As the damaged, drunken, dysfunctional Sue Ellen Ewing - put-upon wife of the scheming JR in the hit soap Dallas - actress Linda Gray was something of a constant presence in our lives throughout the Eighties. Her character’s vulnerability, and her own natural beauty, endeared her to the millions hooked to their TV screens each week. And then 12 years ago, she disappeared.

As from this week, though, she’s back in a big way in the UK. She’s putting on the mantle - and just as quickly slipping it off - of Mrs Robinson in London’s West End hit The Graduate.

It’s a stunning career transformation for the 60-year-old who, despite being the oldest actress to take on the part of the seductress is remarkably unfazed about rolling around in bed naked with her 24-year-old co-star. “I never think one whit about age - I think it’s the most boring subject in the world. I don’t care what age a man has as long as he has a sense of humour.”

As she speaks to us at her ranch-style home north of Beverly Hills, California, one can see this is clearly a woman in the driving seat. “In the last ten years or so, I truly believe I’ve let my own self come through more and more. I feel very strongly about who I am,” she says.

To read more about Dallas star Linda Gray and see photos of the actress in her amazing California home, check out this week’s HELLO!, on sale now.