Sad news. With the publicity campaign for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s spoof of Dark Shadows kicking into gear, the original Barnabas Collins, Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, has passed away.
Barnabas Collins was a TV sensation, brought onto Dan Curtis’ failing daily soap opera Dark Shadows in 1967.* The introduction of this fantastic element was an instant smash, and the show went on to feature a parade of outre elements, including witches, werewolves and time travel.
Barnabas reached nearly Fonzie-esque levels of popularity. As a kid I myself had the paperback joke book Barnabas Collins in a Funny Vein, one of an entire line–over 30 books–of generally more serious paperback novels inspired by the program. There were also the inevitable comic books, etc. Today’s ubernerds, meanwhile, can purchase pricey reproductions of Barnabas’ trademark ring and wolf-headed cane, as seen in the photo above.
[*The show became popular enough that writer/director/producer Dan Curtis become television’s seller of the macabre in the ’70s. Sadly, his two greatest co-creations, Carl Kolchak and Barnabas Collins, never met onscreen. In fanfic…I’d imagine quite often. Fans of Mr. Curtis’ work should seek out the indepth tome The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis, which covers the pre-Depp Dark Shadows ground pretty thoroughly.]Mr. Frid’s Barnabas was a key transitional figure in the (generally downhill) evolution of vampires. Barnabas fell fully into the cape-wearing gothic tradition, but also popularized the idea of the vampire as a tragic romantic figure. It’s the tension between these two poles that apparently Depp’s version of the character seeks to find humor in. Even so, Barnabas was so indelible that he became a rare vampire character to be played by three pretty fine actors, Mr. Frid, Mr. Depp, and in between, Ben Cross in Dan Curtis’ failed attempt to revive the series as a prime time series in the early ’90s. It wasn’t bad, though.
Collin’s run on the soap ran four years, but remember, it ran live five times a week, so there are a 1,000 plus such episodes. Mr. Frid played Barnabas in the silver screen recap House of Dark Shadows, although his character was missing from the second (and unsurprisingly, final) such film, Night of Dark Shadows.
Perhaps tiring of the strains of fame (or of only getting offered horror fare), Mr. Frid seldom worked in electronic media past that, appearing in the TV movie The Devil’s Daughter (1973) and starring in the early Oliver Stone horror flick Seizure (1974). That’s it, although apparently he filmed a small role for Tim Burton’s upcoming film. Mr. Burton is well known for including short but meaty and loving cameos for such horror icons as Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.
Mr. Frid was 87.
UPDATE: Here’s the game Ericb alluded to below.
