The character of Pamela has been well received by television critics . Principal received a Golden Globe nomination in the category of " Best Actress in a Television Series " at the 40th Golden Globe Awards for her work as Pam . Principal was nominated for a '' Soap Opera Digest '' award for " Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial " in 1986 . She also shared a nomination with Patrick Duffy for " Favorite Super Couple : Prime Time " in 1988 . Amelia Proud of '' The Daily Mail '' said , " She became a pin up after landing the role of beautiful Pamela Ewing in the soon-to-be resurrected drama '' Dallas '' in 1978 , and 33 years later Victoria Principal is still an arresting sight . The actress , who starred in Dallas for nine years in the Seventies and Eighties , has not joined castmates Larry Hagman , 80 , Patrick Duffy , 62 , and Linda Gray , 71 , in the TNT reboot of the hit show , which premiered in the summer of 2012 . But she certainly looks good enough to return to the fold to play opposite Jesse Metcalfe , 33 , who plays her grown adopted son Christopher . " Pamela crashed into an oil tanker at the end of the tenth season of '' Dallas '' . The exit storyline was the subject of notable controversy . It was left open ended after Principal left the show and the audience had no idea where the character was going . Hal Erickson of MSN.com said , " Although Victoria Principal had left '' Dallas '' at the end of season ten , by the time the series ' 11th season rolled around , Principal 's character , Pamela Ewing , was still lingering about , swathed in bandages after being seriously injured in a car accident . As if to lead viewers to the conclusion that Pamela would suddenly make a complete recovery in the tradition of her husband Bobby Ewing 's ( Patrick Duffy ) " return from the dead " at the outset of season ten , the ultimate fate of Pamela was left unresolved for several weeks — and further complicated when the poor girl suddenly vanished from her hospital bed . " Patrick Duffy returned to '' Dallas '' in 1986 after being absent for an entire season . The whole year 's worth of episodes was written off entirely as Pam 's dream . The storyline garnered the show a lot of publicity , both good and bad . The Staff of UGO Networks.com said : " Soap Operas are known ( and at times hated ) for their ridiculously implausible storylines , and while '80s primetime suddser '' Dallas '' is still one of our favorite guilty pleasures , even the great Ewing empire is not immune to the absurd storytelling techniques the genre has become associated with . While your average primetime soap operas do n't usually mingle with the stuff of sci-fi and horror , there 's an incredibly high rate of characters returning from the dead in the genre . Case in point : Bobby Ewing . Presumed dead after being run over by his sister-in-law , Katherine Wentworth , who also happened to be obsessed with him , fans ( and CBS ) had to do without Patrick Duffy , and even worse , ratings , for one whole season . Thus , Larry Hagman , who played Duffy 's onscreen brother and despised oil baron J.R. Ewing , along with network execs , persuaded Duffy to return , making it possible ( we 're talking in soap opera terms here ) , for Bobby Ewing 's character to come back by writing off the ratings nightmare of a season as a dream ... a very bad one . "
40th Golden Globe Awards
40th Golden Globe Awards
Pam Ewing