Sue Ellen Ewing is a fictional character and one of the female leads in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas.

Gray played Sue Ellen until the twelfth season of Dallas, when her character finally leaves Texas after beating J.R. at his own game in the 1989 episode "Reel Life".

Sue Ellen's storylines in season 2 focused on the character's bout with alcohol and her slowly deteriorating relationship with her husband.

'"[7] Once the show was picked up for a full season, Gray and fellow actor Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs) were both upgraded to starring roles.

The request initially led to producers firing the actress from the serial, though the decision was later reversed when Dallas star Larry Hagman threatened to quit the show unless Gray were rehired.

[10] In 2010, TNT (sister company to Warner Bros. Television, the current copyright owners of the series) announced they were producing a continuation of Dallas.

The actress later stated that on-screen husband Larry Hagman had criticized one of her performances early on during the start of the series, and called it "terrible", though he denied it.

I just wanted Sue Ellen to be raw unlike any other time in her life, where she was the victim and she was this and she was that; J.R. Ewing would do something and she would react, he would do something and she would have an affair or drink or whatever.

[12]When the 20-year-old Sue Ellen Shepard wins the title of Miss Texas in 1967, she meets her future husband, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), who is a judge for the pageant.

[13] After a courtship, they marry in 1971, but after several years, their marriage deteriorates, due in large part to J.R.'s numerous extramarital affairs and his growing disinterest in her.

[14] Shortly thereafter, Sue Ellen finds herself pregnant and believes that Cliff is the father because she and J.R. had been married for years without conceiving, and by this point, they barely had marital relations.

[20] Nonetheless, Sue Ellen remains dedicated to her love for him and leaves J.R., taking their son with her to live at the Southern Cross Ranch, the home of Dusty's father, Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel).

[20] Sue Ellen divorces J.R. and gains custody of John Ross, but her relationship with Dusty ends when he regains the use of his legs and decides to resume his life's passion as a rodeo cowboy.

[23] In 1983, Sue Ellen enters into an affair with college student, Peter Richards (Christopher Atkins), who had been her son's camp counselor.

When J.R. learns of Sue Ellen's affair, he arranges for Peter to be arrested on trumped-up drug charges and blackmails him to leave Dallas for good.

She successfully lures J.R.'s latest mistress, Mandy Winger (Deborah Shelton), away from J.R. by offering her a promising career as model and then as an actress.

[25] Sue Ellen and J.R. enjoy a brief reconciliation; however, J.R.'s desire to regain Ewing Oil by having an affair with Kimberly Cryder (Leigh Taylor-Young) destroys what is left of their marriage.

Sue Ellen decides to leave J.R. for good, but he manages to take John Ross away and put him into hiding in a boarding school.

[26] Sue Ellen and her new lover, Nicholas Pearce (Jack Scalia), confront J.R. at his penthouse and demand he tell them where he hid John Ross.

[28] She and Don soon become romantically involved and, in 1989, Sue Ellen moves to London with Lockwood, but not before blackmailing J.R. by threatening to release the film, which would destroy his reputation.

[28] Sue Ellen appears in the final episode of the series during J.R.'s dream in which she is a successful actress married to her previous love, Nicholas Pearce.

[29] In 1996, when her marriage to Don is in trouble, Sue Ellen returns to Dallas with her son, after J.R. was reportedly killed in a car accident.

Sue Ellen has become a powerful woman in Dallas, leading successful fundraising campaigns and making connections with influential Texans.

But despite this success, Sue Ellen harbors deep regret for her mistakes as a mother raising John Ross and will do anything to make things right for him.

Then when a colleague and occasional lover of John Ross's, Veronica Martinez, is pushed off a balcony and killed, Sue Ellen bribes the medical examiner into ruling the death a suicide and finds herself looking for support from Harris Ryland, Ann's ex-husband.

Facing the possibility of jail and the overall humiliation and disgrace, she pours herself a glass of wine (in the original series, her favorite tipple was Vodka).

J.R. through means of blackmail is able to get the charges dropped and after thanking him, Sue Ellen invites him in for tea, a spark of their past romance being seemingly reignited.

Later she comes to the aid of John Ross and helps him in securing control of the newly established Ewing Energies, by pushing his ex-girlfriend Elena Ramos out of the company.

Soon after, Sue Ellen's alcoholism returns, and her struggles with it become a recurring theme in the third season, putting a strain on her relationship with her son.

Eventually she learns the truth about the circumstances surrounding J.R's death, and is angered at both Bobby and Bum that she had been kept in the dark about his illness and his final plan, although she makes amends.