No, he's actually not. Maybe on television, but not from the vampire genre or even from film.
The honor for first reluctant vampire, IIRC, goes to the turkey of 18th/19th century literature, "Varney, the Vampire" (I could be wrong here on the title--it's been a long day).
As for film, I can think of a couple of possibilities, the chief being Gloria Holden in Dracula's Daughter
Luciaphil
John Carradine played a vampire who wanted out of the fang business. I believe that was in the film House of Dracula. In the 1931 version of "Dracula," when first meeting and talking with the ladies at the opera, Count Dracula opined during the discussion, "To be really dead, that would be glorious" (or words to that effect). That indicates to me that the vampire didn't necessarily his existence was all that great. There was a side to him that realized that. It has been many years since I read the book so I don't know if that was part of Bram Stoker's original dialogue or not.
When you think about it, most of the so-called great "horror" characters were all out for one thing: love and/or companionship. Dracula didn't just want any woman, he had a specific woman he wanted which indicates to me there was some kind of longing present; the Frankenstein monster - he wanted acceptance and love and people initially turned away from him even before he had killed anyone. The creature in "The Mummy" was protecting the tomb of his beloved (he went to great lengths for her in real life too) and wanted to recreate her in life.
Poor Larry Talbot sprouted hair as The Wolfman and no matter how hard he tried, it kept on happening. That situation isolated him from having any meaningful relationships. In some variations on the werewolf theme in latter years, the creature was stopped in its tracks by a real life person he loved as a human.
Remember, I'm only talking about the motivations and underlying needs of these characters and not justifying what they do to accomplish the goal.
In fact, there are human beings who have done far worse things than any of these "monsters."
Already in this 1795 period, Barnabas has tried to find a way to end his life as a vampire
(so stand out in the sun, dummy)The character of Barnabas was part of its time. Look at the villains we had in the late 1950s and 1960s in the movies. People liked the bad boy with the tender heart - the rebel or anti-hero they were called. Women also loved the James Bond types for their charm and manners. Barnabas was a combination of the two, plus an alienated being (which teens really identified with in the 1960s particularly). The possibilities for such a character wwas made clear on DS. The character of Barnabas supposedly influenced Ann Rice in writing "Interview with the Vampire" though I have yet to read where she specifically notes that in any interview. I'd like to read it.
Rant over.
Nancy
