Dark Shadows' Jonathan Frid (Barnabas) dies (movies, hollywood, Family, Johnny Depp)

[DanielAvery]

Regarding original DS: Did they broadcast live?

It wasn't -- although they rarely did retakes

They did what was called "live to tape", where the actors performed as if it were going out live, but it was in fact taped because they often had to add in special effects. Still, it wasn't like today where it's taped a month ahead; often, they did the live-to-tape performance and it was on the air the next day. The only time they re-shot anything was if there was some catastrophic problem on set (a light falls, or the tape breaks, etc.) or if one of the actors uttered an obscenity during the performance. The obscenity card was actually played by some actors when they really tanked a scene and purposely wanted to re-do it. Anyone who watched a single episode could tell that minor problems like microphone shadows or a wobbling wall was not enough for them to re-shoot--it went into the final cut. This gives the idea that the show was done live, but if they HAD done it live, we would not have the DVDs to watch, since Dan Curtis saved those tapes.

[crazyworld]

WOW I have aged if he was 87. I used to hurry up and get home from high school just to watch that show at 4PM.

Thanks for the good memories Barnabus!

[tamiznluv]

Originally Posted by kygman

I read that Frid has a cameo role in the new movie. Was his last acting role.

I had forgotten I heard that! Oh joy, we get to see the real Barnabus again!

[jfkIII]

I used to hate the Friday episode...they'd ALWAYS leave you with this major cliffhanger (in true soap opera fashion!)

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Maybe one of the oldies stations will start showing reruns if the tape/film/kinescope or whatever it was recorded on still exists.

The entire series is available on DVD.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

A fellow Dark Shadows fan sent this to me this morning:

Jonathan Frid, played Barnabas Collins on 'Dark Shadows,' dead at 87 | masslive.com

He made the show what it was, and for the past 40 years since the show went off the air has interacted with fans in the most gracious manner. He will be missed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I hadn't heard this. Wow. I ran home from school to watch this when I was a kid. Years later--1999 to be exact--I took some family leave time to care for my elderly grandmother while my mother recuperated from surgery. Nana would fall asleep again around 11 a.m., and I found that the Sci-Fi channel was running two episodes of Dark Shadows beginning at that time every day. I ended up taping the show when I went back to work!

"How are you tonight, Mr. Collins?"

"Restless."

I hope Jonathan Frid rests in peace...but maybe not...

To all of you young'uns out there who grew up on Anne Rice and Stephenie Meyer and all the other movie and TV vampires--none of them could hold a stake to Barnabas Collins!

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

none of them could hold a stake to Barnabas Collins!

Let's certainly hope not!

[Ohiogirl81]

Here's a link to a nice story about Jonathan Frid, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Jonathan Frid transformed the vampire | cleveland.com

[WannaliveinGreenville]

Dark Shadows: Angelique curses Barnabas - YouTube

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler

I think we all did.




I wanted to live in that house.

It's in Newport, R.I.