He was one of the most popular vampires to ever hit the television or the silver screen.  Barnabas Collins, poised for a comeback, just lost a bit of his history in the form of Jonathan Frid.  Frid, a talented Canadian actor known for bringing the vampire to life and for his very entertaining Reader’s Theater Corner at conventions, checked into Juravinski Hospital but never checked out.  Jonathan Frid died in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, at age 87.

“I am so grateful to have worked with Jonathan, and to have known him as the charismatic, entertaining, complex and plain-spoken man that he was.  What fun we had working together!  He was irascible, irreverent, funny, caring, lovable and thoroughly professional,” said Kathryn Leigh Scott, Frid’s “Dark Shadows” co-star.  “I won’t ever forget the moment when the two Barnabas Collinses met, one in his late 80s and the other in his mid-40s, each with their wolf’s head canes.  Jonathan took his time scrutinizing his successor’s appearance.  ‘I see you’ve done the hair,’ Jonathan said to Johnny Depp, ‘but a few more spikes.’  Depp, entirely in character, replied, ‘Yes, we’re doing things a bit differently.'”

His last appearance will be in Tim Burton’s take on “Dark Shadows” this summer.  I suppose that’s fitting, all things considered.

Tags: Jonathan Frid, Dark Shadows, Dark Shadows TV show, Barnabas Collins, Jonathan Frid dead, Jonathan Frid dead at 85, obituaries, television, actors, Hamilton, Ontario, Juravinski Hospital, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Kathryn Leigh Scott, soap operas

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