In the film Night of Dark Shadows Thayer's Reverend Strack torments the adulterous Angelique.

Thayer David
Dark Shadows Characters: Matthew Morgan, Ben Stokes, Professor T.E. Stokes, Sandor, Count Petofi, Timothy Stokes, Mordecai Grimes)

Appeared in: 224 episodes

First episode: # 38, August 17, 1966

Last episode: # 1245, April 2, 1971

Biography
Exposure to radio drama propelled Thayer David into the acting field. He told Daytime TV magazine: "When I was 13, I listened to Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre shows on radio, and I was utterly fascinated. Form then on, my interest in theater was consistent."

Heavyset with a distinctive, raspy voice, Thayer had an impressive career as a character actor. He followed early New York stage success with appearances in a variety of TV shows, including Kojak, The Rockford Files and Charlie's Angels; and movies, including Save The Tiger (also starring Lara Parker), Rocky (1976), and House Calls (1978)

Thayer was the second casting of Collinwood handyman Matthew Morgan, joining the show on its 38th episode and remaining part of the core cast (in several roles) until its last. He embodied several of the series' more colorful characters, including Count Petofi, a villain heartbroken by the loss of his unicorn; and Sandor, a gypsy matching wife Magda (Grayson Hall)'s fiery temper.

For an article in Soap Opera Digest in 1977, Grayson Hall said, "I loved Thayer David. He is one of the brightest people in the world. He has read everything and he also collects antiques."

In House of Dark Shadows Thayer played Professor Stokes, who taunts Julia Hoffman for falling in love with a vampire, and in Night of Dark Shadows his Reverend Strack torments the adulterous Angelique.

Thayer married actress Valerie French while he was starring on Dark Shadows. She had been a featured actress on the soap The Nurses in 1966. (The Nurses aired immediately prior to Dark Shadows until it was canceled in 1967 and DS took over its time slot.)

The couple divorced, but in a 1981 New York Times article, French said she was still recovering from Thayer's 1978 death and that they had been planning to remarry. French died 12 years later, in 1990, of leukemia

 

Career Highlights:

PRIMETIME TV: Hawaii Five-O (Doyle Weston, 1977), Hardy Boys (Goldman, 1977), Petrocelli (MacIver, 1977), Columbo (clerk, 1976), Switch (Paul Berryman, 1976), Kojak (Tyrone, 1975), Invisible Man (Jack Pierson), Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels (Meeker), Rockford Files (Carl Birrell), The Wild, Wild West (2 episodes), Dead of Night (1969, pilot), Xerox Special: The Crucible (1967), Hallmark Hall of Fame: Lamp at Midnight (Magini, 1966), The Three Musketeers (DeTreville, 1960). TV FILMS: Washington: Behind Closed Doors (J. Edgar Hoover, 1978 miniseries), Nero Wolfe (Nero Wolfe, 1978 pilot), Missiles of October (1977), The Amazing Spider-Man (Edward Byron, 1977), The Amazing Howard Hughes (Floyd Odlum, 1977), Roots (Harlen, 1977, miniseries), The Rhinemann Exchange (industrialist, 1977), Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (Premier Kruschchev, 1976), The Secret Night Caller (Mr. Henry, 1975). TV COMMERCIALS: Alka-Seltzer, Dunkin Donuts, True Cigarettes (voice-over), Baker's Coconut (voice-over), Progresso Italian Foods (voice-over), Aunt Jemima (voice-over), Mohawk Carpets (voice-over), Flying A Gasoline (voice-over), Mississippi Queen (voice-over). SCREEN: The Eiger Sanction (Dragon, 1979), Rocky II (1979), Fun with Dick and Jane (Deacon, 1977), Rocky (Jergens, 1976), Hearts of the West (1975), House Calls (Phil Pogoston, 1978), Sudden Death, Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (Mormon Widdicombe, 1976), Peeper, aka Fat Chance (Frank Prendergast, 1975), Save the Tiger (Charles Robbins, 1973), Savages (1971), Night of Dark Shadows (Reverend Strak, 1971), House of Dark Shadows (T.E. Stokes, 1970), Little Big Man (Reverend, 1970), The Story of Ruth, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Wolf Larsen (1958), A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), The Sea Wolf (cook, 1957), Baby Face Nelson (1957). THEATER: The Days of Pavlov (1973-74), The Jockey Club Stakes (Sir Dynock Blackburn, Q.C. (1972-73), Uncle Vanya (Professor Serebryakov, 1970-71), The Nuns (1970), The Bench (1968), The Sorrows of Frederick (1967-68), Those That Play the Clowns (Henning, 1966-67), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Miquel Estete, 1965-66), The Seagull (1964), The Crucible (1964), Andorra (the Sacristan, 1962-63), Troilus and Cressida (Ajax, 1961-62, American Shakespeare Festival), The Golden Six (Tiberius, 1958, NY), Oscar Wilde (1957), Mister Johnson (1956), Henry V (1956), Saint Joan (1956), Protective Custody (1956), The Carefree Tree (1955), Henry IV Part I (1955), Othello (1955), Moby Dick (1955), The White Devil (1955), The Way of the World (1954), Breakfast at Tiffany's (Rusty Trawler), LaBelle (Gamemnon), A Man for All Seasons, The Taming of the Shrew (1951), The Relapse (1950), Baker Street. MISC: RECORD LP: Voice of the Kingpin on Buddha Records Spiderman album.

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