
"I
didn't realize the part was a witch. I thought it was a simple little
lady's maid who had been jilted by the master of the house. Jonathan
told me she was a witch and I turned a stared into the camera...and
put a spell on the lens." -- Lara Parker, on
her audition for the role of Angelique
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Lara
Parker
Dark
Shadows Characters:
Angelique,
Cassandra Blair Collins, Valerie Collins, Alexis Stokes, Catherine
Harridge, Miranda Duval
Appeared
in: 269 episodes
First
episode: # 368, November 22, 1967
Last
episode: # 1245, April 2, 1971
Born:
Mary Lamar Rickey, Knoxville, Tennessee; October 27, 1945
Biography:
Lara Parker was a housewife and mom living in a farmhouse in
Wisconsin in the mid-1960s, but she knew she wanted more. She had
married Tom Parker while still attending college at Vassar, and
soon had two sons. But she had a long-cherished dream of being an
actress.
"Because
I was at home with the children not doing what I wanted, I began
to resent my marriage," she told TV Radio Show magazine
in 1970. "The thought of waking up every morning to do the
dishes, clean the house, and cook stew was just not enough for me."
Lara
had found her calling years earlier. "I decided to become an
actress when I was 9," she told me when I interviewed her in
2000. "I realized I couldn't sing or dance so, I thought, I
didn't need any special talents to act so that's what I would be.
I was very shy, but I was aggressive about getting in little plays,
or on the radio. I was doing radio dramas at 10 years old (it paid
five dollars!) and I was working in the Front Street Theater in
Memphis at 15. But I did very small roles. Not having any talent
was a problem. I continued to work in small theaters and then in
college theater and summer stock. At graduate school at the University
of Iowa I did a few leading roles and I was the leading lady at
summer stock theaters in Wisconsin and Connecticut."
Playing
leading parts in community theater helped her find fulfillment,
but at the same time it made her yearn for more. While appearing
in summer stock in Pennsylvania in 1967, she decided to try her
luck in New York. Within two weeks Lara had an agent and an audition
for the prime role of the evil witch Angelique on Dark Shadows.
"The
audition was on camera with Jonathan Frid," she said. "I
didn't realize the part was a witch. I thought it was a simple little
lady's maid who had been jilted by the master of the house. Jonathan
told me she was a witch and I turned a stared into the camera. I
thought to myself, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' Then
I zapped the camera with my eyes and put a spell on the lens."
It
worked. She got the part, and her husband and sons joined her in
the city.
Lara
remained a devoted mom. "I don't believe that I've been selfish
in pursuing a career," she said in 1970. "I believe that
my children are better for it. I can give them more materialistically
because I work. But even more important, because I am content I
do not take out my frustrations and resentment on them. They are
also growing up with a sense of independence."
While
on Dark Shadows, Lara starred on Broadway in Woman Is
My Idea and off-Broadway in Lulu and A Gun
Play. In 1970 she made her movie debut in Brian Depalma's Hi,
Mom! (1970) starring Robert Deniro. The next year she played
Angelique in Night of Dark Shadows.
Lara
went to Los Angeles in 1972 to appear in the film Save The
Tiger, starring Jack Lemon. She played a prostitute who gets
a client so excited he ends up in the hospital. She loved L.A.,
so she moved to California later that year.
Throughout
the '70s and '80s she guest-starred in numerous prime time shows
including Hawaii 5-0, Switch, Alice, Highway
to Heaven and Kung Fu. She also continued to work on
stage.
In
the 1975 film Race with the Devil she played one of four
people in a motor home being pursued across country by Satan worshipers.
She was also in the 1982 film Foxfire Light.
She
had a leading role in the 1981 dramatic series Jessica Novak,
and from 1985 to '86 she played Linda on the CBS soap opera Capitol.
In
the late 1980s, Lara and her second husband, Jim Hawkins, a contractor
and builder, adopted a daughter.
In
the 1990s, Lara turned her focus to writing. She took screenwriting
courses at UCLA and completed several scripts. Though none of her
screenplays have yet been produced, she wrote and directed two musical
productions at her daughter's elementary school. She also wrote
a successful novel that was published by HarperCollins in 1998.
Her Angelique's Descent, fleshes out her DS character's
origins. The sequel, Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch, is scheduled for a 2006 release.
Asked
what she'd pick if she were forced to chose between acting and writing,
Lara replied, "I would like to continue writing for the rest
of my life. Acting is too unpredictable; it's too hard to get jobs.
Also it requires a hungry ego and an audience. Writing can be a
solitary pursuit and it is always rewarding."
Career
Highlights:
DAYTIME
TV: Capitol
(Linda, 1986-88), One Life to Live, Divorce Court (2 episodes: 1988),
The Judge, The Doctors.
PRIMETIME
TV: Highway to Heaven (1987), The Highwayman (1988), Remington
Steele (1983), A New Day In Eden (Laura, 1982-83), The Fall Guy
(1982), Jessica Novak (Katie, 1981), Barnaby Jones (Christine Leonox,
1980), Hawaii Five-O (Angie Walker, 1980), Hagen (Gloria, 1980),
Galactica 1980 (Shirley, 1980), Stranded (Crystal Norton, pilot),
SWAT (Susan Barnes, 1979), Incredible Hulk (Laura, 1978, pilot),
Baretta (Trudy, 1978), Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (Evelyn, 1978),
Switch (Tanya Mason, 1978), Hawaii Five-O (Julie Kincaid Trahune,
1978), Quincy (Angie, 1977), Switch (Shirley Harris, 1977), Doctors'
Hospital (Angela Stone, 1976), Jigsaw John (1976), Alice (Mrs. Randolph,
1976), City of Angels (Eunice Wheeler, 1976), Kojak (Jenny Villers,
1976), Charlie's Angels, Kate Loves A Mystery, Police Woman (Charlene,
1975), Rockford Files (2 episodes: 1974, 1975), This is the Life,
Mobile One (Karen), Lucas Tanner, Medical Center (1974), Six Million
Dollar Man (Andrea Collins, 1974), The Night Stalker (Madeline),
Owen Marshall, Counselor At Law (1973), Kung Fu (1973), The FBI
(1973), Emergency, N.Y.P.D. (1968), Kojak (2 episodes), Quincy (2
episodes), Switch (3 episodes, Esther Kelly), Sword of Justice,
Tonight Show (3; 1968, 1969, 1970).
TV
FILMS: People Like Us (1990, mini-series), China Lake Murders
(1989), Rooster (Janet, 1982), Once Upon A Family (Maggie Conway,
1980), Desperate Voyage (Grace Dortlund, 1980), The Lazarus Syndrome
(Shirley Harris, 1980), Sex and the Single Parent (1979), The Incredible
Hulk (Laura Banner, 1977, pilot), Washington: Behind Closed Doors
(Wanda Elliot, 1977), The Solitary Man (Lisa Tobin, 1979), The Chadwick
Family (Eileen Chadwick Hawthorne, 1974), Adventures of the Queen
(Barbara, 1975), All My Darling Daughters' Anniversary (Charlotte,
1973).
TV
COMMERCIALS: Prell, Canada Dry, Life Stride Shoes, Duncan Hines,
Polaroid, Wink, TWA, Gold Medal Flour, Crisco, Body Builder, Whirlpool,
Peaches 'n Cream.
SCREEN:
Foxfire Light (1983), Race With the Devil (Kelly, 1975), Airport
1975 (Stewardess, 1975), Save the Tiger (Margo, 1973), Night of
Dark Shadows (Angelique, 1971), Hi Mom! (1970).
THEATER:
The Ninety-Day Mistress (Leona,1978, Jacksonville, FL), A Gun
Play (Lita, 1972, NYC), Lulu (Lulu, 1969, NYC), Lion in Winter (Alais,
Atlanta), Star Spangled Girl (Sophie, Michigan), Come Blow Your
Horn (Connie, Memphis), Othello (Bianca, Memphis), Roberta (Sophie,
Memphis), A Scrap of Paper (Suzanne), Caprices of Marianne (Marianne),
Legend of Lovers (Euridice), Bury the Dead (Joan Levy), Puntilla
and His Hired Man (Eva), The Master Builder (Hilda), The Cherry
Orchard (Anya), No Exit (Estelle), The Lark (Joan), Le Malentendu
(Maria), The Flies (Electra), Pygmalion (Clara), Guys and Dolls
(chorus), Alice in Wonderland (Cheshire Cat), Kind Lady.
STOCK:
Pennsylvania: The Glass Menagerie, Philadelphia Story (Tracy), Never
Too Late (Edith), Dark of the Moon (Barbara Allen), Take Her She's
Mine (Mother), See How They Run (Penelope). Missouri: The Importance
of Being Earnest (Gwendolyn), The Admirable Crichton (Mary), She
Stoops to Conquer (Neville), The Imaginary Invalid (Angelique),
The Lady's Not for Burning (Jennet), Antigone (Antigone). Wisconsin:
Period of Adjustment (Isabel), Wonderful Town (Eileen), All the
Way Home (Mary), A Shot in the Dark (Josepha), A Taste of Honey
(Jo), The Mouse Trap (Mollie).
BROADWAY:
Woman Is My Idea (Emily Wendridge, 1968).
Read
more about Lara's Broadway appearance in Woman is My Idea.
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