Jonathan Frid Flubbing His Lines

[stefan]

...remember being a little surprised at a comment KLS made at the festival in Anaheim a couple of years ago.  She was asked a question about Mr. Frid and his reputation for forgetting his lines.  KLS commented that as a young person during the production of DS, memorization of lines presented no problem, and she added in reference to those who had difficulties with this that they should "just memorize them."

I think KLS's comments are especially tacky for several reasons 1) she and JF had some amazing scenes together and if she didn't recognize his talent back then and STILL doesn't recognize Frid's talent then she's a boob who makes Josette seem like a rocket scientist ALSO 1) KLS seems to have benefited the most from Frid's talent in that her publishing company (promogate or something like that press) makes money off of DS with Jonathan Frid's picture as the brooding Barnabas smack right on the front cover (I know cause I've seen the book in Barnes and Noble)...don't tell me she doesn't know what sells DS books.
And may I go even further in stating that if it weren't for JF's talent (bad memory and all) there would probably be no DS festivals for KLS and that jerk Roger Davies to use as a forum to promote their own interests and money making and bad mouthing JF. Sorry to the other great actors on the show - John Karlen who always strikes me as the most intelligent, Thayer David, Clarice Blackburn, Louis Edmonds and Lara Parker. But DS was simply JF's time and place.

[The Ghost of Sarah Collins]

...remember being a little surprised at a comment KLS made at the festival in Anaheim a couple of years ago.  She was asked a question about Mr. Frid and his reputation for forgetting his lines.  KLS commented that as a young person during the production of DS, memorization of lines presented no problem, and she added in reference to those who had difficulties with this that they should "just memorize them."

I think KLS's comments are especially tacky for several reasons 1) she and JF had some amazing scenes together and if she didn't recognize his talent back then and STILL doesn't recognize Frid's talent then she's a boob who makes Josette seem like a rocket scientist ALSO 1) KLS seems to have benefited the most from Frid's talent in that her publishing company (promogate or something like that press) makes money off of DS with Jonathan Frid's picture as the brooding Barnabas smack right on the front cover (I know cause I've seen the book in Barnes and Noble)...don't tell me she doesn't know what sells DS books.
And may I go even further in stating that if it weren't for JF's talent (bad memory and all) there would probably be no DS festivals for KLS and that jerk Roger Davies to use as a forum to promote their own interests and money making and bad mouthing JF. Sorry to the other great actors on the show - John Karlen who always strikes me as the most intelligent, Thayer David, Clarice Blackburn, Louis Edmonds and Lara Parker. But DS was simply JF's time and place.

      I attended the fest you refer to and KLS did say those words although not in that content... her words were said in a sarcastic humorous fashion, I recall her saying it that way.. how difficult it was for everyone to memorize their lines then learn new lines almost at the last second before tapping and that to anyone who never knew this would simply say "just memorize them"   KLS is the most sweetest person and would never ever say a cruel or unpleasant statement about anyone.

[Philippe Cordier]

      I attended the fest you refer to and KLS did say those words although not in that content... her words were said in a sarcastic humorous fashion, I recall her saying it that way.. how difficult it was for everyone to memorize their lines then learn new lines almost at the last second before tapping and that to anyone who never knew this would simply say "just memorize them"   KLS is the most sweetest person and would never ever say a cruel or unpleasant statement about anyone.

Since making my original post I think I have recalled more accurately that KLS's exact words were "just learn your lines!"  She expressed this with a touch of (perhaps) mock exasperation but she seemed to mean it, too.  That's why I was a bit taken aback.  I felt it a bit personally too, having some acting experience years ago, and remembering that learning my lines didn't come especially easily to me, whereas KLS suggested she couldn't understand why anyone couldn't just learn them.  She specifically stated how easily memorization is when you're young, as most of the DS cast was.  (Reminded me a bit of a statistics instructor I had, she was a grad student, who, in showing how to solve a problem, said, "you just solve it."  Easy for her to say, and I soon bowed out of the class.)

Perhaps you were present at a different occasion when KLS might have said something different.

As I expanded upon in a later comment, I did not mean to imply that KLS made her comment with any malice; rather that she often relates a story or anecdote that gets a laugh.  It's unfortunate that in the above post, someone else's comment appears to have merged with mine since ... the second comment was someone else's!

[Midnite]

It's unfortunate that in the above post, someone else's comment appears to have merged with mine since ... the second comment was someone else's!

The post has been edited to attribute the quotes correctly.

[murph]

Not to beat a dead horse, but...................................................

As was stated before but is worth noting again, Jonathan was very often on day after day after day.  Other actors were on maybe twice a week.  When he was on he was always in most of the scenes.  Even for a quick study those circumstances had to be difficult and he has always said said memorizing lines was difficult for him.  Remember he came from the stage where he recited the same lines night after night.

Do I put him with the greats of Marlon Brando, Sean Penn, Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino?  Of course not but he is a very fine actor who has given me many great memories of my childhood and I thank him for that.

Murph

[TERRY308]

Bravo murph.

p.s.  I LOVE everyone of the actors that you have mentioned.  They are.....Gods on Mt. Olympus.

[Philippe Cordier]

Thank you for straightening out the quotes, Midnite 

Do I put him with the greats of Marlon Brando, Sean Penn, Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino?  Of course not but he is a very fine actor who has given me many great memories of my childhood and I thank him for that.

Hmm, I don't know about that, Murph!  I think we would really have to see all of the actors performing comparable (or the same) roles and in the same media (i.e., all doing the performance on live TV, or all performing the role on film, etc.)

As far as "stars" or "great actors" are concerned, I personally think that most of them are fine actors who for some reason or another made it big ... and that many of their supporting and unsung fellow actors are equally talented.

[tripwire]

It does not matter what roles he gets, or how many oscars the guy ends up winning, Sean Penn will always be Jeff Spicoli from" Fast times at Ridgemont High"  His performance was Gnarly. 

[jtfolden]

It does not matter what roles he gets, or how many oscars the guy ends up winning, Sean Penn will always be Jeff Spicoli from" Fast times at Ridgemont High"  His performance was Gnarly. 

LOL  That's funny... Whenever someone mentions Sean Penn to me, I don't even think of his acting -  the only thing that runs through my head is "That's the guy that slapped Madonna around."

 

[Phil]

Jonathan Frid's Freudian slip during a particularly troublesome scene of dialogue:

"As long as Willie is alive, my entire career is in danger!"

And I know Frid gets a lot of flack for flubbed lines, but Grayson Hall is matching him pretty well, if we're keeping score.

[Miranda]

Yeah, and while I will always love seeing Jonathan and Lara together either on or off stage, I myself think that Lara has brought up Jonathan flubbing his lines in the last couple of years more often than was neccessary.  What I sometimes find myself doing now if I am watching some of my favorite Barnabas/Angelique scenes is saying to myself, aha, Lara, you flubbed here in that scene and Jonathan was great!! And it did happen!!  Well, when you watch things over and over you sometimes find yourself spotting other things, but does not prevent my enjoyment from watching their joint scenes repeatedly, 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...

[Julianka7]

I read ( I forget where- I think in one of KLS's DS books) That Jonathan Frid was uable to see the teleprompter good enough to bail him out if he forgot his lines, unlike most of the other actors. Since he couldn't wear his glasses during filming.

[PennyDreadful]

 Frid had to memorize monologues and lengthy passages of dialogue.  These were often written in a heightened, eloquent style of English which most people don't use in everyday speech.  He had to do that almost every day, live on tape with only the night before and the next morning to get all those new lines memorized.  Not only that, but he had to infuse those lengthy lines with meaning - pretty much on the spot.  ANY actor, under those circumstances, will stumble at least occasionally. There were rarely any retakes on the show and no one is perfect.  I've heard JF get picked on for this stuff and it makes no sense to me.  Roger Davis and KLS had to memorize lines overnight as well, but they weren't delivering lengthy speeches about Widow's Hill and regularly using words like "elliptic" and  "sepulchre."  Actors like Jonathan Frid, Thayer David, and Lara Parker often had these lengthy and "fancy" sorts of speeches to deliver.

-Penny       

[BuzzH]

Despite these innate difficulties, there were several scenes on DS where I thought he was just brilliant. 

I agree, one scene that comes to mind for me is the Tower Room scene between he and Angelique in 1897.  He was SPOT on and didn't flub once or look at the teleprompter.  The scene was smooth and flawless, to the point that I forget I'm watching a TV show *every* time I watch it.  I'm just GLUED to my seat watching it.  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 as I'm sure fans truly empathized w/this strange, sad, LONELY young man!   

I seem to recall John Karlen making that same point.....that the amount of time between getting the script and shooting the scene was never sufficient to learn the lines properly.

And John Karlen is also the biggest cheerleader for Jonathan when asked about this by fans when he says, basically, "Hey guys, give Johnny a break, he had 85% of the dialog on any given day!" 

[BuzzH]

I know I would be irritated beyond belief having to constantly cover up for someone else's mistakes.  But then I would not turn around and capitalize off that same person's success while still complaining about that individual. That strikes me as being rather hypocritical.  I have yet to DS brought out outside any DS festival or fan event say, when DS is brought up - "Hey, how about that Kathryn Leigh Scott! Remember her?!" Not once.

Now, before I comment on this, I want it understood dear cousins that I have absolutely NO PROBLEMS w/KLS!  She's always been very kind, gracious and friendly to me (whether it was/is sincere or a book selling ploy who knows, but I digress...LOL!), so take this w/that in mind.

I agree w/Nancy that sometimes it seems like sour grapes for KLS to sound catty about Jon's memorization skills, especially in light of the fact that he was the STAR of DS and she, well, she just WASN'T!  That said, I think mostly she is just poking playful, loving fun at a guy who I think IS a dear friend (maybe they really hate each other, I don't know) but they always seemed genuinely warm and friendly to one another at the Fest's I saw them at so there's that.  And I think Lara is the same way, she teases Jonathan, to his face and behind his back, about flubbing lines.  But I've never heard her say anything in a malicious sort of way, more like, "Oh Jonathan, forgot his lines--AGAIN!" then a playful smile and roll of the eyes.  But she's another one who I *think* genuinely LIKES Jonathan and is not trying to damage his rep w/the fans.