Ron Sproat and Barnabas

[The Doctor and K9]

Though any time any of the characters he created are used in a DS project, he (Art Wallace) must still get a credit for creating them, which is why we continue to see that credit...

Which is just about EVERYONE of any importance in the first 7 episodes of 91 Dark Shadows. I'm not sure about Julia or Sarah.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's interesting that no one seems to have ever taken credit for creating Sarah or Julia. Sarah was mostly a catalyst to make Barnabas more sympathetic and Julia was originally just brought in to be killed off, so if they wrote character bios for them, they may have been very limited. And, of course, Julia was supposedly Julian before a fortunate typo was made on the casting sheet and he became she, so if there was a bio, possibly a lot of it might have had to be thrown out and reworked. That typo story also begs the question of how exactly was the character described on the casting sheet so that there were no indications that it was supposed to be a he, save for the name? To get away with it, the description must have been short and used doctor in place of he or she...

[Uncle Roger]

One of the stories that has circulated around fandom for decades is that Grayson was a last minute substitute for an unnamed actress who bailed on the part at the last minute. The identity of said actress is supposedly unknown but I've never heard speculation as to who that mystery actress may have been.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   So long as it wasn't Joan Crawford. Can you even imagine?! 

[Uncle Roger]

No wire hangers at The Old House! Ever!!!!!!!!!

[morlock]

Good to see this topic come up in this year. I want to study again and this is a great discussion to see for that purpose. I wish my memory wasn't so clogged with non-essentials that I could remember the interviews of the crew better. I got the impression, though, that it was a group effort of many people, one after another, pitching in to create the character of Barnabas. Odd to hear a tug-of-war ensued from several avenues.

Then again sometimes people doing interviews word things strangely and when they cut the questions from the interviews final cut it's hard to make out what the person is actually responding to. Is it possible someone interviewing a writer might specifically ask, "How did you invent the character of Barnabas Collins?" when the person being asked never presumed they single-handedly did to begin with?

Currently this all leads me to thoughts of getting out the oujiaboard and asking Bram Stoker if he'd like to make a retroactive claim on Barnabas Collins too. 

[Gothick]

I think this interview with Joe Caldwell from 2013 was most likely posted before. Of course he claims to have created Barnabas. LOL

https://www.tor.com/2013/03/21/dark-shadows-writer-joseph-caldwell-interview/

G.

[Gothick]

Also, here's a very grainy film clip from the 1983 Manhattan Shadows, including brief interviews with Joel Crothers and Addison Powell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8cHwq2-M5E

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   Thanks so much for the link, Gothick. It's so great to see Joel Crothers at a DS event. Though it's sad to think that just two years later he would pass away...

[The Doctor and K9]

Also, here's a very grainy film clip from the 1983 Manhattan Shadows, including brief interviews with Joel Crothers and Addison Powell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8cHwq2-M5E

G.

Here's a link to my archive page. I have various files associated with Dark Shadows and other topics. Among them are audio and video from various Festivals. Quality varies GREATLY. Audio of the entire panel with Joel Crothers, Addison Powell, and Jonathan Frid is there but the quality ranges from fair (in my opinion) to poor according to others. There are other performances by Jonathan a a few surprises, all available to download freely.