “Dallas “: Actor Steve Kanaly played the iconic role from 1978 to 1989 and never grew tired of it. He is 75 now and resides with his wife of 46 years in California.

KB: You served in the Vietnam War as a radio operator with the First Air Cavalry division: Can you describe what you had to do and how it was being over there?

I arrived in country by commercial jet to Pleiku in the central highlands to the smell of burning feces and kerosene after a twenty-four-hour flight from San Francisco. The senior flight attendants were all crying and hugged us as we deplaned. During that first night the base was attached by VC rockets and several soldiers that had just arrived with me were on their way home wounded on day one day. I had 364 more days ahead and I knew then that I had to do everything possible and use all my will and wits to survive a year in the Nam. My job was a twelve-hour shift from midnight to noon operating the 1/8 Cavalry battalion command radio communications. It was hot, very hot, and wet, very wet. I lived in hand dug foxhole with just two changes of clothes. We ate C Rations most of the time with some hot meals on occasion. We were always on the move. Set up a base, tear it down and move to a new base and set up again. I learned to sleep seated in a metal chair, on top of ammo crates, in dirt holes that I dug. You get so worn out and tired that I remember falling asleep in a standing position leaning against sandbags. War is horrible, it brings out the best and the worst in people. I lost friends in combat and others that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was lucky, I survived, I was intact, and I had learned a lot about life. I returned to my home in Los Angeles a different person, fifty pounds lighter than when left for Nam, filled with ambition and energy and a open mind that lead me in many new directions.

KB: I understand that you shared your experiences with John Milius who wrote the screenplay for Apocalypse Now?

John Milius were close in age but unlike me he successfully avoided the draft with a healthy dose of asthma . He had recently graduated from USC when we met at a trap and skeet shooting range that I managed. He was developing a screenplay about Viet Nam and was interested in my recollections pertaining to the First Air Cavalry operations. I shared many accounts of air assaults, jungle combat, funny and engaging people that I had met during my tour of duty. The sequence with Robert Duval as Colonel Kilgore attacking a Viet Cong stronghold on a “Charlies Point” so that he could go surfing was a twist that I had some hand in. As our friendship grew John started talking about me being in the movies which I thought was a crazy but fun idea. If Milius had directed Apocalypse Now I would have been cast as the surfer “Lance Carson” played by Sam Bottoms in Francis Ford Coppola’s famous rendition produced ten years later! The studio got cold feet, they liked Milius’s screenplay and they paid him a record amount but shelved the project because it was too controversial to take a chance and gamble with adverse public opinion.

KB: After this you had more collaborations with him and he got you into acting?

John Milius and I became good friends and over the months that followed John landed a writing-directing deal for a “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” as a vehicle for Paul Newman. Paul did not have confidence in an untested director so they paid some more money and hired John Huston to direct. Milius, anxious to be close to the project, opted for “Writer in Residence” and suggested that he knew the perfect person to play the role of “Whorehouse Lucky Jim” Milius arranged a meeting for me with Houston. I arrived at the swanky Universal Studio offices in shabby work clothes with my springer spaniel “Misty”.  After a really fun exchange of stories about war, hunting, dogs, life, John Huston says to me “How would you like to be in the movie Steve” to which I replied, “If you don’t care if I have never acted before, I would be happy to” and he replied, “Wonderful, Lets have a drink on it then” and he toasted “to Steve”. Over the next several years I was able to work in several more Milius films in rolls like Pretty Boy Floyd in Dillinger, A cameo in Big Wednesday, Captain Jerome in The Wind and the Lion. Sadly those fun times would come to a conclusion when I found myself in a Network Television series that was a big hit.

KB: How did you get the role of Ray Krebbs in Dallas?

The phone rang and my Austrian born agent says they want to see you for a TV show called Dallas. There are three roles that you could play. JR, Bobby and a cowboy, Ray. I drove to Warner Bros Studio thinking about the Bobby Ewing character but when I saw the script for the first time Ray Krebbs jumped out at me. Ray is in the hayloft with the grand daughter, his girl friend arrives just married to Bobby Ewing, He conspires with JR to break up the marriage. Ray flies a helicopter, rides a horse, runs a big ranch in Texas. I loved acting in Western Films but the studios were not making many then. This looked like a perfect solution. I said as much to producers Leonard Katzman and Michael Filerman and they gave me a script and asked me to come back in a few days.

When I returned I was in full character as Ray Krebbs in the wardrobe that I wore in the mini series and read several scenes in the producers office. They called that night with an offer, the next week we had a chance to have a cast read-through and for us all to get to know each other before we left for film location in Dallas. I was so surprised to see Larry Hagman, and Jim Davis, even Victoria Principal who I had worked with on Roy Bean, but most surprising was the innocent, very young, Charlene Tilton that I would soon be in a hayloft necking with. I thought, wait til my friends and family get a look at this one! Also to note: I did warn them about filming on location in Texas in the winter but we went ahead and as predicted the first four weeks of our film schedule were shot during one of the most server winters ever with snow and ice over and over. It was a real challenge but one of the things that brought the cast so closely together. We went back to los Angeles after six weeks of very hard work and waited. The show aired with little or no promotion on week one, then the next two weeks opposite a huge project called Roots, then the forth week opposite a Fred Astaire special, still no audience until the fifth episode that ran without competition and ranked in the top twenty for the week. Just enough for CBS to order a half of a season, 12 episodes. That was good enough for now so off we went for our first summer in Dallas. In case you didn’t know, Dallas can be very very hot in the summer, buts that’s another story.

KB: You played it for 11 years : Did it ever get boring when you play the same character for so long?

I never got bored working on Dallas. That would have been pretty hard to do. It was the perfect role and show for me. Originally, Ray Krebbs was not in the front roll credits and the role was considered a supporting character. I felt differently. This was my chance. I did everything I could to give life to a character that I always felt was an “Everyman”. I wanted the audience to feel that they knew Ray. He was someone from their past, a neighbor, a friend. I was also very particular on portraying a western character and knew that “real cowboys” do care how you portray them! With such a large cast each of us were hungry for a strong story line and would have to wait for your turn to come up. Over the eleven years there were plenty of twist and turns on the set and off but the Dallas cast was my second family then and now.

I think if you look back at Rays story line over the eleven seasons the list of subjects is long and varied, from romance, marriage, success, euthanasia, deaths, failure, but the one that stands out as the game changer was the episodes where Ray discovers that Jock is his father. That story line cemented Ray in the series and actually kept me from leaving the show. I had been very discouraged for not having enough to do in the series and one of the ideas that Larry Hagman and I came up with was that I looked a lot like Jim Davis, maybe even more than Larry or Patrick. It took some time to develop the story line because of the Ray – Lucy dalliance in the mini series. A final word. Dallas was the perfect vehicle for me as an actor and as a husband that wanted to have a normal life with a wife and children. It was like going to work at the perfect job. There were weeks that you worked long hard hours day after day and then others when your part was less demanding leaving time for family and other business. I was and am still very grateful.

KB: I understand that you are still active in the industry:

I’m not active in the industry currently. I live with my wife of 46 years on a small ranch just far enough away from the city that I don’t have to be bothered with the business of acting. After Dallas, I worked in Africa for three years on a series called Okavango, that I loved but did not hit it big. I also spent a year in New York on the ABC daytime series “All My Children”. I directed and starred in an independent film about professional softball called “Sliding Home”, and acted in numerous other tv shows and films. After a while, the drive to meetings and auditions seemed longer and longer and the roles less and less interesting . I would say that my career sort of died of natural causes and by mutual agreement. When you have been at the very top its not easy to find a soft landing place and settle for less.

KB: What would be a role you are interested in ? Film and TV?

If out of the blue the right offer was thrown at me I would consider returning to acting but as things stand now I have successfully retired and I will let the new young talent have their turn at it. I’ll be 76 years on my next birthday. I’m in good health and active but when I look back at Jim Davis, Howard Keel, Barbara Bel Geddes and the hundreds of senior performers that were on Dallas over the years I have a new appreciation of the effort it took take to keep up with a hard driving production like Dallas. They were great examples of the old Hollywood that I came in on the tail of. They never complained and were always on time ready to give it there all.

KB: The whole world has been in several lock downs due to the raging pandemic : what have you been doing during these lock downs ? Any hobbies you enjoy you?

After traveling around the world over my life and having endured long separations at times I have learned to be quite happy at home. I have a wonderful wife and am surrounded by nature. Painting, specifically water colors, gardening, target archery, shotgun shooting, cooking, and grand parenting are part of my daily routine. I have been a shooting instructor at a local high school for the past twenty- one years.

In regard to Covid we have been very careful. I have avoided crowds, airports, large gatherings and still wear a mask, hand sanitize and generally follow all protocol. As difficult as it is, I have been through much worse. War is a great teacher in life. I always said that if I could get through Vietnam I could handle anything. I wish you and all of your readers good health and happiness. Please take care of yourselves, each other and the planet. And thank you for all of your support of my more than fifty year career. Its been a great ride.