What actors did you enjoy from the 1991 version?

[Taeylor Collins]

I have to admit I had a hard time warming up to AM.  But watching the show lately I have enjoyed her more.  To me Joanna Going was such a great Victoria.  Of course in the 1991 remake  she wasn't as naive as the original.  She seemed to know a little more and thank the God's she didn't say "I DONT UNDERSTAND" all the time.   I equally loved Barbara Steele, but had no trouble at all warming up to my favorite original actress GH!!  BS was a little colder than the original, but she was an amazing Julia to me.  I also liked Ben Cross but not as much as Frid. I also loved Jean Simmons.

In the flashback I LOOOOOOOOVED BS even more as Natalie.  I like her Natalie better than GH's!  I loved Joanna as Josette, which was a great way to go with the storyline.  I ALWAYS thought Victoria should have been the reincarnation of Josette.  Of course back in the original, the technology wasn't around.  I loved ADRIAN PAUL as Jeremiah.  And I loved Micheal T Weiss as Peter Bradford, much more than RD. 

I may be a bit prejudice than I thought but I still welcome all future incarnations of DS.  I want it to thrive when I am old and continue for generations to come!

[IluvBarnabas]

I have to admit, I've always been lukewarm towards the revival.   

I mean, Ben Cross was okay as Barnabas, but I never felt for him as much as I did for Jonathan. I didn't care for Barbara Steele, though, either as Julia or Natalie. And don't get me started on Jim Fyfe as Willie...

However, there were two cast members from the new show that impressed me tremendously. First, Joanna Going. I thought she did a great job as both Vicki and Josette.  And as you said, she was way more sharp than the post-Barnabas era Vicki of the original. (In all fairness to Alexandra Moltke, her Vicki hadn't ALWAYS been so clueless....in the pre-Barnabas era, Vicki actually was one smart cookie...unfortunately once Barnabas came along, and especially as 1795 progressed, her sharpness deteriorated, but I blame that more on the writers).

And I thought Jean Simmons brought the same level of class and grace to the role of Elizabeth that Joan Bennett did. I kinda wish the writers of the new show had evened the Barnabas story with the Jason McGuire story as the original did. I would have loved to have seen how Jean would have done with that (no doubt she would have been brilliant).

[Mark Rainey]

Anybody who's ever read a word I've written probably knows that I'm no small fan of Joanna Going. 

I rarely see him given much credit, but Stefan Gierasch was absolutely superb in the 91 DS, both as Woodard and as Joshua -- particularly the latter.

[spoiler]
(It's a shame they did what they did to him as Woodard, as he could have progressed into a long-running Stokes-style character with ease.) [/spoiler]

As Joshua, he brought a real element of class to the character -- and was quite believable as a stuffy, stern, but compassionate landowner from that period. Like Thayer David, he was one of the very best character actors in the show.

[Gothick]

My favorites are Barbara Steele and Julianne McCarthy.  Roy Thinnes was a riot as Rev. Trask!  Those caterpillar eyebrows, and the way he shredded the scenery! 

I loved Steele's costumes as Natalie.  She looked as if she had just come from a triumphant career running all the swankiest bordellos in Paris!

My roomie, who watched the show last year when I was collecting it on VHS, thought Carolyn was a hoot, particularly when the character changed into Barn's adoring sex slave.  He kept saying that her clothing and mannerisms made it look as if she had just come from working the sidewalks in WeHo!  He loved the "trampy Eighties" look of what the character wore in those shows.

cheers, G.

[GooberCollins]

Roy Thinnes as Trask. I still have nightmares about that, months after I've watched the revival.

Barbara Steele's Julia was a very different (occasionally frightening) Julia from Grayson Hall's, but I liked her. I would have liked Jean Simmons more as Elizabeth if she had been younger, as I think Jean Simmons was way too old for the part.

I thought Joanna Going and Barbara Blackburn (quick OT question: is she related to Clarice in any way?) were great as Vicki and Carolyn. We barely saw Maggie in the revival, so I don't really have any feelings about Ely Pouget.

I liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt, too. He and Henesy played David two different ways; Henesy was creepy, and Gordon-Levitt was scary.

I'm simply neutral about Michael T. Weiss.

I could rant forever about how much I hate Ben Cross in that role.

[bluefielder]

I loved Joanna Going as Victoria.  Barbara Steele was good as Julia, but even better as Natalie.  Roy Thinnes as Roger just so-so.  He was great as Trask. 

I did not like Ben Cross as Barnabas or Jim Fyfe as Willie.

[alwaysdavid]

I thought Joanna Going was excellent.  Haven't seen it since the original broadcast but I know I hated Willie.  Ben Cross and Barbara Steele were okay.   

[Joeytrom]

I also thought Dr. Woodard should have remained on the series and hated what they did to him.  The orignal DS Woodard was a compassionate, friendly guy, who never would have taken the option this Woodard did.  They needed someone like this as the original eventually got Professor Stokes for this role.

I thought killing Dr Guthrie and Dr. Woodard were mistakes the old show made though they couldn't very well have had all three characters on at the same time.

Jim Fyfe was good as Ben in 1790, his Willie Loomis was irritating (especially that scene with his Aunt Mrs. Johnson and the nutloaf!)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

that scene with his Aunt Mrs. Johnson and the nutloaf!

I love that scene!

[GooberCollins]

I quite liked Jim Fyfe as Willie. Though he was pretty far from Karlen, I still enjoyed the character of Willie in the revival.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DC wanted Willie to be the comic relief amongst all the angst and mayhem of the '91 series. I think the concept worked, and I found him more and more endearing as the series went on.

[Garth Blackwood]

I like her Natalie better than GH's!

OK let's not go nuts

[Taeylor Collins]

I like her Natalie better than GH's!

OK let's not go nuts

Well I just thought BS got to do Natalie better . GH's version of Natalie reminded me a lot of Julia.  BS got to use the French accent.  I wish that Grayson would have used the French accent.   TRUST ME--I WORSHIP at the FEET OF GRAYSON HALL..so it's saying a lot for me to enjoy BS Natalie...alas I did. 

Honorobale mentions.  I actually liked the NEW version of MAGGIE. She was great.   I liked the fact that she had psychic powers.  I liked her and Roger's affair too.  It was great to see Ely Pouget show up on a Season Seven episode of CHARMED too.  She looked really good.  Had aged well..

[GooberCollins]

Maggie and Roger's affair was interesting, and worked well within the context of the revival, but it caused me to think about that happening in the original, which was a very scary place that I'd prefer to never, ever go to again.

[Gerard]

Of course, being a big fan of the original TLATLKS's portrayal of Maggie, I wasn't pleased with how she was portrayed in the revival (Maggie would never do stuff like that!).  However, after I had thought about it, TLATKLS first portrayed Maggie - blond wig and all - as more of a wise-cracking, hard-core, I'll-do-as-I-want-and-take-you-know-what-from-nobody-so-shut-your-face kinda girl.  As Miss Scott said, Eve Arden (with a real attitude).  So maybe that's what Dan Curtis wanted to do with the remake:  "restore" Maggie to what he initially wanted but changed in the original after several episodes. 

Like I once said in a post here quite a few years ago, it would've been difficult seeing the Maggie-as-initially-portrayed being the hapless, helpless imprisoned victim of Barnabas, hoping to turn her into Josette.  Instead of her being confined in either Josette's room, or in the cellar, she's sitting on a chair in the Old House drawing room, feet up on a rare, valuable, restored antique table, hair in curlers, downing bon-bons, shouting:  "Hey, Dracula!  Get down here and massage the calluses on my feet and tell whimp-boy to bring me another cup of coffee while you're at it!"  Barnabas tells Willie:  "We have to get rid of her!  Willie, go and do it!"  To which Willie replies:  "Bu...u...u...t, Barnabas!  I'm a-a-a-a-fraid of her!"

Gerard