Dark Shadows

[Broderick]

While the Adam storyline was fairly wretched, Dr. Lang was definitely one of the "highlights" of the show.  Even when he wasn't sabotaging his own tape recorder, he managed to bluster through the entire ordeal with the most awkward, unintentionally comic presence of any actor who ever appeared on the show.   There were times when he even appeared to be attempting to out-vamp Grayson Hall.  

[Vee]

@DRW50

 

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. That felt more like a PR exercise for David than anything else, but it's nice to hear how he is doing.

[te.]

Well, he hasn't acted in 50 years, so he probably just does these interviews to promote his business / keep some contact with other cast members. 

[DRW50]

 

Oh I know...it's just when we got to parts like, "Some say he's a recluse, but look at these selfies!" that I started to wonder if we'd walked into a parodic exercise.

[te.]

 

lol, to be fair he says specifically that he's not a reclusive and obviously never was - he just left the business in his teens. It's funny that people think that moving away from showbusiness means that you've obviously had a meltdown and spending rest of your life shunning strangers.

[DramatistDreamer]

Did everyone see the trailer for the Frid documentary?

 

[DRW50]

 

Thanks @DramatistDreamer sounds worth checking out.

[DramatistDreamer]

It does, doesn't it? You're welcome.

[applcin]

I'm watching the series for the first time and am currently up to the 1795 story, where Barnabas is set to marry Angelique and Naomi has just gifted them the old house. Something that's had me curious is why, when they kill off characters and then have them come back as ghosts, they use different actors to be the ghosts? I mean Dave Woodard and Jeremiah Collins; in the latter case, they actually used 2 actors, one to be the zombie and one to speak for him. Why didn't they just continue to use Anthony George? Did he become unavailable or was it cheaper the other way?

[Broderick]

I think Anthony George had probably moved on to a new job by the time Jeremiah Collins popped out of the ground. 

It's hard to say fifty years after the fact what the schedules/availability of the actors might've been; all we can do is try to piece it together. 

As you know, Anthony George's Burke Devlin character was last seen leaving for a business trip to Brazil in mid-October of 1967.  That appeared to be Anthony George's final episode.   Five or six weeks passed with no sign that Anthony George was still employed by Dark Shadows.  Then in late November of 1967, Victoria Winters went back in time to 1795, and lo and behold, there was Anthony George, dressed like a lounge lizard, calling himself Jeremiah Collins, and building a new house for the Collins family.  Three weeks later, Jeremiah Collins was dead, and Anthony George was gone forever.  

My GUESS is that Anthony George left the show "for good" in October of 1967, and the Burke Devlin character was killed off.  But Anthony George had previously played Jeremiah at the famous "claret cup costume party" hosted by Barnabas Collins in in the Old House.  I expect Dan Curtis placed a frantic phone call to Anthony George and said, "Hey, sport, can you come back in late November and early December to play Jeremiah Collins for two or three weeks, since the audience already identifies you with the Jeremiah character?"  Anthony George must've said, "Yeah, I'll do it, but I want to get in and out of there pretty fast, because I've got another job.  Can't stick around too long this time, Dan!"  (You'll notice that the Jeremiah Collins storyline is VERY RUSHED, to say the least.  It goes at 90 miles per hour.  He's like, "Hi, Josette.  I'm Jeremiah.  I think I'm in love with you!  Wow, look, we've both got the mark of the Devil on our wrists!  A duel?  Sure, Barnabas, I'll fight you in a duel!  Oh, gosh, I'm dying.  Good-bye, everyone!"  It appears that particular section of the 1795 storyline was handled extremely quickly to work around Anthony George's schedule and get him on out the door as quickly as possible, since he evidently already had another job.    

You'll see this a LOT on Dark Shadows.  I'm sure you probably thought Thayer David was gone for good after Matthew Morgan fell over dead in 1966.  But a solid year later, Thayer David reappeared out of nowhere as Ben Stokes.   Was the actor suddenly available again, or was he somehow kept on contract for a solid YEAR with no appearances?  Who knows. 

At one point, it appears that John Karlen had left the show forever, and Willie Loomis is shipped off to the looney bin.  But six months later, after the 1795 sequence is completed, John Karlen returns to his role (Willie Loomis), just completely out of the blue.  Barnabas Collins suddenly announces one day, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Willie Loomis came back.  Let's go see if he's ready to return.  In fact, let's go right this very second.  Hi, Willie.  Welcome back1"  After all these years, it's hard to know what was going on behind the scenes that led to these strange comings/goings, but you'll see PLENTY of it throughout the series.  

Edited July 11, 2021 by Broderick

[Vee]

I'm not sure what contracts even looked like for DS. But no, Zombie Jeremiah was not Anthony George. They had him under bandages and makeup so therefore there was no reason to get the actor and not some stuntman.

[DRW50]

I imagine many DS actors wove in and out based on theater work. I think that's one of the reasons why Louis Edmonds began appearing so sporadically in his last year on the show.  There are others I sometimes wonder about being on some sort of standby - I know John Karlen jumped in to play the 1840 role originally meant for Roger Davis (thank goodness for that...).

Edited July 11, 2021 by DRW50

[jam6242]

When Robert Gerringer was replaced as Woodard, there was a strike going on against ABC by members of the union for the technical crew.  Gerringer refused to cross the picket line.

[applcin]

Yes, I knew about that. But I was under the impression that the 3rd actor to play him (Peter Turgeon?) alive didn't play him as a ghost but I think I'm mistaken in that. Still, with Jeremiah, it was a bit jarring. I figured, when they had him laid up with his face bandaged, that it was no longer AG and I was like, he got shot in the face???

Thanks for the responses everybody. I did a fair amount of DS binging this weekend and I think I'm nearing the finish line of the 1795 story...Trask has just shown Forbes the dead Maud in his room. I'm ready for this period to be over and to return to the present soon. It's been a little too drawn out, I think.

As for Thayer David, yes his re-appearance was a surprise to me but, I must say, I'm enjoying him more so this time around as Ben. I also never realized he was the fight promotor in Rocky but, then again, I didn't know who he was til I started watching DS. He looked different "cleaned up", lol. I looked him up on imdb and I think I've probably seen him in other primetime guest spots.

I do imagine, with this having been a NYC-based show, and so many of the actors disappearing for extended periods, that they were accommodated for other jobs, theater work, etc. Even the way the show is acted and produced is very theater-like and it's been interesting to notice which actors have done better than others with dialogue, less obvious reading of the cards, looking at the camera and so forth. 

I guess the present-day Collins' descendants came from Millicent and/or Daniel, since Naomi & Joshua's kids are both dead.

I did watch the 1991 tv revival, my first experience with DS, and I have some vague memories of it, particularly now associating the latter-day actors with their 1960s counterparts. I also remember that show's finale when Victoria returned from 1795 with certain knowledge and am kind of curious to see how it plays out with the original, particularly as it won't be a finale. Unfortunately, the revamp never got the chance to play out the ramifications of Vicky's "trip." I am kind of curious if there might be a dream element to it, mostly because I'm wondering if the "you look exactly like so and so" aspect with the entire family will come into play, or whether the viewers were basically just supposed to ignore it and take it as the show having a small cast and reusing actors...although they did the same thing in the 1991 version.

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by applcin