DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '11 II => Topic started by: Willie Loomis on December 18, 2011, 01:39:34 AM
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The great thing about owning the series on dvd is getting to study and notice things that you have never noticed before.
Right now I'm digging Astredo in his Nicholas Blair role. Now I look forward to his other roles on the show as I continue watching. Not that I never paid attention to him, but right now I'm just paying attention to him and his role.
This guy is a great actor and seems to have a sense of humor about his Nicholas Blair role. Has sex appeal too! [santa_embarassed] [santa_cheesy]
Anyone else have thoughts or opinions on him.
Is this guy still alive?
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Hi Willie, so far as I am aware, HAA is still with us. He lost a daughter a couple of years ago. I think there is a note about the memorial service on his IMDB page. It was very very sad.
IMO Nicholas was hands down HAA's finest hour on DS, although he's always fascinating to watch. He and Lara Parker always play off one another well in later storylines. I've heard from those who were around at the time that HAA who obviously was a superbly trained theatrical actor gave Parker some coaching.
He continued to work in soaps for awhile in the 1970s, and on stage appeared with Elizabeth Taylor in a celebrated revival of The Little Foxes.
There is a fan who does an uncanny impersonation of HAA in his Nicholas Blair persona who attends the Festivals. Always a highlight (again IMO).
Best, G.
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I love HAA. As it was said before he is like a 007 for the underworld. He and Lara do play off one another nicely and he was the perfect character (NICK) to put her in her place thus enabling Humbert to play some amazing stuff. I adore him. I wish he had been on till the end...
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[Chanukah9]
check this out:
www.humbertaastredo.webs.com/
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astredo and parker were certainly well matched and had oodles of chemistry onscreen.
blair had a bit too much control over angelique during the "cassandra" moment. there are some scenes later on in the series where ang has the upper hand and really gives nicholas some much deserved attitude.
he also has some fun stuff with marie wallace as eve. and please let's not forget his legendary showdowns with grayson hall.
incidentally i recently noticed that he wore the same powder gray suit as nicholas for the character's entire run. now that's some cheap costuming. [santa_shocked]
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I adore his showdowns with JULIA/GRAYSON!
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I may be alone, but my favorite HAA character is Evan Hanley... perhaps because it's more interesting to see a flawed, human Blair wanna-be flailing and floundering, than Superdevil, who always seems to be in control. Maybe it's just because 1897 was written better. Anyway, the 60s had actors who had great, unique "presences", who would appear on just about all the shows being made, except of course he was committed to DS for long periods, so I don't remember seeing him elsewhere. He's great.
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Humbert appeared on Another World in 1970, I think. He played an interior decorator who had an affair with Liz Matthews
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incidentally i recently noticed that he wore the same powder gray suit as nicholas for the character's entire run. now that's some cheap costuming. [santa_shocked]
I used to think that, too, until I saw the light. Or rather, the light was kindly pointed out to me in the following topic:
Actually, Nicholas had about three suits. One was light grey, another was a darker grey, and then he had another which was light brown, which he looked especially handsome in by the way.
He did?! Apparently I need to pay much closer attention the next time I watch the '68 storyline because they've all looked nearly identical to me for all these years...
Also check out replies #63 and #64 for screen capture evidence.
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thanks mysterious,
i'll keep a lookout for it. i think i was just surprised that when the character returns during the leviathan storyline after a two year absence that suit turns up again too.
where had it been all that time?
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David-Elijah, thanks for the link. I thought HAA was great from the moment he first darkened the door of the Great House in Nicholas Blair's first appearance. His sly wit and thorough enjoyment of all his roles was pure delight. It would have been interesting to see him play a good guy....
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i think i was just surprised that when the character returns during the leviathan storyline after a two year absence that suit turns up again too.
where had it been all that time?
I don't want to think about how that suit smelled by 1970!
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[laughing4]
But perhaps it was kept at Hell's Dry Cleaners until it was needed again. [santa_wink]
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I don't want to think about how that suit smelled by 1970!
Wasn't there a short sub-plot where Nicholas' always-worn-never-removed grey suit duked it out with Julia's always-worn-never-removed-day-and-night-for-two-weeks-in-1995 green woolen suit? I don't remember who came out victorious in that one.
Gerard
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I thought HAA was one of the better character actors on DS. Come to think of it, so many of the actors were very good. My favorite time for him were his scenes with Eve. Liked him in the Leviathan period too.
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Thanks all. Glad to see alot of people are on the boat with me.
Regarding his wardrobe, I liked his hat and also, his gloves too as Nicholas and his hats and frock suits at Evan!
And I have seen today that he likes to lounge around in a nice silk robe similar to Barnabas's......or is it Barnabas's?
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Nicholas's robe is gray silk, isn't it? If so, then I don't think it's Barnabas's--at least I don't remember him wearing a gray one.
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they both seem to be black/white/gray silk with paisley design.
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He was definitely one of the few great things about the end of Leviathans (even if Nicholas' appearance in that storyline made practically no sense - but then, by that time there wasn't much sense in anything that was happening in Leviathans [santa_sad]).
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Funnily enough I was thinking the same thing today MB when thinking about The Leviathans and this topic. It was so fun to see him come back. They should have had him from the beginning of the storyline; however, it seems like a last ditch effort to try and get people to like the storyline. I kind of get sad about The Leviathans because it could have had so much potential.
Luckily, SUPERNATURAL is doing a Leviathans storyline on the show and it's really really great. :)
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Really? Leviathans on Supernatural? That's interesting. Unlike this post of mine... brain not in gear.
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One of the best parts about Nicholas' return would have to be his reunion with Angelique. You can see how much both Humbert and Lara are enjoying themselves. Angelique's line about how the mighty are fallen is a classic DS moment.
However, there really should have been at least one scene with Nicholas and Maggie. Since she was a Leviathan at the time, it really should have happened
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But Maggie was [spoiler]never really a Leviathan, was she? The box had no effect on her, and she pretended to be one so she could get inside information and pass it along to Barnabas.[/spoiler]
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Absolutely true. All the more reason for some sort of Nicholas/Maggie confrontation [8_2_81]
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Really? Leviathans on Supernatural? That's interesting. Unlike this post of mine... brain not in gear.
Yes Magnus they are doing The Leviathans as the BIG BAD on Supernatural and they are THE OLD ONES but call themselves Leviathans. Considering DS was the first show to name them I think there is a DS fan on SPN staff. :)
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Angelique's line about how the mighty are fallen--"from tycoon to lackey"--was actually delivered to her husband, Sky Rumson. But Lara herself must have thought the line too good to waste on such a non-entity as Sky, because she recalled saying it to Humbert as Nicholas in her short memoir "Out of Angelique's Shadow," and spoke of this as one of her favorite moments on the show.
Angelique did have a scene during the endgame phase of Leviathans in which--wearing perhaps the most jawdroppingly chic dress she EVER wore on the series--she mocked Nicholas and said something like, "Isn't it about time for you to be sent back to Hell?" all the time purring like the cat that copped the cream.
I seem to be the only fan on the planet who actually enjoys these episodes. The standard critique is that the series was unwatchable at this point. I love it all--Angelique and Nicholas playing cat and mouse with Jeb, Megan and her unfortunate "problem," Juiia's hair insanity, Quentin running around in that tight grey suit, etc.
Happy Holidaze!
G.
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gothick if we're thinking about the same scene i recall nicholas actually complements mrs. rumson on her devastatingly chic black ensemble. didn't ang reply that it was he who should be "in mourning"?
in general angelique was never more stunning than the 1970 episodes. in previous storylines she was either garbed in period costume(1795, 1897)or some strange getup in the present(cassandra's greens or her sugar-plum-fairy-from-hell-hostess gowns during her stint as a vampire).
for the 1970 episodes...and in particular parallel-time...ang was exquisitely outfitted.
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michael, I realize this is off-topic but I actually love some of Cassandra's dresses. They seemed to be inspired by the "trapeze" dresses made so popular in mid 1960s Carnaby Street. There was also a sort of billowy blue morning robe that she wore for a special scene with Barnabas. It looked really great on Parker.
That weird thing she was wearing when she first appeared, I did not really care for at all initially. Over time through repeated viewings of that episode, it's come to grow on me. Her wig in that scene is so heavily sprayed and lacquered and styled, it might have had its very own hole in the ozone layer hovering above it.
cheers, Gothick
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it is getting a bit off-topic however...
i actually liked some of cassandra's frocks too. i'll never forget the image of mrs.roger collins entrance in a boxy mint green swing coat and gloves. and i certainly appreciate her glossy black joan collins hairdo during the period.
still i wouldn't exactly say lara parker looked gorgeous here. but during the 1970 episodes, again especially as the icy antiheroine of parallel-time, she was really something to see. stunning.