Bobby Ewing, who was played by actor Patrick Duffy, was the youngest of three sons to Jock and Miss Ellie. When the show was originally planned, the idea was for his marriage with Pamela Barnes, played by Victoria Principal, to be the central theme. However, the role of J.R. is what became the driving force in the Dallas series.

Bobby also contributed to the business of Ewing Oil, and was shown to be a more compassionate and fair-handed player than his oldest brother. At times, Bobby took up a defensive posture against J.R., in the attempt to stop the cut-throat schemes which J.R. delighted in creating.

The two did manage to remember they were from the same family and weren't always fighting against each other. Pamela's father, Cliff Barnes, sometimes was the antagonist that united the Ewing brothers.

Patrick Duffy temporarily left the series in 1985, so he was "killed off" by being run over by his sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth. Larry Hagman convinced Patrick that Dallas needed the character of Bobby to return to the series. This arranged for one of the most controversial plot twists the series used.

Bobby also had interests in working the livestock at Southfork Ranch and was a state senator in the state capital of Austin. He was loyal to his work, his family and his wife. But, in season 10, Pamela suffered a severe burns from a car accident and she disappeared from the hospital. Bobby Ewing never saw her again. And talk about bad luck, he married April Stevens, but she was kidnapped in Paris and killed.

Bobby was involved in numerous cliffhanger scenes, one very "passionate" shower scene with Pamela (trick photography, the executives swear it), and in the series finale, Bobby is the first into the room after J.R. had fired a gun. Yes, Bobby Ewing was forever the good son.