John Karlen Talks About Willie Loomis

[Jackie]

From DVD Collection Set 8, Disc 3: bonus interview with John Karlen as he talks about Willie Loomis [Jk is very expressive in his interview and he looks like he is having fun.]



"I was a replacement on Dark Shadows. There was a fellow that played my part a couple of times that I knew nothing about him, I never saw him, I knew nothing about him. I was pretty close to...hmm.. this the same as Johnny, as Jonathan Frid, JOHNNY. Jonathan was going out the door and he got a phone call. I was pretty much in the same boat, taking my wife and child to California and the phone did start to ring. My agent said, "John, these people WANT you. I didn't have to read, I didn't have to do nothing. They wanted me for the part. I said, I don't want to do a soap opera, I'm getting out of here. What are you doing to me, Star for Christ sake. I want to do something, be someone, I don't want to be on a soap opera. He said "please" blah blah. So I went down and I saw them. I see this thing. I said "wait a minute" I have to still be in New York, make a couple of bucks, do another Broadway play maybe. So I say "OK" to Dark Shadows, not really knowing what I hell I'm saying ok to or whatever it is; vampires this and that. It sounded like, I don't even know what. So there I am. I do the first show and all of a sudden I get this strange character, Willie Loomis. Southern white trash, coming from the bowels of nothing. It was great! It was a fun part. And I did it with this little worthless southern accent, frighten to death half of the time, crazed, and one exciting part after another. Something that was...started off stealing jewels with this wonderful character, Jason. It was absolutely fun to start with. What was I doing? What the hell kind...? Was this really acting? I don't know what I'm doing but it seems like my emotions are coming out fun in this. And I don't know why. It's expressive, it's this. And you have a lot of, a lot of, what is it, when it's real out there ... latitude, longitude, whatever the hell it is... range! You could yell, you could scream. You could do anything you wanted to on this show. Right up my alley. Theatrical ... ahhh ... reality. Theatrical reality, which is a hell of a lot better than ... [mumbles words like the Godfather] "well you know, come over here..." This was bingo, bongo, way out there. So I loved it, I did. I really did.

"Dan Curtis and I, his wife, my wife, we became great friends. We had supper, many many evening together. So he got to be a true friend. Of course he hired me in 20 other different things after Dark Shadows. So we start with Dan Curtis. I didn't know who the boss was. I didn't know who anybody was. I am hired. I am doing a couple of shows. As I am recalling it now, I am seeing Dan. Nice young man at the time. A nice sweater and nice gray pants and with a golf club in his hand. And looking cocky as any human being can look. On top of the world. You know whatever. I guess there were other people in this world but I don't think he noticed them too much. [Laughs] But there was great ole Dan, full beautiful head of hair, with flashing teeth and all that. I looked at him and said, "How are you doing? How are you doing?" Nothing. Like maybe after a week he might have come up to me and says "hey, you know, good man." So he was right there. And we became great friends over the years. I'm not so sure that happened right at the beginning. But what I remember most about this show was that no body told me anything to do. I did exactly what I wanted. Lela Swift was the main stay responsible for that. She said "GO". And I went. So she was the one who set the tone for whoever else was going to be directing me at that particular time. So I had a fest, a fest of emotion on that show. I wish I could do that again, because I could really do it better now. With a little better logic, just a drop which I didn't have at that time. Maybe I still don't have it, I don't know. BUT it was fun. It was a fun acting performance. It wasn't like doing a part on a soap opera. This was major theater. You could scream, you could yell, you could go into Greek tragedy. You could go into Shakespeare. You could use your voice. I loved it, I really did.

"Willie Loomis is Barnabas Collins' slave. [Laughs] He is a slave. He has NO rights. He has nothing. He is completely under the power of Barnabas Collins. So whatever Willie Loomis was before he met Barnabas doesn't count. It doesn't come into the picture. What does come into the picture, as you find out, he has compassion for other human beings and all that. But Willie Loomis is Barnabas Collins' slave, under his spell. You know.

"Willie Loomis is "po white trash". Comes from the bowels of the south, hops freight trains, petty theft, steals things. Came into contact with this other character named Jason somewhere down the line and they pulled a couple of jobs together. Jason calls Willie on this job and the family jewels of the Collins' [laughs] to steal them. And Willie's excited, this sounds like big time. So they get together. He gets Willie into the house like a servant, to clean up the silver and do whatever like that stuff. Finally they plan the stealing of the jewels. Willie somehow decides to go ahead and do it by himself. So he goes into the mausoleum, the tomb. It's all there waiting for him. There is all these coffins, this figure there, the coffins, and these coffins are the family jewels [laughs] of the Collins'. He is going to be a rich man and probably not include Jason in it. There he is, breaks the chains [starts to show how he did it on the show] on the coffin. Decides to open it up [he lifts his hands up like he did on the show as he opened the coffin] and [laughs] lo and behold, what happens [he takes his right hand and grabs his throat] [chokes] a hand comes out. The beginning of the end for Willie Loomis as a human being. He is now ALL slave, true slave for the rest of eternity until Barnabas Collins dies which of course is never.

"At that time, as we were doing this, it was 1967 you could not bite another man on the neck. [He laughs] It was not allowed on television. So I was not bitten on the neck by Barnabas Collins. I was bitten [raises his arm and points to his wrist, laughing] on the wrist and I use to have to bandage around my wrist. But I was infected of course with the venomous stuff [still laughing] lets call it just stuff that Barnabas put into my system. And then I was infected and therefore became the slave of Barnabas Collins."

[Connie]

Jackie...

Thanks so much for posting these interviews and screen caps.  As someone who will probably never have these DVD's, I'm delighted to be able read a transcript and see a picture!

Good stuff! 

[Maybellique]

Hey, Jackie! That was a cool interview. Then again, anything with John Karlen has to be cool... Except maybe some of the b-movies he's been in. *gag* But he's still loveable. ~DJ

[Jackie]

JK was wonderful to listen to.  Very animated!  He looked like he was having lots of fun.  I have a DS friend who loves Willie and writes about him.  She has helped me to appreciate Willie and JK much more! 

[Philippe Cordier]

Thanks for transcribing the interview; are you a professional transcriber?

I would like to hear Mr. Karlen talk about some of the other characters he played on the show, too, such as Karl Collins (1897) and Desmond Collins (1840).

I had heard the rumor about supposed "homophobia" (wrongly attributed to Dan Curtis, IMO) regarding Willie having to be bitten on the wrist instead of the arm.  This is the first confirmation of that from a cast member that I've seen, and I'm glad Karlen sets the record straight when he attributes this to industry standards.

[Josette]

Another thank you - this was fascinating!!

[Jackie]

Thanks for transcribing the interview; are you a professional transcriber?

No I'm not and it doesn't come easy.  Hence the reason I haven't done all of the interviews I've seen so far.  LOL  But I do have one of NB who played Carolyn.  I'll post that one when I capture a pic of her.

[Midnite]

No I'm not and it doesn't come easy.  Hence the reason I haven't done all of the interviews I've seen so far.  LOL  But I do have one of NB who played Carolyn.  I'll post that one when I capture a pic of her.

dsbarnabasfan,

As enjoyable as these are, with the DVDs on sale and the bonus interviews a huge part of their attraction, I have to say that I'm extremely concerned about offering these posted texts and images from the DVDs and I feel, for your sake as well as this forum's, that no more should be posted for now.  I'm really sorry.   :-

[Jackie]

As enjoyable as these are, with the DVDs on sale and the bonus interviews a huge part of their attraction, I have to say that I'm extremely concerned about offering these posted texts and images from the DVDs and I feel, for your sake as well as this forum's, that no more should be posted for now.  I'm really sorry.   :-

YIKES    Ok but I thought it would be a good "selling" tool for the DVDs.  People read a transcript and like the idea that there are many more...but I will obey your wishes.  No problem.  I am in full support of buying the DVDs [or VHS tapes of DS-whatever the preference] and plan to continue collecting them.  I highly recommend them to any serious DS fan [who can afford to buy them].

[Midnite]

I thought it would be a good "selling" tool for the DVDs.  People read a transcript and like the idea that there are many more...

I hear you, dsbarnabasfan, and I know you had the best of intentions, but it's a copyright issue, and if sampling a DVD has a potential to impact its sale in any way, good OR bad, then perhaps that ought to be a red flag to not do it.

And thanks, hon!