The most successful primetime soap in TV history, ‘Dallas‘, will always be a personal favorite of mine. In fact, I could watch the entire series all over again just for the pleasure of seeing Victoria Principal.

In her iconic role as Pamela Barnes Ewing, Victoria was one of biggest reasons to tune into Dallas – alongside Larry Hagman, who played the ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing.

Today, Victoria has turned 74 years old – and I think you will be quite surprised when you see the latest photos of this timeless beauty …

Victoria Principal, 74, has always been a multi-hyphenate – during her long professional career she was a successful actress, author, producer, and skin care entrepreneur.

Perhaps this can be explained by her background – Victoria grew up in a variety of places, and was constantly forced to adapt to her surroundings.

Born in Japan

Victoria Ree Principal was born on January 3, 1950, in Japan.

Her father, a United States Air Force Sergeant, was stationed in city of Fukuoka and Victoria spent her first months of life on Japanese soil.

The family moved around a lot during her childhood – Victoria and her mom were shunted around a series of U.S. Air Force bases. She grew up in England, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts and Florida, among other places.

During her primary years, Victoria went to 17 different schools, including the famous Royal Ballet School in England.

Whether her childhood was actually happy or not is hard to say – there are varying reports about it.

According to Daily Mail, Victoria and her mother, Ree Principal, had a complicated relationship. The paper said in 2009 that Victoria has described her childhood as miserable. In an interview with Huffington Post in 2012, Victoria was asked what she would like to have known earlier in her life:

”I wish I had known my childhood would end,” she said.

On the other hand, there is a rather famous quote attributed to Victoria Prinicpal:

”I was very lucky. My parents raised me in such a way that it never occurred to me that I wasn’t equal”.

What we do know is that Victoria started working from a very early age. As a 5-year-old girl, she landed her first job in a television commercial.

But when Victoria enrolled at Miami–Dade Community College in 1968, it looked like she would settle on a completely different career path.

She decided to study medicine. If everything had gone her way, Victoria would probably have become a doctor.

Victoria Principal car crash

But fate had other plans for the young student.

Just months before completing her first year of college, Victoria was involved in a horrific accident. On the way home from the library one day, she got seriously injured in a car crash. Victoria had to spend months resting and in rehab.

Unfortunately, she missed important months at college and was faced with having to take the first year of studies all over again.

It was then Victoria decided to drastically change her direction in life. She moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting instead.

After acting and modeling in New York and Europe, Victoria moved to L.A. in 1971. On the west coast, she pursued major film roles.

Finally, she landed a role in John Huston’s western film, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. Victoria portrayed the mistress of the main character, Roy Bean, played by Paul Newman.

Struggled in Hollywood

It was obvious that she had talent. Victoria earned a Golden Globe nomination for best newcomer, while her name was mentioned more and more in Hollywood.

“People started inviting me to parties. I thought these people really liked me but I found out I was only a hot meal ticket,” Victoria told People.

After the success of The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Victoria struggled to find roles that gave her satisfaction. Her next film, The Naked Ape, flopped, and that really took a toll on Victoria’s confidence.

“I wanted to be successful simply because I didn’t want to get hurt. I began to get hard. I became very protective of myself,” she told People.

In 1974, she appeared in the disaster film Earthquake, which was a huge hit at the time in terms of revenue.

But in 1975, halfway through the action film Vigilante Force, Victoria felt that something was seriously wrong. She collapsed under the stress of trying to live up to a perfect image.

”I realized I was so unhappy I didn’t want to live,” Victoria explained.

She decided to move away from feature films and study law. Between 1975 and 1977, she made a living as a talent agent, something that became a huge relief for Victoria. Throughout her whole life, the focus had always been on her looks and body.

As an agent, she was finally being treated for what she could say or do.

It was as an agent that Victoria first came in contact with the television series Dallas. She had previously received some requests to return to acting, but it wasn’t until she obtained the script for Dallas that she decided to change her long-term ambitions.

”I had left acting to be an agent and was on my way to law school, but when a friend dropped off a Dallas script, I read it. When I finished, I knew my life had changed – that part was mine. So I called the [casting] person and said, ‘I’m sending someone in.’ She said, ‘Who?’ I said, ‘Just put down my name. It will be a surprise.’ And it certainly was a surprise – I showed up with me! I sent myself in for it!” Victoria said.

As we all know, Victoria landed the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing and the rest is history.

Victoria knew Dallas would be a hit.

“When I went in for the part on ‘Dallas,’ I had already fallen in love with the show and with the part, so my feeling from the moment I read it was that it was incredibly special and that I really, really wanted to be a part of it. I could not imagine not being Pam,” she said. It was as if she was born for the role, Victoria told People.

With all her knowledge of the industry, she negotiated her own contract with CBS. This meant, among other things, that she was free to do whatever she wanted as Dallas conquered the world and captured the heart of millions.

”As a result that’s why, you can only notice in hindsight, I was the only person in the cast who did commercials, who was doing movies of the week, who wrote books and these all belong to me. I retained the control and ownership of my image. No one owns me,” she said.