Jonathan Frid - Barnabas on 'Dark Shadows'-is dead
The soap world's favorite vampire passes at 87
Jonathan Frid – Barnabas on ‘Dark Shadows’—is dead
David Hiltbrand, Inquirer TV Critic
Jonathan Frid, a distinguished stage actor who enjoyed his greatest success in a campy soap opera, passed away this week.
Frid, a Canadian native with an MFA from Yale University, zoomed to fame as Barnabas Collins, the vampire on the afternoon soap opera Dark Shadows which was a sensation in the late ‘60s. Here is a scene from 1967, the year Frid joined, and took over the show.
Barnabas was freed from the crypt where he had been held chained for two centuries and returned to his ancestral home, Collinwood. The show has been remade in comedic fashion into a film with Johnny Depp in the Barnabas role. Here is a trailer for the movie which hits theaters next month.
Frid never quite escaped the dark shadows, attending fan conventions for many decades. He died of natural causes in his native Ontario at the age of 87.
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I remember running home to see Dark Shadows, getting beat up by neighborhood bully, beaten to a pulp and then watching Dark Shadows through my one eye that was partially open.— neddyflanders- Jonathan Frid was a teen heartthrob in those days. He was on every cover of every teenage girl magazine. You couldn't pass a magazine rack without seeing his fangs.— Bob1
- Just checking back to see the comments/tributes, and the above comment, referencing viewing "Dark Shadows" with one eye, brings back a memory. My friend and I, as well, used to rush home from school to see the show. When we became "frightened", we would each grab a sofa pillow from my couch, and "watch" the show through the fringes, like a filter! True story! Again, rest in peace, Mr. Frid. You did, indeed, give joy to so many. Happiness, now, on "the other side."— fineprintJK1
- Another part of my childhood has gone....— jonc
