Final Goodbye" Jonathan Frid's Most Revealing Interview
By Stephen Lewis
TV By Day
November, 1971
The familiar rooms of Collinwood had a strange new look to them. The furniture and props were pushed back against the walls, and a bar and a buffet had been set up. Guests, the stars of Dark Shadows, the stars who had left the show and friends, wandered through the maze of cameras, laughing and talking about their experiences during the five year history of the show.
Upstairs, on the upper floor of the ABC-TV studio in New York, other members of the cast gave their dressing rooms a final going over, took a last look at the makeup and wardrobe rooms that had been part of their daily routine for so long, and went downstairs to say their good-byes.
Dark Shadows had taped its final episode and was going off the air.
Jonathan Frid, unlike the rest of the cast, couldn't join in the nostalgic mood of the party. He was starring in a special stage
production of Murder In The Cathedral and had to hurry off to a rehearsal.
But just a few days before, as we sat in his spacious East Side apartment, Jonathan had had plenty of time to express his feelings on the death of the soap that had made him a star, feelings that many of his fans may not be aware of.
"Miss it?" Jonathan asked, reflecting on his three and a half years as a member of the cast. "Of course I will. The show, heaven knows, has been very good to me, and very good for me. But I dont feel terribly saddened. It's just time to go on to something else."
Most of the cast are going on to a second Dark Shadows movie. Conveniently, the movie went into production just a few days after the serial went off the air. Jonathan wont be seen in the screen version, though, and he explained why.
"They wanted me to play Barnabas," he revealed. "As you know, the Barnabas character met his final end on the show some while back and I must say I was rather happy about it. I didnt want to revive the role for the movie, and the fact is that I never, ever want to play Barnabas again!
"I really havent the least interest in the supernatural. I studied the occult a bit when I began on the show. I wanted to learn about the character I was playing. But over the years, people have come to think that Im very involved with it personally. Theyve confused my identity with the character I play, and that isnt good.
"For so long, people have thought of me as Barnabas. Ive been flattered, of course its a sign that people responded to my acting, to my performance. But there were things I had to do, tours for the show and things, that were pretty embarrassing.
"The straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, about my doing Barnabas, was a letter inviting me to join an occult society --one of many. It made me aware of the danger that people will associate me with Barnabas as long as I live almost like Johnny Weissmuller and Tarzan. For an actor who wants to do things, it's frightening.
"The whole occult thing bores me. I dont even read my horoscope in the daily paper.
"What I want to see now is just what the Barnabas image has done for me in the business, among producers and so forth. Id like, very much, to do some stage work, and Id love doing my own TV series.
"As for movies, well, to be very honest, its a very different thing from television or the stage. There is so much waiting around, so much boredom. You have to stand there while they arrange lights and things, and it takes forever.
The Dark Shadows film was made rather quickly, and I didnt likeit. There were some moments that I felt were all right, and a few that I enjoyed. But generally, the whole experience was pretty embarrassing. Yes, people came to see it, but the reviews were horrifying.
"And for an actor, no matter what you are doing, you want to bring the best of your craft to your work. I wouldn't mind doing some other movies. I'd like to, just to see if I can work in that medium.
"Ive been offered roles, but I wont do Barnabas or anythingremotely related to him. No vampires, no monsters, no necrophiliacs! Im not trying to delude myself, I know that there are many people who will confuse Jonathan Frid with Barnabas. Ive been, over the past year or so, very grateful to the magazines for writing about Jonathan Frid and not just Barnabas. But making the public understand that the character isnt my whole identity will take work in something very strong.
"I need to find a good manager. The fans I have are wonderful, but Ill need a good manager to get work.
Jonathan also discussed a question that many viewers have asked: why did Dark Shadows go off the air?
"You have to remember," Jonathan explained, "that the show had a very good run --five years, after all, is a long time. What happened? I guess its pretty much the same thing that happens when you are a child going to serials on Saturday afternoons. You see Tarzan jumping off a huge cliff, and the first time youre thrilled. "The next week, you see the same thing, pretty much, happening, and you begin to realize that the cliff isnāt really that high. And then, as the weeks go by, you begin to outgrow the whole fantasy.
"In a soap opera, half of the success is identification -- viewers identifying the actors with the characters they play. We tried to change stories, to drop one story and pick up another, and to change characters. It may have educated the public that actors are not the people they play, but I think it hurt us. Quite frankly, I think we knew the show was on its last legs long before the cancellation was announced -- maybe as far back as last November. I was almost out of the show on the first of the year, but I wanted to try another character.
"We could have done something else, we could have revived Barnabas and then done that whole biting bit again, but I didnt want to. When Dan Curtis, the producer, and I discussed the movie, I told him I wouldnt play Barnabas in the second film.
"He said, 'Well, I guess you want to get out of the show, too. I hadnt been bargaining for that, but I said to myself, 'Why not? maybe its time." As it worked out, though, I stayed.
"Actually, I should have left a year or two ago, when the show was at its peak, to capitalize on the success of the series. Of course after doing the same thing you wonder what will happen, but I'm not sure thats bad too much security isnt good for an actor. I dont really care if I donāt have the popularity I had on Dark Shadows, as long as I work and have a good income. I dont want to play 'star'. On stage, its one thing -- its your work and its honest. Offstage, its something else. All stars are liars, liars because they are giving the public an image. Theyre still performing offstage, and the public believes they are like that. Its not really true. When an actor goes off stage, he's though acting star never stops."
Just what will Jonathan do now?
"I'm really not sure -just look for work. Ideally, I suppose I'd like a Broadway show for a while, then TV, some movies. Id do another soap if the right offer came along, but what I really want to do is grow as an actor.
Ive had a very big youth following, and Ive liked it. But I'mnot a child. I'm forty-seven. I hope that my audiences, my fans will grow with me when I do other things. Before I did the show, I never had any experience with that kind of mass popularity. I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for the letters, for the fans, for all the magazines who've been kind to me.
"Ive had to learn to work fast, and I think in the long run that has helped my acting. I hope that's the case, and I suppose the future will tell it.
"Right now, I'm very optimistic about the future. I want to be able to take some time for myself, to relax. That's something I couldn't do as long as the show was running. Also, in the past few months, it's been kind of hard. I guess you could say that the mood in the studio, at times, was a bit depressing since everyone knew we were going off and that it was just a matter of time. We knew it long before the final date was announced."
Thousands of Dark Shadows fans did their best to postpone that final date with letters to ABC, and they can take some condolence in the fact that while the series may be off, the series of movies based on it may continue forever.
Jonathan's personal following - the largest of any star in Dark Shadows history -- can expect to see him turning up in a number of movies and in guest spots on the major TV series. Since his availability has become known, Jonathan has been offered numerous scripts and parts, and now it's a matter of just selecting whatās best for him.
"I don't want to make a mistake," he says,"about what I choose next. It will be an important move in my career."
One thing that Jonathan Frid can be sure of, is no matter where his career takes him, his many fans will be happy to go along!
