Milestones: May 11, 1981

DIED. Jim Davis, 67, gruff, rangy character actor who played Jock Ewing, the oil-baron patriarch on TV’s top-rated Dallas; after surgery for a perforated ulcer: in Los Angeles, Calif. Davis, who worked as a circus tent rigger and construction laborer before catching on as a western type in Hollywood in the 1940s, was not in Dallas’ final episode of the current season, which aired last week. There are no plans to recast Jock Ewing, who will be written out of the show before shooting for the new season begins this month.

DIED. Clifford Battles, 70, National Football League Hall of Famer who gained a total of 3,542 yds. in his six seasons (1932-38) as a halfback for the Boston Braves (later called the Boston Redskins, then the Washington Redskins) and who, in his team’s divisional championship season of 1936, showed remarkable versatility by rushing 176 times for 614 yds., completing 18 passes for 242 yds., catching six passes for 103 yds. and scoring 42 points on six touchdowns; of heart disease; in Clearwater, Fla.

DIED. William Meiklejohn, 78, Hollywood talent agent who during his 60 years as a scout, first for vaudeville and later for Paramount Pictures, used his self-avowed “seventh sense” to discover and promote such stars as Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball and, in 1937, a young sportscaster in Des Moines named Ronald Reagan; after surgery for a perforated ulcer; in Burbank, Calif.

DIED. Mickey Walker, 79, the pugnacious “Toy Bulldog” who held the welterweight World Boxing Championship from 1922 to 1926, and went on to hold the middleweight title for five years before relinquishing it in 1931 to make an unsuccessful bid for the crown as a light heavyweight; of Parkinson’s disease; in Freehold, N.J. A colorful, aggressive fighter who often took on bigger and heavier opponents, Walker scored 58 knockouts in a total of 148 bouts, winning an estimated $3 million over 17 years. After retiring from the ring in 1935, he took up painting, gaining some prominence as an American primitivist. “Physical expression belongs to youth,” he once said.

“Then the years go by. I found art—and expression—in colors.”

DIED. Jules Stein, 85, ophthalmologist turned show business entrepreneur who as the founder and president of the Music Corporation of America guided its growth from a small band-booking agency into a billion-dollar entertainment empire; of a heart attack; in Los Angeles. Stein, who helped pay his way through medical school by playing violin and saxophone, started MCA in 1924 and eventually abandoned his medical career to lead the company’s expansion during the 1930s and ’40s into a national booking service for top bands and Hollywood stars. MCA became known as the “octopus” for its extensive holdings in the entertainment industry, which by the late ’50s included Decca Records and Universal Pictures and Television. A noted philanthropist, Stein donated $19 million to help build five eye research centers and led a successful campaign to establish the federally administered National Eye Institute in 1968.