4.19.2012

DARK SHADOWS STAR JONATHAN FRID HAS DIED



Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins

Dark Shadows star Jonathan Frid has died in Canada. The 87-year-old actor reportedly passed away peacefully of natural causes at Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. Frid was best known for playing vampire Barnabas Collins on gothic television soap opera Dark Shadows. The series originally aired on ABC in the US between June 1966 and April 2, 1971.

John Herbert Frid (December 2, 1924 - April 14, 2012) was a theater, television, and film actor, best known for playing the role of vampire Barnabas Collins on the gothic television soap opera Dark Shadows.



Jonathan Frid did such a great job in the part of Barnabas Collins. His character kept the entire show moving forward. Strangely Barnabas never frightened me but Angelique sure did....



Lara Parker as Angelique

Johnny Depp previously admitted to being "obsessed" as a child with Frid's performance as the 200-year-old vampire. My cousin was totally obsessed with this Vamp Soap as well back in the late 60's. She got me to watch with her after school.

There was only one character that really got to me and that was Angelique who was played beautifully scary by Lara Parker... Her character really scared me! As I look back at the old footage of Dark Shadows, I realize how hokey it was...of course we are so desensitized to violence onscreen now days...but back then, Dark Shadows was really scary!



In 1994, having spent 40 years based in New York City, Frid retired and returned again to Canada. He continued to do one-man shows for charities in both Canada and the United States. In 2000, he co-starred in Mass Appeal which enjoyed a successful, limited run in Hamilton and at the Stirling Theater Festival in Canada.

Frid attended Dark Shadows conventions in New York in August 2007, Burbank, California in July 2008, and Elizabeth, New Jersey in August 2009. In 2010, he returned to the role of Barnabas for the first time in 39 years in a Dark Shadows audio drama, The Night Whispers.

Along with former Dark Shadows castmates Lara Parker, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh Scott, Frid spent three days at Pinewood Studios in June 2011 filming a cameo appearance for the upcoming Tim Burton film Dark Shadows...

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