Ted Shackelford, 80, Looks Very Different In Rare Appearance Decades After Playing Gary Ewing On ‘Dallas’

Ted Shackelford, best remembered as Gary Ewing on Dallas and Knots Landing, has stepped out in Los Angeles in a rare public sighting. The 80-year-old actor has largely stayed away from the spotlight in recent years, making the appearance especially notable for longtime fans of the Ewing family saga.

According to Entertainment Now, for anyone wondering about Ted Shackelford today, the actor was photographed wearing a blue T-shirt with a matching knitted cardigan, black trousers, and sneakers while using a walker. The outing offered a new glimpse of a television favorite whose career stretches back more than five decades.

Ted Shackelford Today Lives Mostly Away From the Spotlight

Shackelford has kept a relatively low profile since stepping back from regular acting work. His most recent screen credit came in 2017, when he made an uncredited appearance on NCIS. Before that, he built a long television résumé that included The Young and the Restless, Space Precinct, and, most famously, the intertwined worlds of Dallas and Knots Landing.

Dallas and Knots Landing star, 80, who played ‘black sheep’ of oil family makes rare outing… can you guess who? https://t.co/1CPwVNwwdB

— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) September 23, 2026

 

He first took on Gary Ewing in 1979, playing the troubled middle son of the wealthy Texas family. The character eventually became central to Knots Landing, where Shackelford remained for years before later returning for TNT’s Dallas revival. In a 2013 interview, he admitted that slipping back into Gary after so much time felt surprisingly natural.

Gary Ewing Gave Him Plenty to Work With

Interestingly, Shackelford once admitted that he did not particularly admire Gary. He described the character as weak and impulsive, saying he often wished Gary showed more courage. At the same time, he recognized that those flaws gave him richer material to play, from addiction and family conflict to relationships and brushes with dangerous characters.

That complexity helped make Gary one of the more memorable members of the sprawling Ewing family. Seeing Ted Shackelford today brings back memories of an era when Dallas and Knots Landing dominated prime-time television and viewers followed every betrayal, romance, and family feud. Though Shackelford now lives largely outside the public eye, his rare appearance serves as a reminder of just how enduring those roles remain.