Oops. Apologies to Darren because he did post this on the restoration site and send out an email update.
However, there are other sites touting themselves as official outlets for DS information that have not done the same thing. The ones I had in mind when I posted this were Dark Shadows Online and the Festival site, both of which, unless I have completely flipped my wig, reported Louis Edmonds' death very shortly after it happened.
Craig Hamrick has the Dark Shadows Online Site. That site houses several websites for DS actors including the "official" Louis Edmonds site. Craig wrote the bio on Louis and was a close friend of the actor's and updating the website quickly about Louis' death would be expected. I heard about Mr. Patrick's passing and had emailed Craig about it since I knew that was something he would put it on his website, and indeed upon receiving the news, he said that he had plans to post the details when they became available.
However, the reason that update never happened is that Craig was then diagnosed as having colon cancer.
He is in the process of undergoing surgery to remove the cancer followed by the traditional round of intense follow up treatment. Since he's been busy contending with all that, his website has not been updated and probably will not be for at least a little while. His illness was mentioned at a recent DS event.
By the way, Craig said in an email just last week that he did not want this news treated as a secret which is why I did not hesitate to say what I did above, though I had no previous plans to post anything publicly about it. But since there is a question about why his website has not been updated with news important to fans, now seems a good time to explain.
Craig wants his situation to serve as a reminder to people to never discount the possibility of getting certain illnesses just because you are considered too young; it's good to keep minds open when looking for reasons why you are not feeling well for an extended period of time and not just eliminate the idea of cancer or something else right away. Obviously the sooner cancer and other illnesses are detected, the more effectively they can be treated. The prognosis is very good for Craig and the reason he started telling people was to raise awareness.
I thought that ShadowGram was the news arm of the Festival since they get their information from Jim Pierson, the festival chairman and the marketing/promotions person at Dan Curtis Productions.
They sent out the notice about Mr. Patrick's passing fairly quickly as they do with the passing of any DS actor. I don't recall ever seeing news about the passing of any DS actor on the Festival website but I could certainly be wrong about that. I don't visit there that often. The festival website could be considering the news already told when the "breaking news" ShadowGram announcements go out as in the case of Dennis Patrick.
Nancy
