Patricia Shepard focused all her energies on making Sue Ellen and her sister Kristin into fine, proper, sociable young women—perfect marrying material. For it was Patricia's hope that one day her girls would marry wealthy and influential men—Doctors or Politicians or Oil Barons. Patricia's wish came true with Sue Ellen.

After graduating towards the top of her class in high school, Sue Ellen attended the University of Texas at Austin, just as confused as she was during high school. For Sue Ellen really didn't feel like the persona she projected to everyone, the one that her mother had trained her so skillfully of---that of an agreeable, sociable young woman who was to be well liked and only then would she be happy. But Sue Ellen wasn't happy. She wouldn't be for a long time.

As a freshman, Sue Ellen met and began dating Clint Ogden, an attractive young man who had little money. Sue Ellen really cared for him, however, and lost her virginity to Clint. All of this was not very pleasing to her mother. Still under her strong influence, Sue Ellen entered the Miss Texas pageant, and won! It was at that same contest that Sue Ellen met the man that would change her life forever—J.R. Ewing.

J.R., a judge that night, was immediately captivated by Sue Ellen. He asked her out on a date, and Sue Ellen agreed, equally captivated by his charm and good looks. Unfortunately, Sue Ellen lost the Miss America contest, but it did not matter—she had J.R. Unfortunately, Clint was lost in the shuffle as Sue Ellen and J.R. became more serious. Eventually, they got married.

Sue Ellen moved into the Ewing family home, Southfork, but things were not rosy for very long. Soon, the passion in her marriage faded. J.R. began what became a numerous string of infidelities. Sadly, Sue Ellen accepted it. She believed that it was her fate and her lot in life---what was more was that she still loved J.R., despite his apparent lack of love for her. So Sue Ellen put up with it, all the while playing the role of the perfect wife and civic minded woman for the world.

In 1978, things started to get worse. Sue Ellen was reaching a breaking point in her unhappy marriage to J.R., a state that was made more apparent when Bobby Ewing brought home his new wife, Pam—a marriage made in heaven. Sue Ellen's was more made in hell. She started turning to alcohol for comfort. The Ewings had been pressuring J.R. and Sue Ellen to produce a child for a long time, but J.R. never wanted to get near Sue Ellen in order to impregnate her. In a last attempt to please J.R. and save her marriage, Sue Ellen attempted to buy a baby on the black market. That failed, but her legal inquiries introduced her to a new man; Pam's brother Cliff.

There was immediate electricity between Cliff and Sue Ellen and they embarked on an affair. J.R. got wind of it and ended it by threatening to ruin Cliff's political career. However, Sue Ellen found herself pregnant and admitted to J.R. that the baby was probably Cliff's. Disgusted, J.R. pushed Sue Ellen away more and kept her a virtual prisoner in Southfork, driving Sue Ellen to drink more.

Eventually, Sue Ellen's drinking became so all consuming that she was putting herself and the baby at risk. J.R. committed her to a rehabilitation sanitarium, but Sue Ellen managed to bribe a nurse to get her a drink. Later, drunk, she escaped and crashed her car into a pole, leaving her and her baby's life in jeopardy. Fortunately, both Sue Ellen and John Ross, who Sue Ellen gave premature birth too were fine. But the question lingered who John Ross's father was. Sue Ellen couldn't care less, because she entered into a huge depression and ignored little John Ross. Eventually, she started to exhibit maternal feelings towards him and became a loving mother, just as a series of tests revealed J.R. as the father. Sue Ellen then fell in love with rodeo star Dusty Farlow, and embarked on a passionate affair with him. She was prepared to leave J.R., but Dusty seemingly died in a plane crash, driving Sue Ellen back to the bottle. All the while, J.R. was carrying on an affair with Sue Ellen's sister, Kristin.

Her drinking rampant, J.R. had plans to commit Sue Ellen to the sanitarium again, something he made known. Angry and hateful, Sue Ellen made numerous threats on his life, and was shocked to find out that someone actually did shoot J.R.. But was it her? She was drunk the night of the shooting, and assumed she blacked out and committed the crime. After all, the police soon found the gun in her closet with her prints on it. Sue Ellen was arrested and bailed out by a mysterious source. Her guilt over her possible role in the shooting brought her back to J.R., and the two re-ignited the passion in their marriage. Sue Ellen was cleared when it was revealed her sister Kristin was the assailant.

Her happiness with J.R. did not last. His cheating ways resurfaced, so she took up with Clint again, after he had reentered her life by coincidence. However, Clint was married and Sue Ellen was not going to be the other woman—she knew how it felt. Sue Ellen later learned that Dusty was really alive, simply paralyzed—he was the one that bailed her out of jail! Sue Ellen immediately became involved with him again, preparing to leave J.R. once and for all with John Ross. With Pam's help, Sue Ellen got John Ross off of Southfork, and moved in with Dusty and his father Clayton.

J.R. tried everything in the book, including financially ruining Clayton, to try and get John Ross away from Sue Ellen, but it didn't work. The two divorced and Sue Ellen was granted custody. Dusty's impotence soon became a problem, and Dusty and Sue Ellen broke up, but Clayton and Sue Ellen grew close---unbeknownst to her, he was attracted to her. Clayton and Sue Ellen continued their friendship, and Sue Ellen and Cliff became involved again. However, J.R. was starting to feel that old attraction to Sue Ellen and began courting her. Sue Ellen hated to admit it, but she was attracted to what seemed like a kinder, gentler J.R. In an effort to get Cliff away from Sue Ellen, J.R. financially ruined him, and Sue Ellen agreed to J.R.'s marriage proposal. Cliff's suicide attempt slowed their remarriage down, but eventually J.R. and Sue Ellen got remarried.

Their happiness did not last long as J.R. started cheating on her again, driving her back to the bottle. One night after confronting J.R., a drunk Sue Ellen got into the car and started driving away. Lucy's boyfriend and Ray's cousin Mickey Trotter tried to stop her, but both became involved in a huge car accident. Sue Ellen recovered, but Mickey was paralyzed and eventually died.

Deciding to get herself sober, Sue Ellen agreed to stay with J.R., but in name only and for John Ross's sake. She quickly found herself entering into an affair with John Ross's counselor, Peter Richards, someone almost twenty years her junior. She got pregnant by Peter but miscarried the baby, and a jealous J.R. ran Peter out of town, driving Sue Ellen's hatred even more. However, in the wake of Bobby's shooting, Sue Ellen once again saw the side of J.R. that she loved, and they rekindled their relationship. Things were blissful for a while, but J.R.'s distrust of his cousin Jamie (who was Sue Ellen's close friend) as well as his eventual affair with Mandy Winger drove Sue Ellen to desperation. Sick of Sue Ellen's dependence, J.R. started to be incredibly mean to her, calling her an unfit mother. Eventually, Sue Ellen turned to the bottle once more.

However, this time she decided to be strong and take control of her life. She quickly bought Valentine Lingerie and hired an unknowing Mandy as their top model, causing strains for Mandy and J.R. and breaking them up. When Sue Ellen revealed herself as responsible for this, J.R. became turned on by her deviousness. They became intimate and entered a committed marriage once again. However, J.R.'s non-cheating ways only last so long. In an effort to get Ewing Oil back, J.R. decided he needed to take control of West Star, so he began an affair with West Star heiress Kimberly Cryder to do so. Furious, Sue Ellen took up with her investment advisor Nicholas Pearce, and fell in love with him. They plotted against J.R., eventually teaming up with a rejected Kimberly to buy up the majority of West Star stock so J.R. couldn't attempt his takeover. Furious, J.R. stole John Ross away from Sue Ellen and hid him. In her effort to get him back, Sue Ellen and Nicholas had a confrontation with J.R., which sent Nicholas flying off the balcony to his death and a hysterical Sue Ellen shooting J.R.

J.R. lived, and Sue Ellen got John Ross back. She divorced J.R. but swore revenge. She decided to make a movie about all the horrible things he had done to her, and began the process of hiring key personnel. It was there she met writer Don Lockwood, who agreed to write the script. Sue Ellen and Don fell in love, and after completing the movie, they got engaged. Sue Ellen showed J.R. the film with the warning that were he to ever cross her again, she would show it to the world. With that she left for England and married Don.

John Ross eventually moved to England with her for a few years before he left for college. Sue Ellen was happy with Don---for a while. Events are unclear as of now, but Sue Ellen and Don eventually separated. It was around this time that J.R. returned to Dallas after a five year absence and faked his own death. Sue Ellen came back for the funeral, and later learned he had faked his death. Disgusted, Sue Ellen agreed to Bobby's suggestion that she run half of Ewing Oil and move into Southfork. Sue Ellen, who still kept the Ewing name, agreed---she now had 50% of Ewing Oil!

Note: The Biography from this point occurred on RTS and shouldn't be considered as part of Dallas, but rather, an unofficial continuation.

J.R., who was also living at Southfork, tried to get it back, but it never worked. It was around this time that Don and Sue Ellen officially got divorced. As a wedding present for John Ross's (aborted) wedding to Karen Beam, Sue Ellen gave him 25% of Ewing Oil—leaving her with 25%. J.R. convinced a drunk John Ross to sign over the 25% of him, leaving Sue Ellen, who was then enjoying a bit of flirtation with Bobby, to try to plot to get it back (J.R. called her bluff that the film would be useless).

Later, John Ross was involved in a near fatal car accident (which, unintentionally was caused by one of J.R.'s schemes). With this, and other family pressure occurring, Sue Ellen began drinking again. In a drunken state, Sue Ellen suggested giving her 25% of Ewing Oil over to Gary, who was then running Bobby's 50%. Sue Ellen did so, and eventually sobered herself up. It was shortly after this that Dusty re-entered her life, and they both declared their love for one another. Sue Ellen was blissful. She was shocked when Kaitlin Ryan blew into town and was revealed as her sister!

Sue Ellen traveled to Italy with Dusty and was happy with him there—for a while. It was then that Dusty started to act very strange, moody and irritable. Sue Ellen had to rush home to Dallas for the birth of her granddaughter (she thought—Christopher is the real father) Megan. The subsequent explosion of Southfork kept her there longer. When she finally returned to Europe, she found Dusty dead, having committed suicide because of a brain tumor. Sue Ellen was crushed. Later, Sue Ellen and J.R. bonded when John Ross was kidnapped in Hawaii. Soon, J.R. learned that Sue Ellen stood to inherit control of the Clifford Group, the huge conglomerate that Cliff (then seemingly dead) owned. In an effort to get his hands on the company, J.R. started to woo Sue Ellen. Fighting her attraction for him, Sue Ellen eventually discovered what he was up to and swore revenge. It was the final straw---the last play on her vulnerability and attraction that he was going to make. Plus, the knowledge that he was responsible for the accident that put John Ross into a coma was also fueling her hatred.

Today, Sue Ellen Ewing holds a high level position at West Star, a job that her nephew Christopher, now President of the company, gave her. No longer the timid woman she was, Sue Ellen is now a fighter and goes after what she wants. What she wants is to hurt J.R. as he has hurt her, by taking away that which is most precious to him---Ewing Oil.


* Actually occured on Return to Southfork, not Dallas.