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| Ray Krebbs | |
| Occupation: | Former Foreman at Southfork Ranch |
| Marital status: | Unknown |
| Spouse(s): | Donna McCullum Culver Krebbs (1981-1987)
Jenna Wade (1987-) |
| Other Relationships: | Pamela Barnes Lucy Ewing Sue Ellen Ewing Mary Lou Garnett McGee Bonnie Robertson |
| Parent(s): | Jock Ewing (father, deceased) Margaret Krebbs, née Hunter (mother, deceased) Amos Krebbs (stepfather, deceased) Miss Ellie Ewing (step-mother, deceased) |
| Sibling(s): | J.R. Ewing (paternal half brother, deceased) Gary Ewing (paternal half brother) Bobby Ewing (paternal half brother) |
| Children: | Tony Krebbs (adopted by him and Donna in The Dream Season) Margaret Krebbs (with Donna) Lucas Krebbs (stepson, son of Jenna and Bobby, adoptive son) |
| Other relatives: | Lillian Trotter (aunt) Michael "Mickey" Trotter (cousin, deceased) |
| Played by: | Steve Kanaly |
Ray Krebbs is the illegitimate son of Jock Ewing and an army nurse, Margaret Hunter. At six feet one, Ray is two inches shorter than Jock was, but those vivid blue eyes, cut of the jaw, and head of brown hair turning to grey are unmistakable. So is the stubbornness, the infrequent but fiery temper, and the yearning to work hard with his hands. And, too, there is the love of the land, its animals, the wild open spaces, and an occasional hoot and holler over a couple of beers.
If people had missed the resemblance as the two men walked, rode, and talked together, then they would have seen it if Gary Ewing had joined them, standing side by side with Ray. It couldn’t be mere happenstance, this resemblance indeed it wasn’t. Ray was a Ewing, unbeknown to all for years.
Ray and Jock might occasionally have recognized their true blood relationship, as there was an unmistakable tug between the two men, some unspoken bond that felt like father and son, although neither openly acknowledged it. If Ray could have had a father of his choice, it certainly would have been Jock, and had Jock been able to exchange Gary for another son, then it certainly would have been for Ray.
History[]
Backstory[]
Ray Krebbs was born on October 18, 1944 in Emporia, Kansas. He lived with his mother, Margaret Krebbs, and her husband, Amos Krebbs, whom he believed to be his father. When Ray was three years old, Amos abandoned the family, leaving no money and never writing. His mother, accepting the situation, went about raising Ray as best she could.
He was a lot to handle. He always felt different from the other kids - mostly because of the absence of his presumed father - and was a troublemaker at school, constantly disrupting the class. From the moment he opened his mouth, it was clear that he had no use for being kept indoors or even in town, but wanted to be on a horse or out on the plains. He waned to be a cowboy - and, to be left alone. His mother promised him he could do as he wished when he was older and explained how much she needed him at home. He loved her and tried to obey. Outside of the house, he was constantly getting into some kind of trouble. He always played the tough guy, which was ironic, since he was physically immature for his age. So, in essence, Ray was just a little skinny juvenile delinquent who fancied himself a big shot.
In 1959, his mother fell very ill and, unable to take care of Ray, she sent him to Braddock, Texas, with twenty dollars in his pocket and a letter addressed to Jock Ewing. Jock, who had known Margaret during his World War II London assignment, took Ray under his wing and made him a hand on the ranch. Margaret shortly thereafter died, leaving Ray essentially an orphan.
Ray was a wiseass kid and Jock was strict with him. In fact, some said he was downright hard on the sixteen-year old, but he broke Ray’s bad habits, lifted his spirits in a constructive way, and soon Ray was right in there with the rest of the cowboys, working his heart out. Over the years he became invaluable to Jock, in that he knew more about the ranch than Jock did himself. He was completely loyal, and he was good, boy, was he good at what he did. The skinny little kid grew up into a robust man who could outride, outrope, outbrand any other hand. He won prizes in all of the county rodeos and proved to be a solid, responsible leader. Jock made him foreman of the ranch while Ray was in his twenties.
There was still a wild side to Ray - his social side. He loved hanging out at the Longhorn Bar, tossing back a few drinks, indulging in a good fistfight on occasional, always flirting and romancing the pretty girls and finishing out the night by roaring all over town in his pickup truck.
Ray attracted loads of women but couldn’t seem to find one he was interested in settling down with. Then he met Pamela Barnes, a beautiful young woman who possessed a quiet demeanor along with a high running vivacious spirit. Their courtship was full of fun and good times. She was a terrific dancer, loved to laugh, was smart, alive, interested, and quickly learned about Ray’s work so she could discuss it with him (she was reared in the city). Although Ray was aware of Pam’s feelings about the legendary Barnes-Ewing feud, he talked her into attending the Ewing Barbecue with him in 1977. He was having strong feelings for this girl and was anxious to get Jock’s opinion of her - without telling him that she was Digger’s daughter.
The barbecue started out well enough. Pam was gorgeous - as usual - and it was with more than a little pride that Ray arrived with her on his arm. He introduced her around. They danced, and then suddenly Bobby Ewing was cutting in on him. Oh, he liked Bobby well enough - in fact, Ray thought him a good man through and through - but he didn’t cotton to what he saw happening on the dance floor. It was not polite interest passing between Pam and Bobby, it was downright electricity. Ray managed to cut in and pull Pam away and keep her away from Bobby for the rest of the evening, but things were never the same again between them. The light in Pam’s eyes was no longer directed toward Ray. Much to Ray’s agonized frustration, Pam soon eased out of the relationship.
Still hurting from Pam ’s rejection, Ray found himself tempted by Jock’s teenage granddaughter, Lucy. She was a lovely girl and - whoa! - promised a good time, but Ray knew Jock would kill him if he knew of the fooling around that was going on. Besides, Ray had no interest in using anyone - it just wasn’t part of his nature - and he kept the brakes on their involvement as best he could.
Life in Dallas[]
In September of 1978, Ray was first astonished and then crushed when Bobby Ewing arrived home at Southfork with Pamela Barnes. It was worse than he suspected. The two of them had run into each other in New Orleans and whisk-bang boom, Pamela was now Mrs. Bobby Ewing. It was extremely awkward the first couple of weeks - and painful for Ray - but then the two settled into a peaceful friendship that would last a lifetime.
Ray had always been a part time buddy of J.R. Ewing’s. It wasn’t that Ray admired him in any way, or even liked him, for that matter, but when he felt like kicking loose and raising a little hell, J.R. always knew how and where to do it best. They would go on jaunts together - usually centered on a lot of women and a lot of bourbon - but their arrangement, even their tolerance of one another, would come apart completely in early 1979. Ray had fallen hard for the pretty country and western singing sensation in the Southwest, Garnet McGee. He thought he had found the woman of his dreams and asked her to marry him. He then found out she cheated on him with J.R. Ray was torn apart by the whole affair. The object of his love and devotion was an exceedingly ambitious woman, and Ray found that she was willing to sell out to J.R. for a recording contract. It caused him a great deal of anguish that she could be so unfeeling and that he was unable to do anything to change things. But that was the way it was, and Ray had to let go of Garnet and his dreams for the future. However, he did hold on to his anger toward J.R.
One uplifting thing did happen to Ray during this period. For his years of service at Southfork, Jock gave him a prime Section - 642 acres - of Southfork to call his own. It solidified Ray’s commitment to stay, at a time when, given the Garnet situation and J.R, he was sorely tempted to get the heck out.
To take his mind off his troubles, Ray began clearing away part of the land and mapping out a blueprint for a house. While hanging out in the Longhorn Bar on night, Ray struck up a conversation with a beautiful, fair-haired woman named Donna. She liked him instantly, he knew - he felt it in himself, immediately, the attraction - though the lady was slightly aloof - which kind of added to the attraction. He kept going back to the Longhorn to “run into her” and he played along with her mysterious game, which included not telling him what her last name was.
Their unusual courtship came to a halt when Ray found out his lady was none other than Donna Culver, the wife of the former Governor of Texas, Sam Culver. Donna hastened to explain to him that she and Sam were separated, but in the end she went back to Sam, and Ray was heartbroken. He didn’t know her that well, this brilliant, classy lady - and that was what she was, a lady - but somehow she had reached in and taken a piece of his heart.
He threw himself into his work and, in his free time, built every bit of his house with his own two hands. When he had finally bounced back from the Donna affair, when it looked like life would go on, Sam Culver passed away. Gun shy, Ray cautiously saw Donna, and she explained that Sam had found out that he had terminal cancer and that was why she had gone back to him - to be with him in those final days.
The two resumed their relationship, though there were plenty of problems. First of all, Donna was extremely wealthy now, a millionaire. Second, she was intellectually inclined, politically a tigress and a powerful figure in Texas and Washington, D.C. He, on the other hand, was a basically uneducated cowboy with a modest ranch house and a little land. In his mind, he was woefully inadequate for her and, besides, they had virtually nothing in common - not in movies, books, work, or friends - including the fact that Donna was a night person, and Ray was always up at first light. In the face of these differences, Ray backed down on his marriage proposal and they split up.
In the fall of 1980, Amos Krebbs, Ray’s alleged father, whom he hadn’t seen in years, turned up at Southfork to show Margaret’s diary to Ray. It was proof of his claim that Margaret had been carrying Jock’s child - Ray - when Amos married her. Ray threw him off his property when he tried to blackmail him; Jock, however, paid him ten thousand dollars to get him on his way. Jock didn’t doubt Amos’s story at all and had a talk with Ray about it. To Ray’s quiet joy, Jock was delighted by the news - he had always thought of Ray as a son, and now, indeed, he was.
Jock generously wrote Ray in for 25 percent of the Ewing boys’ trust fund, over Ray’s protest. He really didn’t want any of Jock’s money, particularly after Jock had given him something that was priceless - public recognition as his son. It did something for Ray’s self-esteem. Now he knew the whole story - where he had come from, who he was. With new self-assurance, in 1981 he asked Donna to marry him. The happy couple were married in Braddock City Hall, with Bobby and Pam serving as best man and matron of honor.
Jock started including Ray in many of his business meetings, most notably with Punk Anderson on the Takapa project, a land development deal. Ray was in over his depth - he had virtually no head for figures - but he stubbornly pushed himself to prove himself to Jock, and, in his mind, to Donna. He wanted to show that he could make money too support Donna in the style she was accustomed to on his money. The Takapa deal went well, and Ray was lucky it did. While Donna was inaccessible on a trip to Washington, he withdrew $1,000,000 from their joint account, which was actually Donna’s money. Out of a $3,000,000 investment, Ray made a profit of £1,000,000, with which he set up a development account so he would not have to ask Donna for money again. “The point is,” he explained, “its not right for a man to ask that. Now I don’t have to.”
Ray pushed on with another deal - an upper middle class housing project - with Punk Anderson while Jock was away in South America, but he was a bit nervous, feeling that he might be overextending himself, given his lack of experience. Donna expressed caution, which only pushed him onward; he was determined to prove himself by doing this deal without Jock. At the last minute, Punk Anderson was forced to drop out, having been asked to join Jock in South America. Punk suggested that Ray do the project alone. He debated - he didn’t have all the money he would need and he was skitterish about that - and then Donna agreed to put up the rest of the money as a silent partner.
Then the project - Krebbs Park Villas in San Antonio - started to teeter toward disaster. Before plunging those millions into it, Ray had neglected to thoroughly check out the water table under the land. The soil was soft and the water table high, and so the site had to be compensated for in the construction of the buildings, escalating the costs twofold. He desperately needed another three million dollars. When he went to the bank for a loan, they turner him down because of his lack of experience. Then, feeling low, he gave in and told Miss Ellie about it, and she said she would gladly give him the money. But when they went to the bank, they found out that Miss Ellie - indeed, all of Ewing Oil - didn’t HAVE three million. J.R. had tied up everything in the gas he had stockpiled from Clayton Farlow’s refineries. Ray was forced to sell out of the project at a huge loss.
He felt like he was a loser. More than a loser, a born loser. His depression deepened when Donna’s book was bought by a major publisher for a lot of money. Donna seemed to be able to do anything and everything well, while Ray, he thought, was just destined for failure. And he had no one to talk to about it; he always confided in Jock, but he was thousands of miles away.
When Jock died in the helicopter crash, Ray gave in to his depression and started drinking heavily. Until Jock’s will was read in 1982, Ray had control of 10 percent of the voting shares in Ewing Oil. J.R. doggedly tried to wrestle them from him, but Ray continued to resist him in memory of Jock’s wishes. But everything else started to slide, fast. Miss Ellie, for the first time ever, was forced to confront Ray about his responsibilities at the ranch. He simply was not functioning like himself. As all around him began to worry, his drinking stretched to around the clock. He had furious fights with Donna, who made him feel even more of a failure. Finally, so low a dog could have kicked him, Ray started fooling around with Bonnie Robertson, his girl of long ago.
J.R. stepped in to do two things to Ray. He had him thrown in jail during one of his binges and, while he was still groggy with booze, made him sign over his Ewing Oil voting shares. Then he arranged it so that Donna would walk in on Ray and Bonnie in bed in a motel. The Krebbses had a raging fight, with Donna doing most of the raging. But when her shouting turned to a vow, her main message began to penetrate Ray’s still hazy mind; Donna loved him heart and soul, and if he wanted to divorce her, then he’d have to do it all by himself, because she wasn’t letting go of him, no matter what. She was prepared to take Ray any way she found him.
What began to crystallize in his mind was that if Donna was so wonderful - which he knew she was - and she loved him so much, then maybe there was something worthy in himself. He slowly began to feel better, and he stopped drinking, resuming his responsibilities at full steam.
Ray adored Donna and now loved her even more. Their marriage was cemented with a stronger bond. Ray started regaining his confidence and ventured to learn about Donna’s world, and invite her in to his. And the romantic side of their marriage, well, suffice it to say that “the cowboy and the lady” let no dust settle.
In the fall of 1982, Ray received a letter from his Aunt Lil (Lillian Trotter) - who knew nothing about Ray’s being Jock’s son - informing him that Amos Krebbs had fallen ill and needed financial assistance. Ray sent some money to her, and just as he and Donna were leaving for a trip to New York, Lil called to say that Amos had died. Ray and Donna went back to Emporia for the funeral service.
While staying with Lil at her old house at 17 Briar Lane, Ray was distressed that Lil’s son, Mickey, was not making life easy for her. He was a cocky, smart-alecky, self-interested juvenile delinquent. The similarity between Mickey and himself when young did not go unnoticed, and when it was readily apparent that Lil had given up on Mickey, Ray suggested that he go with him to Southfork, where Ray could do for Mickey what Jock had done for him.
It was not easy. When Mickey wasn’t mouthing off, he was lollygagging, and when he wasn’t doing that, he was running up a crap game in one of the bunkhouses, and if he couldn’t be found, then he was probably getting drunk in Braddock. But Ray was determined to get this kid back on track and miraculously, it seemed to start happening in 1983 - all because of, of all people, Lucy Ewing Cooper. Mickey fell in love with her, Ray beamed as Mickey started shouldering his load, leaning about and being truly interested in the facets of the ranch. The kid was starting to have plans of his own. Ray was elated with the change.
When Sue Ellen and Mickey were in the car accident at the Southfork gate, it was as if Ray himself had been told he was paralyzed. Ray was beside himself with grief and rage that Mickey had been robbed of his chance at a normal life, and when he found out that the accident had been caused because Walt Driscoll had been trying to kill J.R,, Ray crossed the line and tried to do it himself. He did not succeed, but his vicious fistfight with J.R. accidentally started the fire that nearly destroyed Southfork.
As Mickey layed helpless in the hospital, Ray grew thin, sad, exhausted. When Mickey fell into his second coma, Ray could not bear to watch the boy’s body, once so young and strong, decay, shrivel so he looked like an old man. Mickey’s mother, Aunt Lil, begged that he be put out of his misery and Ray, anguished, near emotional collapse, pulled the plug on the life support system and barricaded the hospital room door until he was sure that Mickey was gone.
It was over, Ray was arrested, and he resigned himself to the fact he was guilty. He would do the same thing again, if he had to. Donna charged to his side, trying to compensate for his fatalistic attitude, and found a good legal defense. Case number 8046, the State of Texas versus Raymond Krebbs, made headlines around the country. The Honorable Judge Emmett Burke of the Third District Court found him guilty. Ray’s sentence was five years in the state penitentiary - suspended - with eighteen months of probation.
To lift Ray’s spirits, Donna took him away to New York on a vacation. A kind of second honeymoon, it helped him put the past behind.
Ray continued to run Southfork smoothly and, in addition, began taking a more active role in Donna’s political causes. He was heavily involved, for example, in the investigation of the 1984 government auction of offshore drilling leases in the Gulf.
Ray was delighted when Clayton Farlow became a familiar figure at Southfork. Farlow loved ranching dearly and Ray found his easy, yet tough manner reminiscent of Jock. The two became very close. As Clayton’s sister, Jessica, remarked, “I noticed the resemblance the first time I met you. You’re both strong, silent men. Men of the fields… men of the soil.”
In 1985, however, after years of watching the Ewing clan seemingly bypass him with entrepreneurial success, Ray had begun to yearn to try a new career of his own. His disaster with the San Antonio project has left him cautious. Ray began to feel increasingly vulnerable and when Donna opened her own Oil field this reinforced Rays own feelings of inadequacy. Their marriage began to drift apart, Donna become focused on her career and felt oppressed by Rays need for her as a 'wife'. In late 1985 the couple separated with Donna moving into Southfork Ranch - it was during this strenuous time that Donna discovered she was pregnant. Ray was determined to resolve their problems but Donna had moved on, involving herself in Politics and adamant that a child was no solution to their problems. The couple finally divorced in 1986.
During this time Ray became close to Bobby's ex fiancee Jenna Wade and her teenaged daughter Charlie. Jenna's relationship with Bobby had ended and she was pregnant with his child, Ray was still feeling hurt from his divorce from Donna and was able to find and give support to Jenna and her daughter. The relationship soon grew into romance putting a tremendous strain onto his relationship with Bobby, not only was he now involved with Bobby's ex but he was also going to bring up his brothers child.
Donna gave birth to a beautiful daughter, who she named Margaret, after Ray's mother. Donna left Dallas in May 1987 to pursue politics in Washington, where she finally remarried.
Ray's relationship with Jenna continued to prosper, this was a very different relationship from his previous marriage to Donna, he felt less insecure, less threatened. Jenna was content being Ray's partner and a mother to her children, the competitiveness he felt with Donna was no longer an issue. In October 1987 Jenna proposed to Ray and the couple married in December of the same year at a small family ceremony at their home in Braddock.
Ray in 1988.
But Ray had not only taken a wife but a ready made family and his old fashioned family values created tension between himself and Jenna's teenaged daughter Charlie. The relationship broke down to such a degree that Charlie was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. This family rift placed a strain on the Krebb's marriage and in 1988 Jenna temporarily left Dallas to support her daughter in her new environment leaving Ray alone in Dallas. The child in Ray once again emerged and his feelings of inadequacy led him into a one night stand with Connie Hall who he met by chance when her automobile broke down not far from the Krebbs ranch. Connie was an unstable character leading Ray into a fatal attraction, she became obsessed with the Dallas cowboy, even trying to dress like Jenna to win him over. Ray's continual rejection ended in tragedy when Connie broke into his home late one night and brutally stabbed him with a kitchen knife.
Jenna returned to the aftermath of the event finding Ray gone and blood covering the stairs. Ray had survived with flesh wounds and confessed all to Jenna. Jenna, hurt and betrayed was left with the decision to either end or save her short marriage to Ray. In May of 1988 she told him the only way their marriage could survive was away from Texas, away from the shadow of the Ewing family that had haunted Ray for so many years. Ray agreed, and the couple left for Europe that same month to start a new life together.
Ray often returns to Southfork to visit his family where he remains a widely respected ranch foreman, an impressive landowner, a loving husband, and an heir to the Ewing empire. And, as always, the cowboy extraordinaire.
Dallas (2012 TV Series)[]
Ray returned to Dallas with Lucy Ewing for Christopher's wedding, Bobby's last Barbecue at Southfork, and J.R.'s funeral. Ray was saddened by J.R.'s death and he told Bobby that he couldn't believe that his brother was dead, stating he respected J.R. because he made Jock proud like no one else could.
Gallery[]
