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Part Two:
A Vampire
Changes Everything
 Forty-two-year-old Canadian stage actor Jonathan Frid
(pictured left) was an unlikely choice as a soap opera leading
man. In fact, Dan Curtis didn't think Barnabas would stick around
long enough to matter. With any luck, the producer hoped, the
presence of a vampire would draw some attention, and in a few
weeks he could be staked so things could move on, like they would
on a "normal" soap opera. In his wildest dreams, Dan
didn't imagine just how much attention Barnabas would attract.
Jonathan Frid's career had mostly taken place on stage. Though
he'd appeared briefly on TV in As The World Turns, he was
uneasy about acting on the daily serial Dark Shadows.
The actor's on-camera fear -- which
never totally evaporated -- gave Barnabas a sympathetic edge.
Jonathan was uncertain of his lines and where he should be on
the set, so Barnabas seemed to wish he didn't have to skulk around
Collinwood drinking blood.
 Every
"Dracula" needs his "Van Helsing," so Grayson
Hall (pictured right) was brought on to the show in June 1967,
as Julia Hoffman, a doctor whose mission was supposed to be the
vampire's destruction. Instead, as her story developed, Julia
fell in love with Barnabas, providing an unexpected twist.
"I get jealous as hell because
he bites young girls in the neck but refuses to bite me,"
Grayson told The Saturday Evening Post. "Middle-aged
housewives are always sending me letters saying they understand
the situation perfectly."
Like all of the actors on the show,
Grayson was directed to play her lines to the hilt -- as if she
was on stage instead of just a few feet from the camera. This
led to a heightened sense of reality, and at times added a camp
element to the portrayals.
The vampire story line was enormously
popular. Ratings climbed. The actors were deluged with fan mail,
and as they left the studio each day, they were mobbed by kids
seeking pictures and autographs. Barnabas' staking was postponed,
and Jonathan became a permanent part of the cast.
Back
in Time
A flashback is a common literary device in soap operas. Brief
scenes are used to show an event that took place in the past.
But when the time came to explain how Barnabas had evolved into
a blood-sucker, the DS writers expanded on this concept.
At a seance, Victoria Winters was drawn back into the past, where
she met the pre-vampire Barnabas. The storyline, set in 1795,
lasted for five months, and gave the cast members an opportunity
to play other roles -- their present-day characters' ancestors.
During this period, Lara Parker joined the ensemble
as Angelique, the scorned woman who cursed Barnabas with vampirism.
"I was just a young, naive actress who wanted to play the
lead," Lara later told People magazine. "I had
to be the princess. I wanted to cry when things went wrong. They
kept pulling me aside and saying, "Honey, you're the heavy.
Don't cry. Think vicious." Lara's evil-flavored performance
added to the supernatural tone of the 1795 flashback, and she
became a fan favorite. Angelique returned from the past with Victoria,
and the immensely popular actress remained on the show for the
remainder of its run.
In response to the frenzy of public
interest drummed up by his performance, Jonathan Frid found himself
appearing in almost every episode of Dark Shadows for a
while. This, coupled with promotional appearances, started taking
its toll on the actor.
In July 1968, he told TV Guide
about the hectic pace of his life. "I'm so busy," he
said between sips of a martini, "I haven't time to pick up
my laundry. I find myself wearing bathing suits for underwear."
Besides losing his free time, Jonathan
had to give up a great deal of his treasured privacy. He was subjected
to numerous interviews and photoshoots. For a photo essay for
Flip magazine in 1969, he even had to put up with a photographer
looking over his shoulder while he lathered up his face and shaved.
A clue to how such things made him feel: In 1970, 45-year-old
Frid told Women's Wear Daily, "I always feel like
an ass being a teenage idol in a teeny-bopper magazine."
Jonathan told The New York Times
that he changed his vacation plans in order to find some anonymity:
"I went to Mexico rather than Hawaii when I realized that
our show is on prime time in the islands."
It's understandable that Jonathan
needed a vacation. Life on the set was stressful. But by all accounts
it was also a fun, family-like environment.
NEXT:
Life
on the Set 
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Dark Shadows Online © 2004 Craig Hamrick |
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