Frid used to like to smoke in his coffin between scenes. Apparently, the original coffin he used, and continued to use throughout much of the show, was several inches too short for him! In some scenes where he is shown in the coffin, his legs are as apart as he can get them to make up the difference. Here's an example from episode #417 during the 1795 storyline where:
[spoiler]Ben has been asked by Barnabas to "end his curse" by driving a stake through his heart. Fortunately for us, if not for Barnabas, he is about to be interrupted by the ghost of The Head of Angelique! Yes, she appears to Ben as a disembodied head, foreshadowing Judah Zachary's appearance much later! She gets to laugh a lot, though.[/spoiler]
I remember reading a story from someone on the show, where Frid, during the coundown to taping, actually sat up in his coffin and complained about the size of his coffin. Only on Dark Shadows!
Petofi