Recent Photo of John Karlen with David Selby

[MsCriseyde]

In case you've not seen this elsewhere, there is a recent photo of John Karlen with David Selby at lunch in Los Angeles this past Saturday on David's Facebook page. You don't need a Facebook account to follow the link and see the photo.

[Josette]

That's REALLY nice!  Thanks for the link.

[Robot_Quentin]

Excellent. Thank you.

I'm glad that JK is up and around after his long stint in that rehab facility.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Great photo! Thanks so much for pointing us to it, MsCriseyde! 

[loril54]

This is a really nice photo. You can just feel the love. 

[Gerard]

It's always great to see photos of our beloved OS actors/actresses.  We don't know how much longer we will have any of them around us (sorry for sounding so sullen, but let's face it).  Thank you!

Gerard

[michael c]

as an aside a fan recently found the "original" (and short lived) willie loomis james hall on FB...


apparently he's "open" to hearing from DS fans. he looks pretty good. 

[Uncle Roger]

Very interesting, michaelc.

[Gerard]

It's surprising that James Hall has never attended a festival, or maybe has never asked to attend one as a celebrity guest.  He actually made a fantastic "original" Willie, more slimy and sleazy than Karlen's portrayal.  It would've been interesting to see what would've happened with the character with such a different approach.  Performers who did a one-scene or one-episode appearance (think of all those "nurses,", etc.) get their time, but he doesn't.

Gerard

[Uncle Roger]

Good question, Gerard. Maybe he's been, maybe he hasn't but that kind of information is seldom passed on to us peons. I would hope that if Mr. Hall does attend a festival that he is as well received as Betsy Durkin was.

[michael c]

indeed nurse so-and-so is certainly one of the odder editions to the festival circuit in recent years. how about a special panel of "blue whale extras"...


hall in particular seems to have been effectively "taken out of" the whole thing for whatever reasons. he's never been interviewed or included in any of the books or dvd commentaries.

karlen is such a stalwart , carved-in-stone, element of the fandom it's hard to imagine anyone taking any of that thunder. and hall never actually worked with frid. still since he's apparently receptive to hearing from fans I'd be interested to hear his take on the experience.

[Gothick]

I don't go to Festivals anymore, but I think it would be great if James Hall were invited.  Apart from anything else, would be very interesting to hear his own account of what went down during his time on the show.

I'm very happy that John Karlen took over the role, since to me, he IS Willie.  But I have to confess that when I finally got to see James Hall's episodes, I thought the performance had a compellingly unpleasant feel and some definite potential. 

G.

[michael c]

Hall brought a seediness and sense of sexual menace to the role Karlen did not...


there's a sense of real danger in his scenes with Vicki, Carolyn and Maggie. like a sexual assault was possible at any second. Karlen was not that predatory. even before Barnabas has Willie under 'control' he seemed more like a petty con than a dangerous sociopath.

who knows how Hall would have handled that transition?

[Gerard]

That's what I thought, Michael.  Hall was, as I said, so much seeder than Karlen.  He was truly creepy.  It would've been interesting to see how Willie, played by Hall, succumbed under Barnabas' control.

Gerard

[Uncle Roger]

Perhaps in some still undiscovered parallel time, James Hall continued to play Willie Loomis playing scenes with Robin Strasser who aced her audition.