R.I.P. HUMBERT ALLEN ASTREDO (April 4, 1929 – February 19, 2016)

[dom]

Nice write-up. Thanks MB. Does anyone remember him in One Life To Live? MB? Uncle Roger?

[Uncle Roger]

I was thinking about that ealier, dom. HAA played piano maestro Bruno Weston. Melinda Cramer, one of the more colorful OLTL neurotics, desperately wanted to study with. She practiced piano for weeks and weeks but just wasn't good enough for Weston. At that point, Melinda was played by Jane Badler, who would become well known as Diana the lizard lady from V.

Now did anyone else catch him as interior decorator Joe Bruno on Another World in 1970?

[Gothick]

I would crawl through broken glass to see footage of HAA as the interior decorator on ANOTHER WORLD.  The fastidious and relentless piano maestro sounds like another great role for him.

Unfortunately I don't think any of this survives anywhere.  Around the same time Grayson Hall had a brief role on another soap--the details elude me, I think character was named something like Madge.  I heard that a fan took and made copies of some TV photos but even those have never surfaced.

At least it's better than knowing that Grayson's Playtex commercial exists on the original DS tapes, but nobody could be bothered to track it down and have it added to the goodie package for one of the disc releases.

G.

[Uncle Roger]

Gothick, Grayson did a couple of days on All My Children as a reporter named Madge Murray in around 1973/74. The girl who ran her fan club at the time took those pictures. Her name was Ellen Bosley but she preferred to be addressed as Julia. At the time, I believe that she lived in Hawaii. I haven't heard her name mentioned in fandom in many, many years.

[Robot_Quentin]

Rog is the MAN!!  Thanks for your ever abundant insights into DS lore.

HAA will always be one of my favorites! I just about jumped for joy when I originally saw him join up again for the 1840 timeline. Once he showed up, you knew the show was about to get into overdrive... And Nicholas Blair was about as evil and devious as they came. He will truly be missed. As MB has reminded me in my sorrow, his presence will never be lost as long as DS is alive.

It's weird how some stars never embraced their DS heritage as it were... Obviously DS was about a minute's worth of time on his life-clock. A stellar career indeed.

[Uncle Roger]

You're welcome, Robot Quentin! I have a very good memory for this kind of stuff, which has certainly come in handy on more than one occasion. The Bruno Weston character was much talked about on OLTL but I don't think that he appeared in too many episodes. There is a slight chance that the episodes may exist somewhere, as I have seen some grainy tapes from that period. I would love to see some of the scenes with Nancy Barrett and Lisa Richards myself.
I remember Humbert much better on Another World, even though I wasn't as big a fan of that show. The Joe Bruno character was extremely different than the DS types that he played. If I remember correctly, his character was romancing wealthy middle aged Liz Matthews, while twotiming her with her daughter Susan. What a cad! I don't think those episodes exist anymore.
Humbert also did a day on Edge of Night, where he played a boat captain who rescued Adam Drake after a shipwreck.

[Gothick]

Those memories of Humbert's performances are fascinating, Uncle Roger.  I'm one of those who never watched any other soap operas unless you count STRANGE PARADISE which wasn't really very soapy and I was only able to watch it for about four months.  Thankfully they did save that one so I have it all now.

I used to correspond with Ellen.  She changed her name legally to Julia Collins.  I read about the TV photos from ALL MY CHILDREN in a Grayson fan newsletter that came out at the time.  A fan was kind enough to give me photocopies of it years ago.  The photos weren't credited to Ellen, but to another fan, whose name escapes me.  You could order prints of the photos through the club. So maybe they're out there somewhere.  I imagine that nearly all this kind of thing was tossed in a garbage bag years ago.   But I guess some really diligent fan may have kept it.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that DS is now officially 50 years old, or at least, will be as of June.

Sometime today Lara Parker posted this lovely tribute to Mr. Astredo on FaceBeast:

It was with a heavy heart that I received the news yesterday of Humbert’s death. He was a fascinating man with a wicked gleam in his eye, vibrant panache, an infectious sense of humor, and his performances with his Errol Flynn good looks, so perfectly reflected and contributed to the mood and magnetism that was Dark Shadows. He was a dear friend and acting partner on the show, wonderful to work with, to joke with, to battle with, and so many people have told me that our scenes were the best ones I did. As the witch and the warlock, we had some mighty clashes. I have been in touch with him over the years, exchanging Christmas cards and emails, but I had no idea that he was in poor health. I still hoped that he would forgo his hermit ways and show up at our 50 year reunion this summer, or that I might talk him into making a Big Finish recording so that we could hear again his mellifluous voice. All of us in the cast mourn him, and will miss him terribly. (end of Lara's tribute)

G.

[Uncle Roger]

Gothick, your response sparked another memory! The photographer might have been Liz Kaul. I bought a couple of DS scripts from her back in the 1970's, copies not originals. And I bought a few pictures from her too. They were somewhat pricy at the time or I would have bought more.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Humbert also did a day on Edge of Night, where he played a boat captain who rescued Adam Drake after a shipwreck.

EoN eventually became my second favorite soap after DS because I loved the mysteries on the show. They were extremely well crafted, complex, and juciy. And like DS, no character was ever safe and could be killed off at any moment. And the show attracted a wealth of talent that went on to do many other successful things in other areas of entertainment like nighttime TV and films. But unfortunately I completely missed HAA because I didn't come to the show until 1975 when Maeve McGuire returned to the role of Nicole Drake, Adam's wife who it was presumed had perished in that shipwreck that had taken place a year earlier on the show. I don't know if anyone remembers the so-called American version of Upstairs Downstairs that was called Beacon Hill, but Maeve McGuire was on that and I came to really enjoy her on the show. And after it was cancelled after only one season, I read where she was returning to her role of Nicole Drake on EoN, so I decided to check her out. And before long I became a big fan of the entire show. And the fun thing is that at various times EoN featured DS actors in long running roles, including Joel Crothers and Michael Stroka. And I can actually thank EoN for making me a fan of Stroka because as a kid I can honestly say that I really disliked all of his characters on DS and was never all that impressed with Stroka himself - but on EoN it was like I was watching not just a totally different character from what he'd played on DS, but a totally different actor entirely...

[Uncle Roger]

I do remember Beacon Hill,MB. I didn't watch it because it conflicted with something else that I wanted to watch. The days of only being able to watch one program!
I felt the same way about Michael Stroka. I didn't care for his DS characters, though I guess that I wasn't supposed to like them. He is so much better on Edge. Maybe the character was better written. Maybe he had improved as an actor. Probably a combination of the two.
Conard Fowkes did a run on Edge after leaving DS. So did Robert Gerringer.

[CastleBee]

So sad to hear about HHA. He was undeniably one of the very best and most memorable actors on the show.