Enjoyed the article. The first couple of paragraphs quoting Mr. Curtis seem verbatim from other interviews, but I suppose Curtis could recite the spiel backwards by now. He may take a swipe at Mr. Frid, but unfortunately the remark he says he made to Frid proved prophetic, more or less. I know Mr. Frid has continued to work as an actor, but his subsequent work was relatively low profile.
It was interesting to read Curtis' take boiling down the theme of the entire series. Taking that theme of lost love and using it in a supernatural atmosphere could result in a very good film. I would hope this might be done. No horror movie or thriller has interested me since "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Other" -- maybe the Omen (I lost interest in the genre as a middle schooler when "Carrie" came out, unleashing a gorefest that shows no signs of abating twenty years later) -- though I hear that the recent "The Others" had much in keeping with some of the classics like "The Haunting" and "The Innocents."
Vlad,
I just posted this excerpt on another thread as this kind of thing about Frid was being discussed - why his career hit a wall after DS ended. The idea of an actor saying if I can't do what I want in the business, I will just get out of it instead isn't something too many people would understand. I agree with what John Karlen said about Frid - he could have gone on to do the kind of roles Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and others of the "gothic" genre did at the time. But he didn't want to do that and wouldn't be cast in other things so he left. I think he could have made a bundle in the process.
But . ..
In this except of a 1998 Q&A following a charity performance, Frid talked about what could have been . .and why he didn't pursue what could have obviously made him money and a bigger star.
JF:
To tell you the truth, I love my acting profession, but I refuse to bow to being shaped into a business property. I wouldn't do that; I got out of all that. [after DS] That was quite deliberate. I had no interest in that at all, even if I missed making millions, I didn't care. I just had no interest in that sort of thing. I was just wasn't going to be a toy to these guys. I just have my own way of acting. I loved being flexible and private, and I had this great way of doing it with these One Man Shows. This is why they are my very favorite part of my career. And by
the way, people say, isn't there some part you've always wanted to play and never, and every
actor's been asked, and most actors say yes, they do have a part that I haven't played yet and
I'd love to do. I don't have that problem; I just put them in my Readers Theater and do it.
[laughter and applause].
