Other Barnabases (Barnabii?)

[Gerard]

Don't forget that with the different Barnabi in different versions, we almost had another.  Originally, MGM wanted to cast HoDS not with the folk from TV-land, but with "well known" performers in the parts.  Imagine them picking Zero Mostel to play Eliot Stokes.  Or Jennifer Jones doing Elizabeth.  How about Robert Redford being Barnabas?

Gerard

[Lydia]

Don't forget that with the different Barnabi in different versions, we almost had another.  Originally, MGM wanted to cast HoDS not with the folk from TV-land, but with "well known" performers in the parts.  Imagine them picking Zero Mostel to play Eliot Stokes.  Or Jennifer Jones doing Elizabeth.  How about Robert Redford being Barnabas?

My Fair Barnabas?

Incidentally, the plural of Barnabas should be Barnabases, not Barnabii, just as the plural of alias is aliases.

[Nancy]

That's one of the stories mentioned in the Companion. On one of the DVDs, DC changes the story to say he picked a "guy in a cape" and it was a wide shot of Frid on a stage. I wonder who else tried out for Barnabas, though...

Sounds a little haywire.  Agents submit clients with a headshot, not wide shots of actors on a stage.  The story certainly had some interesting variations, didn't it?

Nancy

[CastleBee]

It's been said that Curtis "made" Frid's career but really when you think about it, who made whose career?  Frid didn't pursue TV work after DS.  Curtis had become a name because of the success of the series.

That's for sure .  If it hadn't been for Frid's unique approach to the character which made what followed possible, I seriously doubt we would be online talking about 40+ years later.  As I mentioned the other day concerning that documentary about the history of vampires - when they started to discuss how the perception of the vampire has evolved over time, they mentioned Dark Shadows and the character of Barnabas Collins in particular as being a pivotal point - one in which the vampire was starting to be portrayed as having more than a one faceted personality.  So, Frid's interpretation was important in an even bigger way than turning things around for the show.  I don't care who has done the role since or will do it in the future - Jonathon Frid will always be the "real" Barnabas Collins. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The story certainly had some interesting variations, didn't it?

If one wants to call them interesting.    I call them screwy. 

[MagnusTrask]

Perfect examples of reasons to question authority!!! Never seems to work out all that well for me but - for some self-destructive reason - the spirit persists! 

Keep it up!  I can't carry it all on my shoulders!

[IluvBarnabas]

It's been said that Curtis "made" Frid's career but really when you think about it, who made whose career?  Frid didn't pursue TV work after DS.  Curtis had become a name because of the success of the series.

That's for sure .  If it hadn't been for Frid's unique approach to the character which made what followed possible, I seriously doubt we would be online talking about 40+ years later.  As I mentioned the other day concerning that documentary about the history of vampires - when they started to discuss how the perception of the vampire has evolved over time, they mentioned Dark Shadows and the character of Barnabas Collins in particular as being a pivotal point - one in which the vampire was starting to be portrayed as having more than a one faceted personality.  So, Frid's interpretation was important in an even bigger way than turning things around for the show.  I don't care who has done the role since or will do it in the future - Jonathon Frid will always be the "real" Barnabas Collins. 

Amen! Whenever I think of Barnabas, I think of Jonathan, not Ben Cross (who played Barnabas in the 1991 revival and was just okay), not Alec Newman (I didn't see the 2004 pilot so I can't really judge his performance). Jonathan Frid is indeed the one true Barnabas Collins.