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Barnabas Collins - Vampire (played by Jonathan
Frid) on the daytime serial
DARK SHADOWS/ABC/1966-71.
Bitten by a vampire bat in 1795, Barnabas Collins was cursed to walk the
earth as one of the undead. In an attempt to save his son from this torment,
Barnabas' father, Joshua placed a silver crucifix on his son's chest and then
secured him inside the family burial vault.
Some 150 years later Barnabas
Collins was released from his coffin when drifter Willie Loomis (John Karlen)
robbed the family crypt at Eagle Hill Cemetery in search of buried ancestral
jewels.
Taking up residence once again at the
Collinwood Mansion in the guise of
a distant cousin from England, Barnabas Collins roamed the night but continued
to live an eternity of loneliness and regret always thinking of his true love Josette Dupres, his wife who soon died after their marriage a few hundred years
before.
One day, Barnabas saw a modern-day reincarnation of Josette, in the form of
Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), he pursued her. But his attempts at love
were to no avail, even after biting and turning her into a vampire.
When not feeding on the warm blood of his victims, Barnabas spent his time
working with Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) who attempted to cure Barnabas of
his vampirism. His recurring enemy was a sexy blond-haired witch known as
Angelique (Lara Parker).
Soon after the series was canceled, Barnabas again rose from the dead to star
in two movie sequels House of Dark Shadows (1970), wherein Barnabas got a
stake through his heart; and Night of Dark Shadows (1971), an uninspired
follow-up to the first movie.
In 1991, a prime time revival of DARK SHADOWS on the NBC network starred Ben
Cross as Barnabas Collins, the vampire with a Byronic soul. Despite the moody
atmosphere and luxurious special effects, (compared to the original series) the
public just didn't sink their teeth into this revamped supernatural tale. It was
soon canceled.
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