In Memorian: Julianka, 1876 to 1897

Yes, it's time to bid adieu to that intriguing minx, Ms. Julianka (whatever the heck, her last name was!).

Julianka was one of those short-lived Dark Shadows characters who, I for one, would have like to have seen been given a longer life span on the show.  She really made a vivid and lasting impression on many Dark Shadows fans during her brief time in Collinsport, ME.

I particularly enjoyed Julianka's foreign, yet always elegant and cultured accent.  Julianka sounded more like Sophia Loren or, possibly, Isabel Allende than some uneducated and itinerant world traveler.  Clearly, Julianka was not burdened with the broken English speech pattern of, say, Magda or Sandor.

I guess it's sort of like the rather puzzling and disparate physical characteristics of those two sisters: the auburn-haired, fair-complected Jenny, and her older sibling, the raven-haired, dark-complected Magda.  (I once read where some wag, impishly speculated that the reason for this puzzling difference was because Jenny, unlike her sister Magda, hailed from the north of Romania!)

Julianka had extremely beautiful eyes and long, lustrous hair.  You know, I always thought that the comely country singer, Crystal Gayle, was the hands down winner of the "Mary Magalene Lenghty Locks Award," but, after seeing Julianka again, I'll re-cast my vote for the diminutive, but definitely Rapunzel-like gypsy woman.

Diana Davila, the young actress who portrayed Julianka, also appeared in the wonderful film comedy "Play It Again, Sam," (which also featured the great Jerry Lacy as the ghost of Bogie).

I'll never forget the scene in which the hopelessly love-starved Woody Allen spots the attractive Ms. Davila, standing in front of a painting in some San Francisco art museum.  Mr. Allen strikes up a conversation and casually asks Ms. Davila's character for a date on Saturday night.  The wonderfully spacy Ms. Davila responds that she'll be busy Saturday night, committing suicide.  To which the desperate Mr. Allen replies," Well, what are you doing on Friday night?"

Arrivederci, Ms, Julianka, I hope you're happy up there, pulling off the"gadjo" in that big gypsy camp in the sky!

Bob the Bartender, honorary member of the Cale tribe.

A Note Of Interest From The Past-

from TV Magazine, (Boston Sunday Heral Traveler version):

Dateline- week of Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 1967

"A young girl from Peru, Diana Davila, makes her TV debut as the doomed heroine of "The Diary of Anne Frank" on ABC Sunday night, just as Susan Strasberg made her first Broadway appearancein that same role in 1955.  Starring with Diana in the two-hour color adaptation are Max von Sydow, Lilli Palmer, Viveca Lidfors, Theodore Bikel and Marisa Pavan"

petofi

I remember seeing Diana Davila in "The Diary of Anne Frank".  I liked that version of the play.  I wish I could see it again.  Was Dr. Julia Hoffman supposed to be a decendent of Julianka?  I wonder because the name  Julianka could be another form of the name Julia.

Too bad DC never offered her any other roles on DS.

She was one of the prettiest women on DS and a good actress too.  

Too bad DC never offered her any other roles on DS.  

Are you certain he never did?  Perhaps 2 days on that set were enough to send her shrieking into the night, never to be seen or heard from again!

rainey

Grayson Hall and Diana Davila worked together twice again in the 1970s.  Once both were in a play whose title escapes me at the moment.  And in the mid 70s both appeared in an annoyingly elusive TV movie (which I suspect may have been shot on video), The 2 Deaths of Sean Doolittle, starring George Grizzard in the title role and directed by ... Lela Swift!

Steve