Jonathan Frid, the man known to fans around the world as Barnabas Collins, the suave vampire from the cult hit soap opera "Dark Shadows" has died at age 87.
The Hamilton Spectator, of Hamilton, Ontario, reports the Canadian actor died in his hometown of Hamilton at the Juravinski Hospital on Friday, April 13.
Frid's final screen role was a cameo in "Dark Shadows," the soap opera's upcoming big-screen revamp directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas.
Kathryn Leigh Scott, who co-starred with Frid on the original "Dark Shadows" and recently reunited with him to film her own cameo in the film, paid loving tribute to the actor on her website.
"I am so grateful to have worked with Jonathan, and to have known him as the charismatic, entertaining, complex and plain-spoken man that he was," she wrote. "What fun we had working together! He was irascible, irreverent, funny, caring, lovable and thoroughly professional." ...
The soap opera ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. Originally conceived as a straightforward gothic soap opera by creator Dan Curtis, it languished in the ratings until Curtis began adding supernatural elements, first a ghost, and then Barnabas Collins. Frid joined the show in 1967 and it began to take off as a cult hit, especially with younger children, who rushed home from school to watch the show. ...
Frid also maintained his website up until just a few months before his death, posting regular updates and communicating with his fans. ...
More (w/photo & video):
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/04/dark-shadows-jonathan-frid-dies.html
Blog, a searchable database of obituaries
back to 2001:
http://DeadCelebrityAlert.com
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