DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '25 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '05 II => Topic started by: Brian on July 02, 2005, 03:58:15 AM
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It's interesting that among Lara's comments on the new RACE WITH THE DEVIL DVD, she notes that she was three years older than Peter Fonda, who played her husband, and that she roomed briefly in college with his sister, Jane. According to IMDB, Lara was born in 1942, Peter was born in 1940, and Jane in 1937. Of course, Lara's revelation suggests that she was born in 1937, not 1942. I seem to recall this information about Lara was made public some years ago, but it's nice to hear it finally confirmed. No matter her age, she's still a beautiful lady!! And her commentary on the DVD is quite fun.
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damn she looks good . .68!? So this puts an interesting wrinkle . .for me on the age issues with Barnabas. . Julia and Angelique. .okay sure Julia was still 14 years older but Lara was 30 when she did DS, GH somewhere in the mid40s . .and Frid also mid-40s. . interesting. . .::tapping toes:::
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How convenient that I save things! Instead of just keeping the most current directory, I have old ones as well.
Lara is not listed in the 2004 or 1998 Vassar Alumnae/i Directories, but she was still in the 1992 version. I couldn't remember her real name, so looked up the IMDB and found Mary Lamar Rickey. There is a Mary L. Rickey (Mrs. Thomas M. Parker) for the class of 1959, which is the same class as Jane Fonda.
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So she was 30 when LP did DS? That makes allot of sense. I always thought she was in her early 20's and was frankly amazed at the level of maturity of her interpretation of Angelique. No matter, she made Angelique famous. : )
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College with Jane Fonda :o :o :o Wow!! :o
VASSAR!! REAL wow!!! :o
Impressed,
Patti
PS...Josette darling...did you attend Vassar? (Can I have your autograph sweetheart?)
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PS...Josette darling...did you attend Vassar? (Can I have your autograph sweetheart?)
Patti, yes - but what's the connection with the autograph? :) I did know Meryl Streep a bit - she was in a couple of my classes.
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I haven't seen the movie in decades (I first saw it at the drive-in; remember those?). But the ending always caused me to shiver; it was delightfully eerie and creepy. You'd think it would show up on TV, but I've never seen it there in years and years. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
Gerard
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It ran on one of the cable movie channels not long ago -- I think it was either Flix or the Fox Movie Channel. Otherwise, I haven't seen it listed in years and years. Odd, too, as I've heard a lot of people refer to this as a made-for-TV feature, which of course it's not.
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Odd, too, as I've heard a lot of people refer to this as a made-for-TV feature, which of course it's not.
Perhaps not so odd when one considers that many of the production values resemble a bad made-for-TV movie. Perhaps the people who confuse it as such can't conceive that it could or would have ever been released theatrically. If so, one might wonder what they think of some of Ed Wood's films. [wink2]
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the ending always caused me to shiver; it was delightfully eerie and creepy. You'd think it would show up on TV, but I've never seen it there in years and years. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
Gerard, I saw it originally on TV, probably mid-70's. I too found it creepy & scary. But, production wise, I can see why it's confused with a made-for-tv movie.
I went to imdb now, to see if it listed when on tv (didn't), but here's a ?funny? quote: "Director Jack Starrett claims he hired real life Satanists as cult-member extras. (more)"
Josette...I'm extremely impressed that you went to Vassar [book1]
Patti
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Josette...I'm extremely impressed that you went to Vassar [book1]
Me too! That's fantastic.
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I keep hoping some channel I get will show it. I think it would be very interesting to see, regardless of production values! :)
Patti and Penny - thank you. Now if it would have meant something in terms of developing a career or something, that would have been nice!!
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I think it would be very interesting to see, regardless of production values!
Well, I wish you luck on being able to say the same AFTER you've seen it. ;D
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Because I have a memory for such things, I do know that RACE WITH THE DEVIL aired at least once on the CBS Wednesday Night Movie. I didn't watch it, but I remember seeing the promo for it. As a result, for years I thought of the film as "the one with Lara Parker and a snake in a Winnebago."
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Because I have a memory for such things, I do know that RACE WITH THE DEVIL aired at least once on the CBS Wednesday Night Movie. I didn't watch it, but I remember seeing the promo for it. As a result, for years I thought of the film as "the one with Lara Parker and a snake in a Winnebago."
LOL! I love it! I don't remember what year it was on but I must have been in high school since I was actually allowed to stay up to see the whole thing (ha!). The ending totally freaked me out -- eek! LOL! Didn't stop me from watching it again when they eventually reran it, though, of course -- ha! I saw it in the store the other day for only $14.99 so maybe I'll pick it up and take it along to the Fest and have Lara Parker sign it for me.
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I saw the film shortly after it's U.S. release. I was stationed in Germany at the time and the post theatre would show two to three different movies per week. I spent a lot of time at the theatre as I enjoyed movies and it was a cheap form of entertainment. I of course knew who Laura Parker was as well as most of the other cast. I don't remeber thinking at the time that the production values were TV level as a lot of the films I saw were not of the highest grade anyway.
Jeff
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Well, I wish you luck on being able to say the same AFTER you've seen it. ;D
Now, MB, be nice and remember the climate of those times--just as we still enjoy DS for what it was. LOL
Brian
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remember the climate of those times--just as we still enjoy DS for what it was. LOL
OMG, DS is head and shoulders above Race With The Devil! Honestly, no offense, Brian, but it borders on sacrilege to compare the two. [wink2] And besides, as I said, I disliked RWTD when I first saw it in '75 (and when I saw it again 12 years later in '87 on TV, actually :)), so it's probably not likely I'm going to enjoy it now for what it was. [b003] In fact, I already consider the 3 hours I spent during those two viewings to be 3 hours that I'll never be able to get back. [lghy]
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Good grief, Pepe, you make "Race With The Devil" sound like the worst movie ever made.
Well, maybe the second worst movie ever made because, as everyone knows, Ed Woods' "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is officially "The Worst Movie Ever Made"..... ;)
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Well, it's probably not the worst movie ever made. But IMO it just might be the worst movie made in '75. [b003] And in a year when such bad films as Doc Savage...The Man of Bronze, A Boy And His Dog, Mandingo, and The $50,000 Climax Show came out, that's saying something. [laughing11]
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Oh, I don't know about that....there were quite a few stinkers that year: "Dolomite", perhaps....or maybe "The Giant Spider Invasion". How about "A Boy and His Dog"? [lghy]
(Isn't Google a grand thing?..... ;) )
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Don't let MB fool you. It's a great little flick for drive-in movie entertainment. Any movie with Lara Parker, Warren Oates, motorcycles, and Satanists can't help but be a little bit o' fun. Besides, in my book, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Airport 75, Death Race 2000,and The Giant Spider Invasion were a helluva lot worse. ;)
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Oh, I don't know about that....there were quite a few stinkers that year: "Dolomite", perhaps....or maybe "The Giant Spider Invasion". How about "A Boy and His Dog"?
Saw A Boy And His Dog (a girlfriend who was into Don Johnson dragged me). Bad? Yes. As bad as RWTD. No!
I was spared both Dolomite and The Giant Spider Invasion, so you might be right that they were worse. ;)
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Don't let MB fool you.
MB's not trying to fool anyone - merely spare them. ;)
Any movie with Lara Parker, Warren Oates, motorcycles, and Satanists can't help but be a little bit o' fun.
Oh, yes, it can. [wink2] And, as I mentioned in another topic, one of my "favorite" reviews of RWTD likened the experience of watching it to enduring a human sacrifice. And, unfortunately, Lara's talents are completely wasted in the film. (Anyone who wants to see Lara in something worthy of her that's also from around the same time should watch '73's Save The Tiger. She only has a small part, but she packs more into it than in RWTD in its entirety.)
Besides, in my book, The Apple Dumpling Gang, Airport 75, Death Race 2000,and The Giant Spider Invasion were a helluva lot worse.
I didn't see Death Race 2000 either, so you might be right there. But I'd sit through 1000 showings of Airport 1975 or The Apple Dumpling Gang before I'd want to sit through another of RWTD. [lghy] (Though others might absolutely disagree. :))
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Hmm...I like RWTD, but I love Airport 1975! ;D
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So Lara Parker is the same age as my Mom. Interesting.
What's even stranger is that my Mom and Grayson were carrying babies at exactly the same time in 1957/58; Matt Hall was born about 3 weeks after I was.
Talk about DS synchronicities!
G.
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So Lara Parker is the same age as my Mom. Interesting. What's even stranger is that my Mom and Grayson were carrying babies at exactly the same time in 1957/58; Matt Hall was born about 3 weeks after I was.
That's very interesting to me, too, Gothick, since I was born on 1/7/1957 and my Mom was born 9/6/37. Among other DS cast, David Henesy is only 3+ months older than me, and I think I'm a few months older than Matthew Hall. . .it's great how we love and respect our DS connections!!
Brian
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Well I'm shocked to find out she was born in 1937! I admit I did wonder about her age when looking at pictures taken outside of the DS studios of her and her two sons. I thought for a woman in her early twenties to have two boys who looked to be about 7 or 8 seemed a little odd. And, on top of that, to know that she also graduated college with a masters degree. How did she find the time to do all that! Now I know. I think the IMDB lists her as being born in 1945. But then, there is a discrepancy in KLS's age too. What the heck, what difference does it make anyway what a person's age is.
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Hey, I just found this board and was scrolling through the threads and came across this. I posted comments on another board about a month ago about the DVD commentary, Lara's age, and a somewhat revealing old article about Lara, so I figure I'll post it here as well:
"Maybe not the most polite topic to bring up, but I have to admit I was always curious how old Lara really was. On the show, I remember seeing/hearing a few different dates for her various characters.
"Nicholas once said Angelique was born in Martinique in 1774, making her 21 when she came to Collinwood (no mention of Miranda since the writers hadn't thought that up yet). Later, in Parallel Time, Angelique's grave in the mausoleum displayed her year of birth as 1939, making the character 31!
"Granted, these are characters, not the actress. Lara's IMDB entry lists October, 1942. However, IMDB info is not always accurate, especially when it comes to years of birth for actresses (honestly, I can't think of another professional group who have a more justified reason to lie about their age).
"In truth, I think Lara is older. If you listen to her DVD commentary for RACE WITH THE DEVIL, although she doesn't mention anything about her problems with Loretta Swit, Lara DOES tell a few interesting details about herself.
"Lara admits that during filming she was afraid she might be fired if the producers found out she was actually 3 years older than on-screen husband Peter Fonda. She also tells about how she teased Peter early in the shoot about having been over his house years ago. It was only near the end of filming that he figured out she had been a classmate of his sister Jane at Vassar. Lara must have been pretty friendly with Jane; Lara talks about having been over the Fonda home to play Monopoly!
"Now, it's rather difficult for the son or daughter of a famous star to fudge their age. Publicity for Henry Fonda will talk about when his kids were born, so the birth dates for Jane (December 1937) or Peter (February 1940) are almost definitely accurate.
"Lara, however, is a different matter. Since she didn't start acting professionally until after she had completed school, married, and had two sons (rather late as compared to Alexandra Moltke or Kathryn Leigh Scott), I'm sure she could and most likely would have shaved a few years off in official bios for professional reasons.
"So, Lara's comments indicate her real date of birth is probably October 1937 (making her contemporary with Jane and, like she said, 3 years Peter's senior).
"I find this interesting because it means Lara had just turned 30 when she started her Dark Shadows career. Judging from the way she looks today... maybe she does have supernatural powers."
ALSO, A FOLLOW-UP POST:
"I never thought those teen magazines or soap articles would be anything more than innocent fluff, especially those that ran in 1968-1971, but an article on Lara in a magazine called Daytime TV turned out to be pretty revealing in some areas. It certainly gave a lot more information about her growing up, her first marriage, etc., that you just don't see in many of her fan (or official website) bios.
Here's a link to it:
http://members.aol.com/jonathanfrid/parker.html
Among other things, it explains why she left Vassar and why she didn't start acting professionally until relatively late. It even talks about her real name. (Bios keep saying she was born Mary Lamar Rickey, but if Rickey is the name of her stepfather, then it's NOT her actual birth name).
All very interesting..."
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Thanks, Bloggermeister, for posting that link. I did spot a typo: fans know that Lara started on DS in December of 1967, not 1966.
This is completely unrelated, but earlier in the thread I spotted a discussion of Plan 9 from Outer Space. I have to say that I find Plan 9 far more entertaining than many more supposedly better movies. It's well worth the price of admission if only for the scenes involving Lugosi, Vampira, and Tor Johnson. The rest of the movie is off in a world of its own. It's also one of those films like Rocky Horror Picture Show--you keep finding new realms of oddity upon subsequent viewings.
just my two drachmae...
G.