Hey, I just found this board and was scrolling through the threads and came across this. I posted comments on another board about a month ago about the DVD commentary, Lara's age, and a somewhat revealing old article about Lara, so I figure I'll post it here as well:Â
"Maybe not the most polite topic to bring up, but I have to admit I was always curious how old Lara really was. On the show, I remember seeing/hearing a few different dates for her various characters.
"Nicholas once said Angelique was born in Martinique in 1774, making her 21 when she came to Collinwood (no mention of Miranda since the writers hadn't thought that up yet). Later, in Parallel Time, Angelique's grave in the mausoleum displayed her year of birth as 1939, making the character 31!
"Granted, these are characters, not the actress. Lara's IMDB entry lists October, 1942. However, IMDB info is not always accurate, especially when it comes to years of birth for actresses (honestly, I can't think of another professional group who have a more justified reason to lie about their age).
"In truth, I think Lara is older. If you listen to her DVD commentary for RACE WITH THE DEVIL, although she doesn't mention anything about her problems with Loretta Swit, Lara DOES tell a few interesting details about herself.
"Lara admits that during filming she was afraid she might be fired if the producers found out she was actually 3 years older than on-screen husband Peter Fonda. She also tells about how she teased Peter early in the shoot about having been over his house years ago. It was only near the end of filming that he figured out she had been a classmate of his sister Jane at Vassar. Lara must have been pretty friendly with Jane; Lara talks about having been over the Fonda home to play Monopoly!
"Now, it's rather difficult for the son or daughter of a famous star to fudge their age. Publicity for Henry Fonda will talk about when his kids were born, so the birth dates for Jane (December 1937) or Peter (February 1940) are almost definitely accurate.
"Lara, however, is a different matter. Since she didn't start acting professionally until after she had completed school, married, and had two sons (rather late as compared to Alexandra Moltke or Kathryn Leigh Scott), I'm sure she could and most likely would have shaved a few years off in official bios for professional reasons.
"So, Lara's comments indicate her real date of birth is probably October 1937 (making her contemporary with Jane and, like she said, 3 years Peter's senior).
"I find this interesting because it means Lara had just turned 30 when she started her Dark Shadows career. Judging from the way she looks today... maybe she does have supernatural powers."
ALSO, A FOLLOW-UP POST:
"I never thought those teen magazines or soap articles would be anything more than innocent fluff, especially those that ran in 1968-1971, but an article on Lara in a magazine called Daytime TV turned out to be pretty revealing in some areas. It certainly gave a lot more information about her growing up, her first marriage, etc., that you just don't see in many of her fan (or official website) bios.
Here's a link to it:
http://members.aol.com/jonathanfrid/parker.htmlAmong other things, it explains why she left Vassar and why she didn't start acting professionally until relatively late. It even talks about her real name. (Bios keep saying she was born Mary Lamar Rickey, but if Rickey is the name of her stepfather, then it's NOT her actual birth name).
All very interesting..."
