« previous next »
Pages: 1   Go Down

Author Topic: Willie Loomis  (Read 1958 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline katrinavantassel

  • Junior Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 107
  • Karma: +0/-760
  • Home sweet home
    • View Profile
Willie Loomis
« on: November 16, 2009, 07:31:59 PM »
I've been catching up with the 'early episodes' and didn't realize there was a different actor who played Willie. How come this actor left?

Random thoughts on Willie: what a totally nasty bugger he was! Was he supposed to be the 'leader' of the blackmail stuff? I always thought that was Jason.

Did anyone think he sounded like he was speaking in a southern accent at first? Some of the lines really sounded like it to me.

Wasn't he supposed to be the nephew of Mrs. Johnson? When we first meet him, he was a stranger to her.

Well, that's it. I was just surprised at those few discoveries  [hall2_smiley]

Logged

Offline ProfStokes

  • * Ingenious Intellect *
  • Senior Poster
  • ****
  • Posts: 2304
  • Karma: +74/-1519
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2009, 10:03:52 PM »
Hello, katrina

I've heard different reasons at the Fests for why James Hall (the first Willie) left the show; apparently, he was either an alcoholic, or he just wasn't right for the part.  Personally, I'm not sure the other cast members really remember.

Willie Loomis is no relation to Mrs. Johnson in this series. I believe he was the housekeeper's nephew in the 1991 series.

ProfStokes
Logged

Offline michael c

  • DSF God
  • *****
  • Posts: 3434
  • Karma: +653/-1184
  • Gender: Male
  • mr.collins i'm fed up with this nonsense!
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2009, 04:29:02 AM »
yes because the jason mcquire plot was completely removed from the 1991 series they needed to find a way to bring the willie character into collinwood and they achieved that by making him a nephew of mrs.johnson.

in that version he seems to function as something of a composit character of the original series' matthew morgan,harry johnson and willie loomis.
Logged
sleep 'til noon and your punishment shall be the dregs of the coffeepot.

Offline katrinavantassel

  • Junior Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 107
  • Karma: +0/-760
  • Home sweet home
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2009, 03:49:31 PM »
Guess I confused the Willie past with the Willie present. That makes sense, now. But, can you imagine if the past Mrs. Johnson was his aunt? Imagine the wonderful dialogue they'd have together  [hall2_smiley]
Logged

Offline Sara Monster

  • * 150000 Poster!! *
  • Senior Poster
  • ****
  • Posts: 1857
  • Karma: +5/-3629
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
    • Willie Loomis Saves Collinsport
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2009, 05:34:00 PM »
Quote from: katrinavantassel on November 17, 2009, 03:49:31 PM
can you imagine if the past Mrs. Johnson was his aunt?

Yikes, that'd make Harry Johnson & Willie Loomis COUSINS.  [hall2_shocked] A recipe for trouble if there ever was.
Logged

ClaudeNorth

  • Guest
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2009, 03:24:51 AM »
Been working my way through the pre-Barnabas era and am now in the first of the Barnabas episodes.

The difference between James Hall and John Karlen is huge.  I don't think that James Hall ever captured the menacing quality that the role required.  I never believed that his Willie was a true threat to anyone.  (Not to mention Hall's tendency to pronounce 'Loomis' as "Loh-miss"...)

When John Karlen stepped into the role, Willie immediately became a three-dimensional character.  I wish he had been in the role from day one because I think he would have been terrifying in those early encounters with the various characters.  Just as impressive is JK's ability to find all sorts of shadings in Willie...and then to switch gears and play Carl Collins so effectively!

It's rather amazing, really, when you think of all the truly unique actors who found their way to DS.
Logged

Offline MagnusTrask

  • * 100000 Poster!! *
  • DIVINE SUPERNAL SCEPTER
  • ***************
  • Posts: 29347
  • Karma: +4533/-74786
  • Gender: Male
  • u r summoned by the powers of everlasting light!
    • View Profile
    • The Embryo Room
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2009, 05:55:17 AM »
I've never seen the first Willie, and I was stunned a couple years ago when I heard on this board that there was a Willie before JK....  I'm surprised to see someone say that Willie One was less than threatening compared to Two, since I'd heard that #1 was nastier.   I certainly know Karlen's version to be a sympathetic character.
Logged
"One can never go wrong with weapons and drinks as fashion accessories."-- the eminent and clearly quotable Dark Shadows fan and board mod known as Mysterious Benefactor

Offline katrinavantassel

  • Junior Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 107
  • Karma: +0/-760
  • Home sweet home
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2009, 04:49:11 PM »
Well I think Karlan's Willie may have ended up being sympathetic but watching these first episodes I'd say he was just plain nasty. He played the role as a real bully with a HUGE chip on his shoulder.

I think he may have eaten humble pie after Barnabas got to him  [hall2_tongue]
Logged

Offline Willie Loomis

  • Senior Poster
  • ****
  • Posts: 1540
  • Karma: +257/-3209
  • Gender: Male
  • willie rocks!
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2009, 06:34:10 PM »
after viewing HODS again after many many many years, i see that the movie version of what john karlen did with willie was PERFECT -- all aspects of the character came out.   and in the movie in beginning he was nasty as could  be.   willie was one of the better characters in the show.   

although fyfe did a good job as willie within that realm, he just didn't have what willie was all about.    baranabas has broken this man who no human could break.   fyfe's character seemed almost cartoonish.
Logged

ClaudeNorth

  • Guest
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2009, 12:22:40 AM »
Quote from: MagnusTrask on November 18, 2009, 05:55:17 AM
I'm surprised to see someone say that Willie One was less than threatening compared to Two, since I'd heard that #1 was nastier.

What I meant was that I don't feel that James Hall conveyed the nastier elements of Willie's personality very well, and that with him in the role, the scenes in which he menaces other characters don't have quite the impact that they most likely would have had if John Karlen had been in them.
Logged

Offline Gerard

  • NEW ASCENDANT
  • ******
  • Posts: 3587
  • Karma: +559/-6685
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2009, 02:03:13 AM »
To me, Willie 1 was sleazier, more like an "Uncle Creepy," as opposed to Willie 2 who came off nastier. 

Gerard
Logged

Offline Miss_Winthrop

  • Senior Poster
  • ****
  • Posts: 726
  • Karma: +15/-152
  • Gender: Female
  • I love DS!
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2009, 04:28:46 PM »
I found the original Willie very creepy and possibly a psychopath.  Karlen's characterization was much more complex.
Logged
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
~Virginia Woolf

Offline MagnusTrask

  • * 100000 Poster!! *
  • DIVINE SUPERNAL SCEPTER
  • ***************
  • Posts: 29347
  • Karma: +4533/-74786
  • Gender: Male
  • u r summoned by the powers of everlasting light!
    • View Profile
    • The Embryo Room
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2009, 07:57:11 AM »
Alright, I'm more confused than ever now....!
Logged
"One can never go wrong with weapons and drinks as fashion accessories."-- the eminent and clearly quotable Dark Shadows fan and board mod known as Mysterious Benefactor

Offline Janet the Wicked

  • Senior Poster
  • ****
  • Posts: 2082
  • Karma: +8468/-33696
  • Gender: Female
  • These pretzels are making me thirsty!
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #13 on: November 26, 2009, 01:43:14 AM »
Never mind, Magnus. James Hall's Willie is painful to watch in an excruciating kind of way.
Logged
I get a kick out of these guys who think they're so clean, when all the time they're trying to cover up their dirt.

Offline michael c

  • DSF God
  • *****
  • Posts: 3434
  • Karma: +653/-1184
  • Gender: Male
  • mr.collins i'm fed up with this nonsense!
    • View Profile
Re: Willie Loomis
« Reply #14 on: November 26, 2009, 03:03:53 AM »
i alway thought that hall's willie was sort of dirty-sexy to karlen's sad-eyed puppydog cute.
Logged
sleep 'til noon and your punishment shall be the dregs of the coffeepot.
Pages: 1   Go Up
« previous next »