The most successful primetime soap in TV history, *Dallas*, will always hold a special place in my heart. Honestly, I could rewatch the entire series just to enjoy the captivating presence of Victoria Principal.
Victoria was a big reason why people watched the show, just like Larry Hagman’s role as the mean oil businessman J.R. Ewing. She played Pamela Barnes Ewing, and fans loved her character!
At 74 years old, Victoria Principal still shines brightly, and you might be amazed when you check out her recent photos showcasing her timeless beauty.
Victoria Principal, now 74 years old, has shown that she can do many things. Over her amazing career, she has been a successful actress, writer, producer, and even started her own skincare line.
Victoria Ree Principal’s ability to adjust to new situations could come from her childhood experiences. She was born on January 3, 1950, in Fukuoka, Japan, where her life started in a different country because her dad was a U.S. Air Force Sergeant stationed there.
When Victoria was a kid, she lived a life on the move, often shifting from one U.S. Air Force base to another. She grew up in many different places, like England, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, and Florida, to name a few.
When she was in elementary school, Victoria Principal went to 17 different schools, one of which was the famous Royal Ballet School in England.
The happiness of her childhood is something people argue about. The Daily Mail says that Victoria and her mom, Ree Principal, had a tricky relationship. Victoria even called her childhood miserable in a report from 2009. Then, in a 2012 interview with the Huffington Post, when she was asked what she wished she had realized sooner, Victoria said, “I wish I had known my childhood would end.”
Even with all the difficulties, Victoria has talked about a brighter side too. She mentioned, “I feel really fortunate. My parents brought me up in a way that made me believe I was always equal.”
Victoria Principal began her career at a remarkably young age, landing her first job in a television commercial when she was just 5 years old.
In 1968, when she started classes at Miami-Dade Community College, it looked like Victoria was going to follow a totally different career—medicine. She dreamed of being a doctor, and it seemed like her future was all planned out for that.
But life had different ideas. Just a few months before finishing her first year of college, Victoria got into a bad car accident while driving home from the library. The crash caused her some serious injuries, and she needed a lot of time to recover and heal. Because of this, she missed important classes and had to think about the possibility of doing her first year all over again.
At this turning point, Victoria made a big change. She packed her bags and headed to New York City to follow her acting dreams. After spending time as an actress and model in both New York and Europe, she moved to Los Angeles in 1971 to go after important movie roles.
She got her big break when she acted in John Huston’s western movie The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. In the film, she played the love interest of the main character, Roy Bean, who was played by Paul Newman. Because of this role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer, which helped her become more well-known in Hollywood.
Even though Victoria was doing well in Hollywood, she had to deal with some tough times. She told People that at first, it felt like people really liked her, but later she figured out that many just saw her as a “hot meal ticket.” After her big break in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, it became hard for her to find good roles. Her next movie, The N-ked Ape, didn’t do well at the box office, and that really affected her self-esteem.
“I wanted to be successful simply because I didn’t want to get hurt. I began to get hard. I became very protective of myself,” Victoria Principal shared with *People*.
In 1974, she starred in the huge disaster movie Earthquake, which became really popular. But in 1975, while working on Vigilante Force, Victoria started to feel really stressed about keeping up a flawless image. She confessed, “I realized I was so unhappy I didn’t want to live.”
Instead of continuing with feature films, she decided to focus on a career in law and became a talent agent from 1975 to 1977. This change was a big relief for Victoria because it meant she could be appreciated for her abilities and intelligence instead of just how she looked.
While working as an agent, Victoria first discovered the TV show Dallas. Even though she had chances to go back to acting, it was only after she read the Dallas script that she decided to pursue her acting dreams again. “I had stepped away from acting to become an agent and was planning to go to law school, but when a friend gave me a Dallas script, I couldn’t put it down. Once I finished reading, I realized my life was about to change – that role was meant for me. So, I called the casting director and said, ‘I’m sending someone in.’ She asked, ‘Who?’ I replied, ‘Just write down my name. It’ll be a surprise.’ And it really was a surprise – I showed up myself! I sent myself in for the audition!” Victoria shared.
Victoria landed the part of Pamela Barnes Ewing, which turned out to be a major highlight of her career. She shared, “When I auditioned for Dallas, I was already a huge fan of the show and the character. From the first time I read the script, I knew it was something really special, and I desperately wanted to be involved. I just couldn’t picture myself not playing Pam.” It was like the role was meant for her.
Victoria used her deep understanding of the industry to strike a deal with CBS, making sure she kept control over her image and career. She said, “Looking back, I was the only one in the cast doing commercials, making movies for TV, and writing books, and all of that is mine. I kept control and ownership of my image. Nobody owns me.”
Dallas first hit the screens in 1978 and quickly became one of the best TV dramas ever. It grabbed the attention of people all over the world and had a big impact on viewers everywhere. The show focused on the Ewing family, a rich family from Texas that was deeply involved in the oil business and cattle ranching.
At 28, Victoria Principal became a significant reason for the show’s international success. As Pamela Barnes Ewing, she captivated audiences as the beautiful wife of Bobby Ewing and sister-in-law to J.R. Ewing, earning the admiration of a generation.
Victoria spent nine years on Dallas, where she earned a Golden Globe nomination and won two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She has talked about her experiences on the show and her friendship with Larry Hagman, who portrayed J.R. Ewing. She said, “It was always fun to go head-to-head with J.R., or Larry Hagman as we called him. Larry was really kind and would chat with me in the morning before our scenes to figure out how to make them even better.”
Victoria Principal didn’t have a strong bond with her Dallas co-stars. She mentioned, “We did have some phone calls, but we never really got together. We didn’t hang out much. We worked together but lived different lives. When I joined the show, Patrick was already married and starting a family, Steve was also married and beginning his family, Larry had kids, and Linda was married with children. I was single, so our lifestyles were really different,” she told People.
In 1987, Victoria decided to leave the hit TV series. Her departure was influenced by several factors. “A lot of work has gone into keeping Victoria Principal separate from Pam Ewing. To stay on the show any longer would really seal my fate in the industry,” she explained to *The New York Times*.
Victoria Principal even turned down a lucrative contract offer that would have made her the highest-paid actress on TV at the time. “The first five years on *Dallas* were so unbelievably wonderful—then some key writers departed, and by year seven, there was a decline in the writing, which was an enormous part of my decision to leave. I informed the producers during renegotiations in the seventh year that I would only stay for two more. They wanted a longer contract, and I said no. I was completely transparent. I learned a lot from playing Pam. She was someone with such innate goodness and who was courageous in fighting for what she believed in. It was really a privilege to play her,” she shared with *Entertainment Weekly*.
After she left Dallas, Victoria had the chance to retire and live a nice life, but instead, she decided to put a lot of money into her skincare brand, Principal Secret, which she started in 1984. The business did really well, making more than $1.5 billion in sales. As reported by Celebrity Net Worth, Victoria Principal is worth about $350 million.
Even though Dallas was a big hit, Victoria believes that a lot of her later successes came from the opportunities it gave her. “I’m still really committed to my skincare brand, Principal Secret, which is about to hit 27 years! I always remember that Dallas helped me jumpstart so many of my dreams,” she shared with TV Insider in 2018.
In 2019, Victoria announced she was stepping down from her company after 30 years to focus on philanthropy. “After 30 years in the skincare business and 28 years as the President & Founder of Principal Secret, I will be stepping down to devote myself full time to my philanthropic work through The Victoria Principal Foundation for Thoughtful Existence and my rescue work with animals,” she stated.
Victoria has done a lot of good things to help others. For example, after Hurricane Harvey hit in 2018, she donated a bunch of rescue boats to the American Humane Society. She also gave $25,000 to help with fire recovery after the California Wildfires that same year.
Regarding her personal life, Victoria has been married and divorced twice. Despite a reputation of being a man-hunter, she describes her romantic history as relatively modest. “No one who ever dated me has ever said an unkind thing about me,” she claimed. “I’ve probably had fewer relationships than many in my 33 years, but no one will ever believe it,” she told *People* in 1983.
Victoria first met her husband, Christopher Skinner, who was a young actor, while working on the set of Dallas. They got married after only three dates, but unfortunately, they divorced two years later. Victoria mentioned that her busy job played a big role in their breakup.
Following her first marriage, Victoria had a high-profile but troubled relationship with English singer-songwriter Andy Gibb. Despite their strong chemistry, Gibb’s lifestyle and addiction proved too difficult for Victoria. “I did everything I could to help him, but then I told him he would have to choose between me and his problem,” Victoria said after Gibb’s passing in 1998.
In 1985, Victoria married Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Harry Glassman in Dallas, Texas.
When Victoria Principal got married to a plastic surgeon, people started to wonder if he helped her look so young. But in a 2007 interview, Victoria set the record straight by saying she never had any cosmetic work done with his help. She said, “I’ve never had a face-lift. Or a professional peel or lasers.”
Victoria and Dr. Harry Glassman divorced in December 2006. Reflecting on their time together, she noted, “We have had a loving relationship for over 20 years.”
Victoria has no biological children of her own, but during her marriage to Glassman, she grew close with his two children from a previous relationship, Andrew and Brooke.
Nowadays, Victoria Principal is dedicated to her charitable work and her foundation, making important contributions to many different causes. She shows a strong commitment to both her own happiness and helping others, and her legacy is closely linked to her success in Dallas and her accomplishments in the skincare business.
Victoria Principal remains very active on social media, offering her 400,000 followers a glimpse into her life through her Facebook page. She often shares photos and short videos from her ranch outside of Los Angeles, where she dedicates time to rehabilitating animals.
Looking at her updates makes me really happy and even brings tears to my eyes because she has become such an incredible person. Her fans get to see what her everyday life is like on the ranch, plus some fun old photos and videos from her time on Dallas and her acting career. Even though she looks different now compared to when she was on the show, it just shows how life changes and how beautiful her journey has been.
