Nearly 2 Hour Interview with Jonathan Frid from 2008

[Sara Monster]

Don't think this has been posted before, a person on the imdb made mention of a long interview with Jonathan Frid being available on the Archive of American Television site:

http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/jonathan-frid

Done on July 21, 2008, it's separated into 4 parts, with parts 2 & 3 mainly being on Dark Shadows.
Some quite frank answers being given, that I was a bit taken back by.

[Miranda]

Thanks for pointing this out, Sarahmonster.  If you are a fan of JF's, this is a must see interview!! He is blunt in ways we have never seen him before in this, it is something---maybe the two hour length got to him....that is a long time to sit for an interview...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Did you see some of the interviews Frid did in 1990/91? To say they were equally blunt and weren't exactly flattering to DS would be an understatement...

[Julia99]

I found the teleprompter discussion quite *interesting*.      

[Sara Monster]

Did you see some of the interviews Frid did in 1990/91? To say they were equally blunt and weren't exactly flattering to DS would be an understatement...

Care to elaborate?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'd have to watch them again to get his exact words, so I'll try to do that when I get a chance. However, I've always thought that Frid's falling out with Pierson and the Fest over the unauthorized use of footage on MPI's 25th Anniversary tape of Frid's reading of The Tell-Tale Heart may have contributed to some of what Frid had said back then. The wounds, as it were, were still open...

[Midnite]

I've always thought that Frid's falling out with Pierson and the Fest over the unauthorized use of footage on MPI's 25th Anniversary tape of Frid's reading of The Tell-Tale Heart may have contributed to some of what Frid had said back then. The wounds, as it were, were still open...

Not to mention that he'd recently fallen, plus Pierson had already conducted an interview right before this one with some of the same questions.  Who irritates a senior in pain and gets it on tape?  Oh yeah, never mind.

[Sara Monster]

I'd have to watch them again to get his exact words, so I'll try to do that when I get a chance.

Oh, it's no biggie. I was just curious. Is it the interviews included on the dvds, by any chance?

[Cousin_Barnabas]

plus Pierson had already conducted an interview right before this one with some of the same questions.

And this is reason enough for his answers (or lack thereof).  He should have known better than to ask him these same questions.  You're only going to get the responses that Frid gave: "We've already talked about that."  "I don't want to talk about that anymore..."  Not the brightest idea.  Pierson needs to go to some interviewing workshops or else let someone else handle the interviews. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Is it the interviews included on the dvds, by any chance?

No, the interviews were done for various TV shows that were doing pieces on the '91 Series and asking Frid about his experiences with the original show.

[Nancy]

Some Frid wrangling tips to avoid much of what happened in that interview: 1. don't interview him when he's exhausted; 2. Don't interview him when he is exhausted AND very sore from a fall on stage the day before and, 3. don't ask him the same questions you asked a few hours earlier. 

Otherwise, it ain't a pretty picture.

[Julia99]

And how about using some editing software to cut out the curmudgeony stuff?

[Gothick]

I only listened to part 2. Could Jim Pierson be any more lifeless and unengaging as an interviewer?  When poor old Frid was trying to remember the title of Wuthering Heights and Pierson kept saying "Heathcliff" it reminded me of the scene where Barn was telling Julia to "remember somebody" and Dr Lang muttered "Dave Woodard."

It's kind of hard to watch.  He's so tired, and so past it all.  But he gives it his best shot.

G.

[loril54]

I'd seen it before, I like the parts when he was talking about the stuff we don't hear about to often.
His early like and WWII stuff. I loved the stuff about being on the ship. He seemed quiite lively.

I reallly liked the end about how he wanted people to remember him.

[tripwire]

LMAO "nooooooooo  you put these words on romanticism. what the hell is romanticism?? poor old feller, getting asked the same ole questions, he is hurting he looks like he dont wanna be there. but he comes up with some doozies..."like all women they like gossiping". it looks like their are times where he is quite lucid, then seems a bit disoriented...He was an actor, doing a role, getting apparently a decent wage at the time so he got while the getting was good...I was a little surprised at the comments about some of his fellow actors....did he mean to say grayson hall would have been a better witch than Angelique???(lol) And if anyone knows, what was "the big one" where apparently he screwed up so bad they had to go redo it, or splice tape and cut tape to make it not look so bad....if i recall correctly, he kind of stared down the telepromptor too, and i can recall quite a few mess ups on his parts where it seems he dont know his lines...a very interesting interview and in some cases brutally honest.