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Sue Ellen's bucket list: 'Dallas' actress Linda Gray names her top picks for tourists

Linda Gray, who played Sue Ellen Ewing on TV's "Dallas", knows a thing or two about the Big D.

Forty years after the TV show Dallas took us to Southfork for the first time, Linda Gray knows a thing or two about Big D.

Gray, who played Sue Ellen Ewing on the show, lives in California but regularly visits Dallas, most notably for the 2012 Dallas reboot on TNT.

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Gray will be in town at the end of the month for a 40th anniversary reunion at Southfork, so we asked her favorite spots for Dallas visitors.

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"It's a stunningly beautiful, magnificent city and I absolutely love it and I love coming back," Gray said. "You're an inspiration, the city is to me."

Downtown

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In 1978, when the cast of Dallas first arrived to film the premiere season, downtown wasn't much of a place to hang out, Gray said.

"You didn't want to stay there," Gray said. "So we'd go down maybe at night for dinner, then come right back."

Now, however, she loves the vibrancy of downtown's revitalization. She said she enjoys the dining and entertainment options in the city's center. Every time she visits, she checks the city's tourism site, VisitDallas, to catch up on the latest changes to Dallas.

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Arts District

Gray had special words for downtown's Arts District, where she stayed at Museum Tower while filming the recent TNT reboot of Dallas.

"There's a reason you can bring people into the Arts District," she said. "I love all the food trucks there. I love all the culture that is established there."

Gray said when she first heard about plans for Klyde Warren Park, she was skeptical. People enjoying themselves so close to the exhaust and traffic of Woodall Rodgers Freeway didn't sound like a good idea, she said.

"When I got there, and I was staying in the Museum Tower, and I saw the beauty and the exquisite planning and I thought, 'Why doesn't L.A. do that?'" Gray said. "See, that's what I love about Dallas. They have an idea, they don't sit on it for 900 years, and they do it."

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

Seeing the architecture of Dallas change since she first came to the city 40 years ago has been exciting, Gray said. In particular, she enjoys going to see the towering Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River.

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"You're in a piece of art, I think," Gray said. "You're surrounded by it."

We think the bridge looked especially great from a helicopter on the opening sequence of the 2012 reboot.

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When she was in town for the TNT reboot, Gray said she took in a Mavericks game at American Airlines Center and a Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium. She recommends the experience for any newcomer.

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She also praised the city's dining and culture options outside of the sports world.

"They have fabulous, fabulous stuff there, so entertain yourself," Gray said. "It's restaurants and it's culture and it's on and on and on."

For more 'Dallas' ...

Click here to read the full interview with Linda Gray, ahead of the 40th anniversary reunion at Southfork Ranch and the Longhorn Ballroom.

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Did you know you can spend the night at Southfork Ranch? Get the real Ewing experience here.

Feeling more like an equestrian experience? Southfork offers trail rides as well.

Real-life wedding drama that would make the Ewings proud: This Southfork wedding was called off thanks to a "Tinder love rat." You can't make this stuff up.

Get the scoop behind the real family that owned the original Southfork