Jonathan Frid Dead!

[JoanBennett]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 8:21am

Jonathan Frid Dead at 87; Barnabas Collins on DARK SHADOWS

But, he'll come back for the new movie, right?

(and of course he died on Friday the 13th)

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2012/04/jonathanfrid.html?spref=fb

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 10:09am

This is very depressing. My partner and I have watched 400+ episodes of "Dark Shadows" so far and we will continue through to the end. Jonathan Frid was such an amazing presence as Barnabus Collins and he will be sorely missed. I recently received the Limited Edition Dark Shadows Coffin with the entire series on DVD. Included in it was a postcard autographed by Jonathan Frid, which I will now treasure forever. Looking forward to seeing his cameo in the upcoming movie. Thanks for the memories and RIP.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:05am

I just heard about this. He was such a part of my childhood love for horror and television.

... or is that the horror of television?

I haven't seen it mentioned on any of the major news sites, and it was last Friday. I think the media is downplaying this, right before the release of the film, which has a decidedly comedic tone. This puts a somber spin on it for avid fans of the old series.

He was truly an icon, back in the day.

I'm so jealous you have that box set, Trace! I thought about ordering it when Amazon had it on special for one day only, but I ultimately passed on it. I don't think I could sit through the whole thing ... but I remember it very fondly from early childhood, and it scared the crap out of me back then ... but I was 4 or 5 years old.

Keep an eye out for Donna McKechnie, who was a regular briefly.

Updated On: 4/19/12 at 11:05 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:21am

Yes, the box set is incredible. My partner preordered it for me for my 30th birthday present, and we just got it in the mail last Tuesday.

We have been watching the series for over a year now (via Netflix) and are up to November 1968. Still have over two years of episodes to go, but we are loving every second of it. The next few episodes we watch will be extra special, knowing that Jonathan Frid has now passed on.

We haven't gotten to the Donna McKechnie episodes yet...she started on the show in August 1969, so we have nearly a year of episodes to get through before she is introduced.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:25am

Awwwww just got notice for the luncheon at "Collingwood" The house they used for the exterior shots at the Lyndhurst Estate up near Tarrytown. He was supposed to be a quest speaker...

Rest in peace Mr Frid and thank-you for all the wonderful neck biting memories!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:38am

Yes, I got that notice in the mail yesterday. Was about to mail in my $40 check for the luncheon until I heard the sad news today.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 12:00pm

Me too, I missed meeting him at the convention I went to last year here in Brooklyn.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 2:31pm

Very sad. I have the box set too and I admit I watch in fits and starts--it can be easy to overdose on (I also have some 300 or 400 episodes of Peyton Place which is such a different 60s soap that I kinda rotate them). He was iconic, sometimes for bad (everyone, including himself, says Barnabas was quickly made a more sympathetic vampire due to the fact he was often looking longingly off into the distance--because he had trouble reading the teleprompter), but has always had a great reputation as a generous man to work with.

This makes me even less interested in the movie for some reason.

Posted: 4/19/12 at 2:33pm

I assume seeing the preview for the DS movie killed him. I wasn't even a big fan and it made me sick to my stomach.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 3:02pm

I think that if the movie had tried to be an exact replica of the original (in tone) the hardcore fans would have hated it. I admire this fresh, different and more campy approach to the movie, and am looking forward to seeing it.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 3:09pm

We will see what the Die Hard Fans think of (what looks to me to be from the trailer) a crapfest.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 3:13pm

At least we know what kind of movie to expect going into it now...I'm sure it will get panned and die a painful death at the box office, but I think it will at least be fun for a laugh.

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 3:26pm

Sad news indeed that another of my childhood television icons has passed; RIP the one and only Barnabas Collins!

So many wonderful memories for me of watching Jonathan daily and then finally seeing him perform live in "Arsenic and Old Lace" during the U.S. tour. He was perfectly cast :)

I originally ordered the boxed "Dark Shadows" set but then canceled which I now regret, but just discovered that because the original set sold out they're now doing a re-order without the postcard and collector's book to be released in July at the previously low price of $419.99.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Complete-Original-Edition/dp/B007PZ6SYK/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1334863415&sr=1-1

Just ordered it and won't cancel this time!

[JMPlayer6]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 3:45pm

Sad news.

I am of "that age" age to have watched "Dark Shadows" when it was on ABC. My best friend at the time was a huge fan and tried to get me to watch it several times. Finally I did and got hooked. Later my family moved and the local ABC station in my new home aired the show at 10am instead, so I missed a lot of the final episodes. A few years back, I caught wind that the SciFi channel (as it was called then) was airing the show and I started watching it, picking it up mid-stream and watching it to the end and then, when the channel re-cycled the episodes, from the beginning again, at which point I stopped watching when it got to the point at which I had started. Great memories!

As for the upcoming movie: I have seen the previews, and expect that diehard fans will be up in arms over it. I do intend to see it though.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 4:52pm

Any Dark Shadow fan (over the age of 12 when they watched) who didn't say the campiness was part of the appeal would be a liar, IMHO. But Burton's approach (based on the trailers and test screening reviews--people who don't know the show actually largely seemed to at least kinda like it) is forced camp, which IMHO never works. And it's not clever--two reviews on Aint-it-cool (and they used this as a good thing) called it Austin Powers with vampires. This stuff has been done. And if I'm gonna be really anal I could point out setting it in 1972, while a homage to the end of the show, seems odd when it has disco jokes, and other anachronisms.

Ideally I would like a slightly campy, but more serious take on it. The early 90s remake actually is actually pretty good-- At thispoint I don't get why he didn't make up his own characters--as you mention many DS fans won't like it on principal, and honestly most of the people I know (I'm in my early 30s) have never even HEARD the name Dark Shadows.

Anyway, this isn't the thread for that, sorry to rant. RIP Frid

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 6:08pm

WF, just ordered the collection from Amazon myself! I love all the times when the sound man on the mic boom is caught in camera! Going to be a hoot!

Forced Camp is right Eric. I despise movies where they are constantly winking at the camera. "Are we Camp? Aren't we outrageous?"

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 6:33pm

Intentional camp can work, but I agree it doesn't very often. It's not to be confused with satire either.

I think the first Brady Bunch Movie worked well, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Still think it's pretty damn funny. But then came a bunch of rip-offs ...

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 7:01pm

Actually I really enjoyed the first Brady Bunch movie. And I liked the first Austin Powers too, at the time, though I was a teen and am not sure I would now... Not quite the same but I liked the Adams Family adaptations too--but this seems something different all together. Who knows, I'll probably end up seeing it and maybe I'll love it. But I am pretty disappointed by the reviews and trailers.

In more exciting news, to fans anyway, the original two movies (which take the Barnabas arc in the first one, and then Quentin arc--which was my favorite, give me dreamy David Selby as a cursed werewolf over Barnabas any day--for the second) are finally being released later this year. WB, who I believe are doing the new movie, owned the rights, and while they show up on late night TCM fairly often (they're surprisingly gory and much more pure horror), they obviously waited for the new movie before releasing them.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 7:07pm

I had such a crush on David Selby as Quentin! He was the fantasy that sponsored many an after lights out spank fest! LOL! I was so glad I got to meet him last year.

Can't wait to see these movies, I have never seen them!

Updated On: 4/20/12 at 07:07 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 7:19pm

Eric, I recently watched Night of Dark Shadows on TCM, and you're right, it's gorier than I remembered.

Strange as it sounds, I saw House of Dark Shadows in the movie theatre as a kid, and they gave out free plastic glow-in-the-dark witch/ghost/vampires as a giveaway. I really wish I still had mine.

But I thought it was so odd to give out toys at such a gory soapy horror movie. I remember Kate Jackson in it, too.

I'm sure I'll get them on DVD!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 7:35pm

Yes she is! I'm not quite sure the market Dan Curtis was aiming for. Many fans claim that one reason the show was canceled so quickly (without the headwriters at the time Sam Hall and Gordon Russell--who was quickly hired by Agnes Nixon to take over for her on One Life to Live where they wrote the famous Judith Light prostitute arc--having time to even slightly wrap things up), was so many parents complained about how gory the second movie was, when so many of the fans of the series were young. It also got a pretty poor release--the souvenir costumes sound great!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 10:33pm

Call me crazy, but I'm just going to go and see the Dark Shadows movie and then pass judgment on it. Not that I think everybody should. I never knew JoeKv was such a delicate flower that the preview made him sick in his tummy. Stay away, JoeKv!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:19pm

You're crazy! :P Were you a fan of the series? That seems to (usually) be the devisive factor...

[sephyr]

Posted: 4/19/12 at 11:48pm

RIP to Jonathan Frid!

[NYTheatre01]

Posted: 4/20/12 at 8:15am

Can't wait to see it! Looks hilarious! Come on folks...lighten up...we're talking vampires here!!! And, I was a diehard DARKSHADOWS fan! And RIP to Jonathan Frid! He was a great Barnabas Collins! So glad he has a cameo in the movie.



Updated On: 4/20/12 at 08:15 AM