Jonathan Frid Flubbing His Lines

What frosted me was in listening to the Conversation with Grayson CD she thought Jonathan was "dumb" because he flubbed the lines and that he was not a very good actor.

LOL!  But you know what's so FUNNY about that comment from her, she IMMEDIATELY follows it up by quickly saying, "But, he's a VERY nice man!"  

My favorite scene is when he tells Carolyn and Vicki the story of Josette's death! It's a huge piece of dialogue and he's so good.

YES!  Another scene where he's spot on!

a few years back she was interviewed for a tabloid about DS, and some of her memories, while hilarious, are known not to have been accurate (for example, I think she repeated the story of someone jumping from Widow's Hill and bouncing back up into the frame).

Several actors have told that story about Terry Crawford and I've never seen that scene, I think perhaps it happened in rehersals and the actors think it happened during taping.  It's the scene where [spoiler]Beth is running from Quentin thinking he's possessed by Petofi, and falls off Widows Hill.[/spoiler]

KLS does this again when she talks about [spoiler]Sam's death, where he *supposedly* sits bolt up in bed and says "WHERE IS IT!" when the teleprompter falls off the camera and she said, "Don't worry Pop, it's okay" and he just dies.[/spoiler]

That's not how it happened on camera so again, I think it happened in rehersal and she's confused. 

One of the things I admire personally about Jonathan Frid is that I know he did not work four years with a group of people - his colleagues - without having any criticisms or complaints about any cast member or production member. But you haven't heard him criticize them made in public on the stage at the festivals or anywhere else because he doesn't do that. It's called class.

Actually, that's not true.  I heard an interview, I *believe* it was on The Ron Berry Show that Frid did solo, where he was saying he couldn't understand why a certain actress, now, mind you, he didn't NAME KLS-but you knew damn well it was her he was referring to if you watched the show, had trouble getting into a coffin for a scene on the show.  He was basically like, "Hey, it's called ACTING, just get in the coffin!" or something to that affect.  He didn't say this in a overly mean way, actually it was rather matter-of-fact, but the point was driven home, at least for me. 

their chemistry leapt off the screen most of the time whether the scene was letter perfect or not, and I think we will see on the last two upcoming MPI video sets that they were both really at the top of their game late 1840 and in PT 1841, I think Jonathan getting a new character in a way reenergized his performance on the show, though sadly it was the last segment of the show...

Absolutely it did!  LP and JF had chemistry to BURN, especially during 1841 PT when they were lovers Bramwell and Catherine!  

I also agree w/others about the scene w/him and Josette's portrait.  IMHO, that's probably the point where his 13 week stint was about to turn into a 4 year one

I like to imagine the other cast and the crew watching as this was being filmed, and holding their breath and thinking:  "By George, we've got something here."

Actually, that's not true.  I heard an interview, I *believe* it was on The Ron Berry Show that Frid did solo, where he was saying he couldn't understand why a certain actress, now, mind you, he didn't NAME KLS-but you knew damn well it was her he was referring to if you watched the show, had trouble getting into a coffin for a scene on the show.  He was basically like, "Hey, it's called ACTING, just get in the coffin!" or something to that affect.  He didn't say this in a overly mean way, actually it was rather matter-of-fact, but the point was driven home, at least for me. 

Perhaps he told it more than once, but he tells this story on his Merv Griffin appearance that's on the reunion DVD.

Perhaps he told it more than once, but he tells this story on his Merv Griffin appearance that's on the reunion DVD.

You know what, that may have been where I heard it!  I'll have to go back and look at my copy of that  Merv Griffin appearance.

Flubbed lines or not, Jonathan and his portrayal of Barnabas is what made me started watching Dark Shadows.

Besides I think most of us agree that the bloopers (flubbed lines and others) is part of Dark Shadow's charm. We can laugh at the bloopers yet we can still take the stories seriously.

Jonathan had a lot of powerful scenes he played to perfection (such as the all-ready mentioned scene where he tells Vicki and Carolyn the details of Josette's death) that his occasional bloopers can easily be forgiven. And it's not like he was the only one who messed up on his lines. I think just about everyone on the show flubbed once in awhile. Even Joan Bennett (whom I consider the best actress on the show) was known to mess up on the lines once in awhile.

On page 133 of the DS Companion, it says that "on one occasion, the incidental noise got out of hand and Frid asked to 'stop tape'. His polite request was just as politely ignored."  Anyone know where in the show's run this took place?