Dallas actress Linda Gray & Ed Thrasher’s home (1982)
Home for the Thrashers is a ranch complete with a dog, two horses, three cats, and five adopted peacocks
Eleven years ago when Ed, Linda, and their children, Jeff and Kelly, decided to move from an apartment in Encino to a home of their own, they bought three acres north of Los Angeles and asked an architect to build them an open, informal ranch house.
“Because it was in the earthquake area,” says Linda, “we wanted a one-story home. It was supposed to he finished in January 1971, but it wasn’t, so we lived in a trailer for six months, moving into the house as soon as workmen found us space. Even though we had to wrap everything, including ourselves, in drop cloths or plastic, we loved our house. We still love it today — it’s stood the test of time.”
The 15-room home
The Thrashers have a 15-room home, pool, tennis court, and a studio where Ed, head of an advertising agency, still does photography. Son Jeff (he worked on Dallas with his mother this summer) and daughter Kelly are in school.
“The living room is informal,” says Linda, “because we are not formal. I’d be happy in a tree house, which is actually what I asked the architect to build. Ed and I did the decorating —it’s just all the things we like. His studio (far left) is exactly like the house — no drapes, few walls, just open.”
Linda Gray’s kitchen design
Kitchen was designed with three walls so Linda would not be isolated when she cooks. These days she spends so much time in Dallas, she doesn’t have time to make her “all-day soups.” “I cook and eat faster ow,” she says, laughing. “I like raw vegetables.”
The bathroom and dressing area in Linda Gray’s home
Bathroom/dressing room is where Thrasher informality almost ends, but elegance is tempered with Ed’s hat collection. Their down-to-earth lifestyle makes anyone feel right at home — even a neighbor’s five peacocks that keep coming back.
