A Hard One - Best Actor(ess) on DS????

[IluvBarnabas]

Male: Thayer David, John Karlen, David Selby. I would pick Jonathan Frid, since in some scenes he's absolutely brilliant, but those flubs and pauses sometimes hinder what could have been great acting. Not his fault since he had the most lines and not enough time to study them. It's a shame because I think if he'd known his lines he would be undoubtedly the best.

Female: Nancy Barrett, Lara Parker, Grayson Hall. Nancy played so many diverse characters and did them all well. Lara was the perfect choice for Angelique.

I must say that Craig Slocum (the poster not the actor) really loves her man, and it's great that someone does love him. I pick on poor Harry a lot, I find him extremely unnattractive and a whiner but it's great when someone is so loyal to him. Though I'm sure none of us agree that he was the best actor on DS, I'm glad someone likes him. It's too bad didn't have someone in real life who believed in him. Who knows what might have become of Harry if he'd had a good woman who loved him? He put up with a lot of verbal abuse from his mother and Carolyn. But there is one scene in which he really shines IMO, [spoiler]when he talked Adam out of killing himself. He explained to Adam that there was a range between love and hate, Adam had thought Carolyn hated him because she didn't love him. Harry explained that she liked him, and got him to understand. Kudos to Harry for this scene.[/spoiler][/b]

Those flubs and pauses don't bother me none, because just because Jonathan screwed up on his lines on occasion doesn't make him any less a great actor on the show in my eyes.

As for Harry, I found that scene way too-out-of-character for me. When just a short-time later [spoiler]he's back to being a prick when he tried to blackmail Nicholas about Adam's whereabouts....he threatened to tell Carolyn that Adam was staying at Nicholas' house unless Nicholas agreed to pay him.

I don't know what his childhood with his mother was like, how she raised him or such, but I still think the guy was a rat. Carolyn distrusted the guy, did she not have reason too? He poked into somewhere he didn't belong (the west wing) and almost got killed by Adam (fortunately Carolyn saved his nosy hide). Then he tries to blackmail Carolyn over Adam.
I don't blame Carolyn for being so wary of Harry, because he already proved he couldn't be trusted long before the Adam business (remember his first episode when he goes poking inside the desk in the drawing room? I think he was looking for something valuable to steal)[/spoiler]

Just my two cents.

[Midnite]

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[Willie]

I'm going to go with Kathryn Lee Scott.  No matter what role she played, her character always seemed real and genuine.  No matter if she was a barmaid or the daughter of Martinique's ruling class, she always was perfect.  The little bit of snottiness she displayed as Lady Kitty Hampshire was great as well.  For actor, probably David Selby.  Everything Quentin did when we first met him should  have made him completely unlikable, but somehow Selby made me care about the character.  It was a remarkable feat.

Honorable mention for Lara Parker, she could be so sweet and nice, but could she ever turn!  I just love her character. 

[loril54]

I don't know why everyone keeps bugging JF about forgetting lines.  Yes he wasn't a quick study he says so himself.  But he took and very bad charactor that just was a mean Vampire and made him into a man even when he was writen as a monster.  Maybe it was his and Barnabas's fear that came through. But even when Barn was bad you could see the person, that he was even before you went back to 1795. He really added something to the role. If it would have been done differently he would have  been gone. YEAH

[Barnabas'sBride]

Actress - No doubt whatsoever here - Nancy Barrett. Effortless acting from the beginning until the end. She played so many different characters, and they each had their own manner and personality traits. Her performances were always strong, and no matter the emotion, she could play it and you believed it was real. And I've always been fond of Kathryn Leigh Scott, for the same reasons Willie mentioned. She always seemed very natural and I liked that.

Honorable mentions go to Joan Bennett (who, when she had the material to work with, was great), and Lara Parker (who always seemed intense and into the role).

Actor - No doubt here, either - Jonathan Frid and John Karlen. There was so much more to Frid's portrayal than just the lines: his presence, his voice, his expressions. The depth of his portrayal was mesmerizing. Even in the black and white episodes, when he was just supposed to be the villain, there was so much more there and a lot of that was due to Frid's performance. With John Karlen, his turn as Willie alone was amazing. He gave great performances as different characters, but the evolution of Willie proved his range. Both Frid and Karlen bring the emotion out in me - I feel so much for their characters when I'm watching the show. That says a lot about their acting, IMO.

Honorable mention goes to Louis Edmonds, who was always convincing and amusing as Roger, and gave a powerful performance as Joshua.

[Evan Hanley]

Hands Down the Best Actor Is The Great Humbert Allen Astredo!!! Along with Humbert i think David Selby, Don Briscoe, Joel Crothers, David Ford & My other fav Dennis Patrick were excellent!!! Best Actress is : Lara Parker, Kate Jackson, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Joan Bennett, Nancy Barrett.

[Taeylor Collins]

My favorite actors: Thayer David, David Selby and Jon.  My favorite actresses:  Grayson Hall, Nancy Barett and Joan Bennett!

[Garth Blackwood]

Thayer David was great and almost NEVER made a mistake. However, JF had such a huge workload, so you would expect more mistakes from him. I also think Clarice Blackburn is notable (maybe made 1 or 2 mistakes ever), Joan Bennett was great as both Elizabeth and Judith (both very different characters, both done very well). Lara Parker is also in my head as someone to consider, but I feel some of the other players demonstrated a wider range (and were given the opportunity to). I almost forgot, Jerry Lacy is one of my favorites -- his portrayals of the Trask family (Gregory and Trask I especially) were very effective and made a believable, loathsome villain.

Overall, I would have to say Thayer David. He effectively played every part he had, nearly mistake free, and his Count Petofi really tips the scales in his direction. So many of the classic lines (IMO) of DS come from Petofi

[IluvBarnabas]

Whoever mentioned Virginia Vestoff above, I disagree with the DS role. I had seen her struggle as Althea on The Doctors replacing Liz Hubbard and knew she'd be bad on DS and I thought she was.  

Well, then you're in the minority here, because there are many on here, including myself, who think Virginia was absolutely brilliant on DS as Samantha.

[Taeylor Collins]

I loved VIRIGINA and to think she was doing two shows a day at one time.  DS during the day and stage at night!!

[Pansity]

Come to think of it, I believe a few of the cast did that at one time or another while in plays.  I believe a few of them were in Broadway or off Broadway plays and I have a vague memory that I can't pin down of someone doing Joe Papp's Shakespeare in the Park.  Trouble is, I can't for the life of me remember which cast members it was!  I want to include Selby in Sticks and Bones as one of them, but my time frame's probably off even on that.

Anyone's memory working better than mine on  my first day back to work after Fest and Tourist stuff?  (I know the niggle of half memory will drive me nuts till either I remember or someone chimes in!) 

Jeannie (who wants to be back at Disneyland)

[Janet the Wicked]

John Karlen certainly had a few advantages:

He had formal training as an actor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

He had already been in a number of theatrical productions.

He already had extensive experience working in Television.

Willie Loomis was a role that allowed considerable room for an actor to "stretch" as far as he thought he could get away with.  The character changed so much over the course of his existance.

Definately. John Karlen gets my vote.

[Positivenergyone]

I have to give top honors to Jon Frid and Lara Parker.  They could convey so much without saying a word.

Other favs are:  David Selby, KLS, Thayer David

[MagnusTrask]

Taeylor, is that new avatar of Red Sonja?  I love Red Sonja!   You'll probably move on to another avatar soon at the rate you're going though....

Thayer David I think, for reasons given above.   I only just recently noticed the subtle drunk-act involved in PT TES, and that impressed me, not just the skill involved, but the subtlety, and the care and thought he was putting into the performance.  He was an actor's actor, as they say.

Jonathan Frid is second for me, because of the soul and gravity in the performance.   I love it when you see only the character and not the actor, and I love it when you seem actually to see the character "thinking"... that is, you can sense the gears turning, and you "know" that there is more going on in the head of the character than he's willing to say in words.    Mr. Frid did that, at least when he found the storyline compelling.   He would seem to spring to life when going into the past, specifically.

[Taeylor Collins]

YES it is RED SONJA and she will be around for a while.   I have talked in some other threads of my love for ROSE MCGOWAN.  She is playing her and the pictures are stunning.