BY DONNA WESTFALL

Larry Hagman  played the extraordinary villain J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” and love interest on “I Dream Of Jeanie” opposite actress Barbara Eden.   Hagman, 81, died of  complications of throat cancer in a Dallas hospital.

Larry Hagman lived in Upper Ojai of Southern California.  We met him in the ’90’s after he successfully quit drinking, but before his liver transplant.  His home was huge.  As I recall, he and his wife, Maj,  lived in about 25,000 square feet.  He liked his booze and cigarettes; both of which he eventually gave up.  I’ve heard his friend, Jack Nicholson, got him onto marijuana so he would cut down on the alcohol.

Australian author, Bryce Courtenay, died at age 79 of stomach cancer two weeks after publishing his last novel, “Jack of Diamonds.”

His first novel, “The Power of One”, the story of a child growing up under apartheid in South Africa, was an instant hit, selling more than 8 million copies and later made into a movie.  I especially liked this book because it contains character.  The type of character that one will prevail despite the odds.   Courtenay started his fiction writing career at the age of 50.