Must Resist Obvious Pun Titles for This Post

The news just came out that Jonathan Frid, the original actor to play Barnabas Collins in the late 60s ABC gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, passed away last Friday, the 13th of April.

For those of you who may not remember the show, Barnabas Collins was a vampire. He started out on the show as a villian, but the character become so popular they kept him for the rest of the series. Barnabas had been cursed by a witch in 1795 & many of the story lines revolved arround his trying to be set free of the curse & live a normal life.

I will admit, that like many a youngster of my time, I was hooked on the show & watched it as often as possible. The show was a soap opera. But the twist was the gothic horror & supernatural goings on. Looking back, the show still holds up despite the poor special effects etc that were common in filming soap operas at that time. Of course, I veiw the role the supernatural plays in a whole different way these days.

While Jonathan Frid was best known for his role as Barnabas in the series & a movie spin off, what was not so well known is that he was a classicly trained stage actor as well.  Among his roles he played Thomas Becket in Murder in the Cathedral. He also played  Jonathan Brewster in the Broadway revival of Arsenic and Old Lace.

His last appearance will be a cameo with several of his Dark Shadows castmates in the upcoming Tim Burton film version of  Dark Shadows* out in May.

Unlike Barnabas, I pray that he has found rest & peace with God.

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*Reserving judgment on the film as I am not too impressed withw hat I have seen from the previews.