Thanks for sharing that wonderful photo, Midnite, and thanks to Nancy, too, for finding it and sharing it! and I suppose ultimate thanks has to go to Jonathan Frid, not just for being so generous, but for still entertaining us with his amazing performances!
Some facts that have been posted many times about Thayer David ... this is just off the cuff, in case some of the new fans want to know more about this amazing gentleman...
Thayer David was born David Thayer Hersey in 1927 in Medford, Mass., a suburb of Boston (actually the town right next over from where I've lived--I've checked the Herseys still living in the area in the phone book and thought more than once of calling around to see if any of them are relatives--he had a sister, I believe).
The family owned a paper mill and were well enough off to be upper class if not quite rich.
He attended Harvard University and was in the same circles as Edward Gorey and Frank O'Hara (a distinguised poet who was also a curator at the Museum of Modern Art). O'Hara wrote a poem in honor of Thayer's performance in the role of Prospero in the Tempest (look up David Hersey in the index of O'Hara's Collected Poems).
Thayer was one of the founders of the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. It lives on as a repertory film theatre with the occasional concert or performance.
His first film role listed on IMDB was in 1957's Baby Face Nelson. He achieved somewhat better exposure in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and The Story of Ruth (1960). He did a lot of theatre on and off Broadway in the Fifties and Sixties. He worked with Louis Edmonds in Cat-stick in '61 (starring the remarkable Patricia Jessel) and with Grayson Hall in the spectacular 1966 flop Those that play the Clowns.
After DS, he was one of the busiest actors in the industry, constantly shuttling between the 2 coasts doing film, television and theatre. Shortly before he passed away from a heart attack he did a feature-length pilot film for a new Nero Wolfe series which presented one of his best performances. I really do hope this is released on home video some day. He looks fabulous in it ... believe it or not, fresh and healthy!
Hope you all continue to enjoy his performances on Dark Shadows.
Steve